Wild Wastes 4 -Ch27- (Patreon)

Vince noticed that just behind him was the Legionnaire who had only a pistol. They’d come up right behind him and were practically leaning against the back of his armor.

They were peaking out around him with one hand resting against his back.

I wonder who that is. Can’t tell.

Across from his firing line the enemy was scrambling amongst themselves. All of them trying to get out of the front line even as those in the middle and back worked to get forward.

The entire enemy position was in disarray.

Uhm… suit external speakers on?

Maximum volume?

I want to make an announcement?

“Complete,” came the response.

“I am the Lord of the Dryads!” Vince shouted. “I came under a white-banner of truce to discuss the situation with you and you’ve fired upon me!

“Why shouldn’t I exterminate the lot of you and wait for the next army? Maybe they’ll be willing to talk with me?”

“BD-One, out to the left, prong. BD-Two, out to the right, prong,” ordered Antona. “BD-Three, BD-Four, BD-Five, double quick to the rear of the enemy. Line up on the path of retreat.”

Ah. She’s going to try and maneuver while I chat them up.

Makes sense. No reason not to.

It isn’t like they respected the white flag to begin with.

No reason to respect their.

There was a pause as a number of confirmation messages came back.

“Make sure no officer survives,” hissed Antona after the responses died off.

Vince felt a shuddering sensation in his grove. As if a great many Dryad trees had quiverd in anticipation.

The enemy ranks were starting to form up in front of them. The panic they’d been under was falling away as the incoming fire died away.

“Well? Last chance or I just mow you all down,” prompted Vince. “We came with a white flag and you still fired on us. You’re lucky I’m even trying.”

Heads turned, helmets shifted, people were looking around.

These individuals likely had no idea what was going on. They were the ones who’d suffer for their master’s mistakes.

Unfortunately there was no way for him to be charitable to them. Regretfully they were his enemy, despite never knowing what the hell was going on. Or even what they were fighting against, he imagined.

No one came to speak with him. Not a soul stepped forward to engage with him.

The enemy simply milled about.

Something shifted inside him even as this massive mistake on the part of Spain played out before his eyes. A strange feeling that felt almost as if he remembered something he’d forgotten.

As if he’d been searching for a particular word to say in a conversation, then remembered it five minutes later. To the point that you have to say it out loud just to taste that word.

That feeling spread throughout Vince almost like his body had been numb and asleep. He was suddenly filled with tingling itchiness.

All of the trees in his grove woke.

Meliae, Mouth, Daphne, Karya, Green, every tree was suddenly there. Awake, aware, and investigating all their new grove-mates. Actively pulling at Dea and her earth and grass hidden away in the roots.

What… what’s going on?

The Legionnaire behind Vince moved out in front of him. They were trembling visibly. Shivering from head to toe.

The pistol in their hand dropped down to the grass and they stood there. Staring out at the enemy forces. Vince was starting to suspect that it was Dea herself given the reaction to what was happening in his grove.

As all the Dryad trees became active they all in turn pushed into Dea’s soil and added to it. Growing it, expanding it, all while making sure their trees were all incorporated effectively.

Then Vince finally realized what was happening.

Here, in Spain, the day was approaching the end. The sun setting behind them.

Likely starting to rise in the far distant west.

Where Yosemite was.

Everyone was waking up to find a new command had been given. That Dea was the deity of Yosemite and that they had a new presence in their grove.

One that apparently granted them the ability to their trees to no longer be dormant.

“I hear them all,” came Dea’s voice across the speakers. “So many Dryads all call out to me with joy in their hearts. Even those not in my grove. They… recognize me as their goddess. There’s so many. I had no idea.

“We must spread the word of the Lord of Dryads even further. To call them all to us and grow their will. To all support our Lord.”

Dea shoved her arms up and a massive and terrifying power blew out of her. It was an order of magnitude several times higher than what he’d seen of her previously. When she’d made an arm of earth to kill a single man.

Giant walls of earth and stone rose up around their enemies. Thick and sturdy they rose up to thirty feet and then stopped.

Dea stood there in her Legionnaire armor.

Unmoving.

In a single move she’d enclosed the enemy force completely.

“I… am the Lady of the Grove,” she said suddenly in the microphone. “Lady Dea of the Dryads. A deity who serves the Lord of the Dryads. My true priestess is Meliae. In turn, her head priestesses are Blue, Green, Mouth, Daphne, and Karya.

“I see it all now. I feel it. It’s… its all there. I had no idea it was so vast. What I’d felt up to this point was just a small fraction of it all.”

“Glad to hear it,” Vince offered. He had no idea what to actually say at this point.

“Thank you, my Lord,” whispered Dea. Then she turned in place and looked to one side. “Commander Antona.”

“Yes, Lady Dea?” asked the Dryad.

“Begin processing the prisoners,” ordered Dea. “Simply command the earth to move for you and it shall.

“Report to your priestess when you’re done. You will serve her directly, as she is the Grove-wife of our lord here. All Dryads will be present for worship tomorrow morning at sunrise. No exceptions. Everyone will arrive before sunrise so we may prepare.

“Priestess Blue will guide you all on where to be and how to proceed. Do everything she tells you to, Commander. I’ll handle my own piece of it.”

“Of course, Lady Dea,” Antona answered.

Dea’s head moved and the front of her helmet faced him directly.

“Lord, your goddess would ask you to please be present for worship tomorrow morning,” she asked.

“That’s fine. After we get that handled we should go pay a visit to Madrid,” agreed Vince. It would take them days to process all these prisoners. Not to mention taking the dead and storing them for later.

“I of course will do as my Lord asks,” Dea promised and then performed what looked a lot like a curtsy. Just without a dress to spread apart.

Turning, Vince practically bumped into Elizabeth.

“Nest-mate, please speak with my mother?” asked the Dragon. “I… know that you two didn’t start off on the right tone and… please… I need—”

Vince put his gauntleted hands on the Dragon’s nose and nodded his head.

“It’s alright. I’ll speak with her. We’re done here. We can go back to Bilbao. I’ll speak with her personally. Okay?” he promised. “I’ll do it if only because I don’t want to see you like this. Be my proud and fierce Dragon who promised death to an entire city on my behalf.”

“Yes. I… yes. I will do so. I’m… I’m your Dragon,” she agreed, her head lowering down to the ground and closing her eyes under his continued petting of her head. “I’ll be your proud and fierce Dragon. I’ll add more to the wing so that they may serve and worship the Lord of the Dryads.”

Hm. I wonder if my Demi-God title is going to grow to an actual god. Definitely starting to shape up in a weird way.

Vince kept petting and stroking at Elizabeth’s head as the Dryads moved to the dirt walls. They were discussing how to proceed with processing all the prisoners and what to do with them.

***

Stepping up onto the top of the keep, Vince looked at all the now empty space.

All the Dryad trees had been planted throughout the city. Placed in suitable places picked out by their former Dryads.

There was a lot more green in Bilbao now.

“Elizabeth, call your mother,” asked Vince as he reached up to adjust his tunic. He’d had to change clothes after getting out of the Sword of Yosemite.

It’d been a very successful trial run. He was feeling keen on the idea of running off to Madrid in it. To lay waste to an army all by himself just as he’d once done in the past. This time with Elizabeth and Dea rather than Taylor and Caroline.

Glancing to his side he found the goddess of the Dryads beside him. She had an almost whimsical look on her face as she looked around. From what he could tell, he could hear all the Dryads who called out to her. If they invoked her name, she heard them.

She couldn’t do much to communicate back with them, though she could send impressions or feelings to them. From what he’d gotten out of Blue, Dea was sending a great many warm, happy, and very friendly feelings out to all the Dryads.

“Oh! Yes, thank you again, Nest-mate. I’m really… thank you. You’re being very attentive to your Dragon who was a very poor partner to you. I’ve failed you so much and—”

“And you keep trying,” Vince said, interrupting her. “Call your mom.”

“I-ah, yes. Yes, Lord. Yes… Nest-mate,” mumbled Elizabeth. Then she said something in a language he didn’t understand.

If he had to bet it’d probably be Draconic.

There was a pause before a large and translucent form partly materialized in the sky above them. It had the look of a very large Dragon but was immaterial and without true shape.

“Greetings, Lord of the Dryads,” greeted Ferris. The voice was a bit deeper than his mind told him it should be. A bit more aged.

Though it was still the goddess of the Dragons as far as he could tell.

“Evening, Ferris. My Dragon Maiden tells me you wished to speak with me. I didn’t want to,” admitted Vince. “I had no intention to. She asked me to earnestly and I do so now only because I wish her to be happy.

“That and she… seems intent on being more than just an underling. I get the impression I’ll be giving her a clutch and a nest. Wouldn’t be great to have a shitty relationship with my kids’ grandma.”

The large incorporeal Dragon let out a long sigh and then nodded its head.

“Then I thank you for speaking with me. I wanted to speak with you because I need a favor from you,” said the goddess.

“Tri-lliance isn’t worshiping you and/or blames you for what you for the treaty they desperately needed,” guessed Vince. “That about right?”

“I… yes. That’s exactly it. Yes. They blame me for their unadvised war and the treaty I brokered for them,” agreed Ferris, sounding somewhat surprised. “Did my daughter tell you this?”

“She only mentioned the Tri-lliance wasn’t being strict with religious laws. That’s all. The rest was a guess,” muttered Vince.

He already had an idea of how to fix this. It wasn’t something he wanted to engage in though. Except it wouldn’t harm his prestige any and would give him more avenues to work with.

“Fine. Become a goddess under my purview, Ferris. I’ll be the Lord of Dryads and Dragons. I can offer the left hand that’s as warm as a mother’s hug, or the right, gauntleted in steel and backed with fire,” he said after a few moments and then shook his head. “We’ll just phrase it as you were well pleased with me due to the way I slaughtered my foes as a Dragon should. You offered me your daughter’s hand in marriage, and I welcomed you into my pantheon as my mother-in-law.

“That makes it easier so that others can join without them only being my wives. Like the Dryad goddess right here. They worship her, and through her, me. Her Lord.”

Vince tossed a thumb at Dea who was next to him. She’d been eying the Dragon goddess curiously. He also had the vague feeling that Dea was at parity with Ferris now. That though the number of worshipers was significantly lower than Ferris, the depth of that worship was much greater.

Ferris had recoiled instantly at his suggestion. Her head shaking rapidly side to side.

After a pause the motion had slowed, then reversed course. She was now making a small nod of her head.

“Your Dragons are rather powerful. The fact that Taylor, the oldest Black on this plane, worships you as she does is testimony to that. You even tamed Ramona,” mused Ferris. “If Dragons and Dragonnewts worshiped me, just to lay that worship upon you, than I would be stronger than I am even now.

“I could pull my broods up from the south and have them all move into Yosemite. They’d certainly be more well cared for there. Taylor’s wing commands great respect.”

“Just put down a colony of Dragons for each city and ask them to serve as the garrison. Though be sure to check in with Duke Heint for his own city. He may want specific Dragons in his city,” suggested Vince. “As to the hostages I have… well… I can free them all if you became the goddess of Dragons for Yosemite.”

“No! No. If we did this, I would ask that you give them all clutches. It would be preferable for you to sire children among those Dragons I sent to you. They’re… all my children. All of them. They’re the only ones I could command as I did.

“It would be preferable for them to all become family to you. That would solidify my claims to being your mother-in-law. Yes.”

Really? Huh. Alright.

“Wonderful. Go work out the details with Taylor. Have Elizabeth be your representative or champion here. You can have Taylor be your champion in North America,” Vince clarified. “Oh, and while you’re here. Are there Dragons in Europe? Elizabeth wants to expand her wing but we haven’t come across any yet.

“Is this like it was in North America? Where they were all in the south? Keeping to their own colonies.”

“Not quite,” Ferris said after a slow pause. “Many were hunted to the point of near extinction here. Nullifiers and magicians all under the yoke of the Tribunal of Arraignment. The Dragons also worshiped a different Dragon god than I.

“They no longer do as the god failed their worshipers. To be direct, the gods instruction wasn’t very good and it led to so many losses that they retreated from the world completely. Moved on to their own afterlife.”

Turning her head Ferris looked to Elizabeth.

“Travel to the south. Cross the water and land immediately. Humanity and those of other worlds were entirely wiped out by a god of chaos. It wiped out all sentient life on that continent and began crossing into a new territory. There it was stopped and there it remains,” Ferris explained. “All Dragonkind of these areas settled that continent. There are few reds, no Primordials, and many Black, Blue, and Green. There’s a number of Gold, Silver, and White as well.

“Do… do as Taylor bade you. Collect them and promise them a Dragon goddess that will hear them. That has heard them and sent you to the south to call them north.

“That should be enough for many. Kill or conquer those who don’t listen.”

“Yes, mother,” Elizabeth said and then dove off the tower. She transformed as she fell and started to wing her way off to the south. Flying straight away.

“She was never interested in anything,” murmured Ferris in a whisper. “Nothing. Now she wants to know how to please you. To give you more of her kind as presents. She even scolded me when I complained of how you’d treated me.

“My daughter is… all grown up. Thank you for giving her that chance instead of simply taking her life, Vince.”

Frowning, Vince shook his head, then shrugged his shoulders.

“She’s a good Dragon. Just young and dumb. Needs a few years to get some wisdom. She’ll be fine. Didn’t realize she was a platinum. Impressive of you to push out so many different colors, Ferris,” Vince said and then laughed. “You didn’t look like the type to have so many children. You were rather attractive in your human form, if a bit older than me.”

The Dragon goddess appeared to be shocked by his statement.

“Ah… I chose that form if only to… err… that,” Ferris coughed and her voice changed considerably. It became significantly higher in timbre and sounded much younger. “You wouldn’t believe how often I had to force myself to look older, or sound older, to get respect.”

The insubstantial dragon disappeared and a young woman simply came into existence in front of him.

She was as young as Elizabeth, with white hair, and bright-blue eyes that were almost white in color. White horns stuck straight back from her temples and curled up around her head, almost like a crown.

Her figure wasn’t as out of proportion as Taylor or a Dryads. She was put together with more than a human woman had but it wasn’t too much. Her face was finely featured and blessed with a grace to it as well.

“And to be honest, they’re not actually my daughters. Just those I’ve blessed with my essence,” said Ferris, giving him a curious look. “My children all died out thousands of years ago. I’m afraid I’ve been in a bit of a barren patch since then.”

Dea began to laugh at that and then looked at Vince with a grin.

“Maybe your pantheon will be all wives after all,” offered the Dryad goddess. “I can smell your desire for her from here.”

“Oh… really?” asked Ferris, sounding somewhat confused. She looked at him for a second longer and then laughed, presenting Vince with a smile that was truly a gift. It made her entire face light up and gave her a far more human look. “Goodness. I think… I think I should go. Now. But I’ll… I’ll discuss the details with Taylor.”

Moving forward the attractive Dragon in human form came close and then gave Vince a kiss that lasted all of a split-second. It was a gentle brushing of lips that felt more familial than romantic.

“I pledge myself to you as your Dragon goddess, Lord of the Dragons. Lord of Dryads,” she said and gave him an enigmatic smile. The image he had of Ferris in his head had been irrevocably shattered now. “I’ll drop in if you call on me. I’ll go speak with the others for now.”

There was a heartbeats worth of time before Ferris began to splinter apart. Her body coming apart in fragments of sparkling dust, faith magic, and smoke.

Vince was left alone with Dea on the roof top.

That and an unmistakable desire to find someone to tumble. He really didn’t want to admit what he’d felt spark to life when Ferris got as close to him as she did.

It’s not like she was ever my enemy. She even advised the Tri-lliance to not go to war. In fact, one could argue she’s been an ally since the start.

I wonder… with her as a goddess, and her Dragon’s word pledged, does that break it so that I can invade the Tri-lliance?

Would she be able to invade the Tri-lliance for me and conquer it?

“Should we do it here, or in the bed? I’m okay with either but… I’d prefer the bed,” offered Dea. Her words struck at the center of Vince’s libido and he found himself nodding his head quickly. “I’m the Lady of the Dryads, but I don’t… really… share their want of shame or pain, I’m afraid. I’m your Lady and I do expect a modicum of respect and care.”

“Bed,” Vince declared and turned around. “I’ll give you all the respect and care I can even as I hold you down in the bed.”