Wild Waste 4 - Ch24 - (Patreon)

“I think someone is finally coming,” Blue complained loudly.

Vince shifted away from Leila and faced the city of Magi Vale.

“We’ll have to finish this discussion later I suppose, my dearest Warlock,” apologized Vince. “Suffice it to say, I’m eager to see how you can enhance the undead as you suggested.”

“Of course. Not a problem. I’ll just… move above if you don’t mind. Keep an eye on both sides,” answered Leila as she remounted her floating disc.

As soon as she had her feet firmly planted on it, it began to rise up into the air.

“Other side now,” demanded Sam as she snuggled into Vince’s shoulder.

As directed, he moved his hand to the other side of her chest and began running his fingers and palm across her breast.

For the last ten minutes he’d been simply fondling her unendingly.

“Very nice, thank you. You’re doing much better,” commended Sam and she let out a happy sigh. “I just need to train you better. Let’s start working on your handiwork more often. Then we’ll move on to kissing. I bet you’re a bit too rough for my tastes. Alright?”

“I… err… okay,” murmured Vince. He really didn’t know what to say or do with Sam anymore. The way she was pushing and prodding at him was entirely unexpected.

He found he liked how different it was.

“Damn it,” muttered Blue followed by a low chuckling as she lifted her head up. She’d been toying with a small spindly bit of vegetation sticking out of the ground. “Okay, you know what? I want to be involved. I will be there to help educate him on kissing. Fondling as well. I’m now involved, Sam.”

“Of course you are. You’re the lead Dryad wife. Why wouldn’t you be, Blue?” countered Sam, shifting in Vince’s arm and pushing her chest more into his hand. “Mmm, right there. That’s lovely.”

Clicking her tongue, the Dryad looked frustrated and amused in equal measure.

“Red will go get the soldier man,” stated the Beastkin. She’d been leaning against Vince with her head on his shoulder. For whatever reason she’d gone cuddly on him.

Shifting away at a trot Red eventually ended up in an all fours saunter.

Not for the first time he wondered how she managed to make it look fluid. He’d tried doing the same a few times just for fun and it always felt strange to him.

“I don’t get it either. It feels like something in the way she’s built or the length of her arms or legs,” murmured Blue, taking Red’s place. “Well, whatever it is, she’s beautiful at a run.”

“Very. Love watching her move,” agreed Vince.

Red stumbled for a moment and then spun around, looking back at them. She gave the both of them a wide and brilliant smile.

“Red loves you, two, too!” called the Cursed One before running off again.

“I forget how good hearing is,” grumbled Blue. “Though… I do love her. Didn’t expect that to happen.”

“That’s just how Red is. Barreling through. Tearing through anything in her way. Then pulling out your heart and eating it,” summarized Vince.

Red reached the older gentleman in the soldier’s uniform and began escorting him back to Vince. The man and several of his people had come close, but hadn’t closed the gap. They’d apparently decided to wait for the Magi Vale representative to come as well.

“Someone else is coming as well,” Dea announced. Her eyes were tracking something behind Vince. Deeper into the Pyrenees mountains, in fact.

“I suppose we did invite all parties,” he admitted, glancing over his shoulder.

Three people were coming forward. Following the line of their travel, he spotted what could be a group of people in the low hundreds. All hidden and tucked away in some brush and trees. Far enough away that they wouldn’t be noticed unless one truly looked at them.

The first of the trio as an Elf, next was some sort of Fae that was nearly as large as Sam, and the last a Minotaur of some type. The last looked to be a warrior, while the Elf was more than likely some sort of magician.

Rather than worry over it, Vince instead put his focus back to his situation at hand. Everything would be somewhat dependent on how they all came together here.

“Hail,” called the soldier as he got closer. At his side was a holster with the butt of what looked to be a pistol sticking out. On the other side was a belted-sword. The rifle that looked to be standard issue for this group had been left with his compatriots.

He was a solidly built man that was taller than Vince. His frame had the look of a man that’d been in the military for too long and didn’t know how to get out, but was starting to put on weight with the years and wasn’t quite as fit as he once was. Black hair, dark blue eyes, and a flat mouth gave him a distrustful look.

“Lord of the Dryads?” asked the soldier.

“That’s me. Vince Campbell,” confirmed Vince.

“Tim. Tim Krasson. Lieutenant-Colonel. Siege force for Magi Vale and border patrol,” the man introduced himself.

Vince nodded and said nothing.

Elizabeth landed with a thump ten or twenty seconds later and held her hand out. A man dropped from her grasp and hit the grass with a thump.

“He’s the leader of the city he says,” Elizabeth got out in a grunt. She seemed frustrated though he wasn’t quite sure why.

“-terrible. Terrible and rude,” cursed the man even as he stood up, brushing his hands at his rear end. Sighing loudly he stood upright and then looked to Vince. He was just a bit taller than Vince and was stocky with more pounds than he would likely need. His dark hair was pulled back behind his head and he had a small goatee. “Lord of the Dryads, huh? You look like a homeless man.”

Elizabeth’s head snapped down and she clamped her mouth down around the man.

He’d had a second to react and had put a shield around himself. Only for it to instantly break under the Dragon’s jaws as they slowly clamped shut.

Then she had the man between her teeth and lifted him up. With a shake of her head the man vanished into her mouth.

“Elizabeth, I need him. Don’t kill him,” Vince warned.

Growling, the Dragon tilted her head to one side and her jaw shifted about. She winced and then her jaw flexed.

Continued screaming came from inside her mouth as she seemed to be working the man around between her teeth.

Pretty sure she just wants to bite him in half at this point. She’s holding back by sheer will.

“Maiden Elizabeth, thank you for the defense of my image. Please spit him out,” Vince tried again.

With a snuffling noise, Elizabeth eyed him, then leaned down and spat the man out onto the grass. Quickly rolling away from the Dragon the man ended up on top of Tim’s boots. Standing up quickly he stood side by side with the man, both of them staring at Elizabeth.

“Hello,” called a voice from behind.

Elf I guess.

“What can I do for you? Wasn’t really expecting a third party if I’m being honest,” Vince informed the man, looking away from the two he’d wanted to speak with

“Not a problem, not a problem. I’m Colomnon Hyzing and these are my comrades, Nixie and Hilga. We’re from—”

“Don’t care. What do you want?” prompted Vince.

“Ah… yes. Err…” started the Elf, blinking rapidly. His hands came up in front of himself and fluttered briefly before pulling some of his dark and wavy hair back behind a pointed ear.

“We just want to move south, Lord of the Dryads. Take our caravan with us and go sell our goods. Maybe do some mercenary work,” said the cow-like creature. Vince hadn’t expected her to be the one to speak up given the large twin axes on her person. “We’d be happy to make a deal to pass through without trouble.”

“Fine. Pay me whatever a normal bribe would be, then get going. I recommend heading to Bilbao and mentioning my name. Vince Campbell. Can get mercenary work there I can promise you that.

“Was that it?” demanded Vince. “If so, thank you for the bribe, have a safe journey, hope your sales go well.”

“Ah… yes. That’d be it,” answered the fairy-type creature. Her head bobbing up and down quickly which made her black hair swish about. There was an odd look to her green-eyes that made her look like she wanted to say something more, but didn’t.

“Best you don’t, Nixie,” growled the Dragon, her eyes turned toward the flying creature.

Whatever had been in her mind was gone in that instant. The winged creature moving down behind the Elf partially.

“Ah, yes! Thank you very much. We’ll just… be going now and hope you have a nice war,” offered the Elf. They were quickly moving at a perpendicular angle away from Vince’s group now and where they’d come from.

Heh, the caravan kept moving as they distracted us. Smart.

“Right. Anyways. You two. Dryads. Are there any in your city? Any in your battalion or country?” Vince asked, putting his attention back to the two representatives.

Tim nodded his head and glanced to the man next to him.

Who said nothing yet was still staring at Elizabeth.

“We have a single Dryad with us. Dryads… help us maintain order. We’re a stationary garrison so she was able to plant her tree with us easily. We hired her back in Paris, helped her dig up her tree, and brought it all the way here,” Tim explained, turning back to Vince. “More like camp mothers. They get to fraternize with whoever they want but provide some basic first aid, an ear to listen, and someone who can defuse a situation.

“As to Franconia as a whole… Dryads are regarded as citizens but only so long as they’re born of a citizen to begin with. Foreign Dryads have to apply for citizenship but… there are certainly cases where they’re abused. Abducted and turned into house guardians.”

Hm. Okay.

So… well… okay. Much better than I expected.

Providing it’s the truth.

What Vince got back from the man’s emotions and surface thoughts was he was being perfectly honest with him. There was nothing incorrect with his statement.

There was a muddled quality to the man’s mind, however. One that made it harder for Vince to get an accurate picture with just scanning at a surface level.

Vince looked up to Elizabeth whom nodded her head as soon as their eyes met. Having a mind-reading Dragon certainly made it nice to cross-check his own insights against.

“And you, Mr…?” Vince asked, indicating the Magi Vale representative.

“Thomas Gibbons,” hissed the man, reaching up to adjust his rather expensive looking vest. He put his fingers into the sides of it as if it were somehow something to be noticed.

What Vince got from this man’s emotions was anger. Anger, indignation, and disgust. An ugly emotion that felt like a run-on sentence of shrieking fury.

Directed at Vince and the women around him, more than Tim or his compatriots.

“And you, Thomas? How does your city handle Dryads?” inquired Vince.

“We don’t have any,” lied the man. Vince could clearly see several Dryads locked away in what looked to be a large manor. That they were little better than possessions and meant to be used as such.

They were all hidden of course as were his opinions. Apparently the city as a whole had no idea of this man’s beliefs or desires.

The feeling from the Dryad question started to bleed over into other things. Like how the man felt about women in general.

Which had caught Vince’s attention and held I tnow.

“I see. And… how are women treated in Magi Vale?” asked Vince on a hunch.

“Citizens. Just as a man is of course,” answered Thomas.

Even though his mind was currently raging at the idea that these women were treating him this way. That they’d all be better suited to simply sit there and do exactly what they were told to do.

To be puppets without agency or thought.

“Alright. Your thoughts have betrayed you. You’re not a good person, let alone a good leader. I have no use for you whatseover,” Vince said and gave Gibbs a finger gun point. “Elizabeth, go find whoever is second in charge. We’ll keep going till we find the right person.

“Dea… get rid of him. Someone this foul doesn’t… deserve to live. Tim, let’s have a chat about what you can do for Yosemite and the Lord of the Dryads.”

The valley goddess lifted her hands up suddenly while Elizabeth took to the sky, flying back toward the city.

There was a glowing spark in the center of Dea’s eyes. A very intense spark that threatened to burn the world.

With a roar of dirt and rocks being shoved around a massive hand was formed not too far away. Easily four times as big as an Ogre’s the arm stretched impossibly over to the man.

It plucked him up by thumb and forefinger and brought him into the green palm. The fingers snapped shut around him followed by a crunching of bones and a strangled moan.

Then the hand slid down back into the earth and Thomas vanished.

Pulled into the earth and nothing existing where the hand had once been, except for a loose ring of stones where the arm had vanished back into the ground.

Tim had stood perfectly still during the entire exchange, his eyes watching as Thomas was simply taken away. Only for the soldier to slowly turn to Vince and offer the man a tight smile.

“May I… may I send word to my superiors that I’ve encountered a superior force that is taking over Spain as a whole. That it’s led by a man called the Lord of the Dryads with… with very strong allies, who has taken control of Magi Vale.

“As well as the fact that I’d very much like to negotiate with the aforementioned party in good faith and negotiate a truce. As I don’t think Franconia would want to open up a third theater of war at this time.”

“That’d be fine,” Vince allowed. “I’ll be here for a time. Would you like to leave now?”

“Very much so, my Lord,” admitted Tim with a small nod of his head.

“Then go. That’s fine. Come back when you can as you can. Preferably with what you can negotiate with,” offered Vince.

The entire time he’d been speaking with the man Vince had found fear, concern, and a great deal of trepidation. Dea’s display had unhinged the man and left him with a fear that felt common to the man.

One that Vince couldn’t identify, either.

Tim didn’t look as if he knew how to say goodbye to Vince and settled for a hand wave. He turned and started back the way he’d come from.

Red watched the man leave, folding her arms across herself. She tilted her head to one side and had a curious look on her features.

“Red thinks the soldier man is afraid,” muttered the Beastkin.

“He’s terrified,” agreed Dea, her eyes still holding the same spark. She looked acutely introspective. Her hands slowly moving back and forth in front of herself. “Its a fear I can identify as I experienced it a few times.

“He’s afraid what his command officers will tell him to do. Afraid that they might tell him to do something incredibly stupid. Like launch an attack on Bilbao or the Magi Vale.

“That’s just me guessing but… that’s what I’d be feeling if I was him.”

Ah… that makes sense. Lines up with what I was getting from him as well. Couldn’t read his mind that well but could get a read on his feelings.

Well.

All we can do is get the Magi Vale as a neutral party, or an ally. If they don’t want to cooperate, we can annihilate the city. Though I’d rather not.

For Tim and his people, the same if not worse. Because I won’t hesitate in this. I’ll gladly create a demilitarized zone again. To have small Dragon-soul type bombs across set off at the foot of the Pyreneese mountains.

All the way across except for a single kill funnel I’ll hold.

Yosemite will never let another Tri-lliance invasion happen again.

In fact… that talk with Elizabeth needs to happen.

Immediately.

We need more Dragons. Both for ammo, and support.

“Good thing Bringer wants you in his harem, Dea,” Red said with a chuckle. “Or Red thinks you’d be no different than the other Battle-Dryads. Antona only has a smattering interest for Bringer, no more than any other Dryad.

“Red will pity and invite her to take Blue’s place here and there. Red thinks Antona is quite nice and she has a darker mind than most Dryad’s.

“Blue… wouldn’t mind, would she? Red doesn’t want to upset her… her wife.”

“I wouldn’t mind that, Red,” confirmed Blue. “I have a lot of work to do. I never appreciated all that Meliae and Mouth did, I’m afraid.

“I suppose… Antona can be my own Mouth, in a way.”

“No, that’s Dea, wife. Dea is our Mouth,” argued Red who walked over to said goddess. “Bringer likes her more and her mouth is nicer.”

Dea was blinking rapidly and looking between Red and Blue with a clearly nervous and confused look. More so as Red got close to her and reached up to gently cup Dea’s mouth with one hand.

“This is Dea, she will be our mouth. Red think she’s quite pretty and will gladly use her if Red doesn’t feel like Red wants to earn her food. Husband is also very interested in her. Red can smell it. Can’t you, Blue?” asked Red.

“I… well, yes but… Dea… are you okay with all this? You don’t even know what this all means,” inquired Blue

“Vince is my Lord in everything,” Dea whispered, still standing there with Red tenderly cradling her jaw and chin. “I’m… stronger than anyone I’ve ever known of. I would deny him nothing for what he’s given me back.”

“See? Dea will be our mouth,” Red declared and then gave Dea a warm and tender kiss that lasted only a second. Blue only nodded her head with a smile at the other woman. “Red welcomes you Dea the mouth.”

“I-okay. Thank you, Red. Blue,” said Dea.