Wild Wastes 5 -ch3- (Patreon)

Vince bounced lightly as he walked. Moving his arms back and forth and rolling his shoulders. Letting his body roll and warm itself as he kept moving toward the enemy.

He had most of his standard weaponry, thankfully.

His pistol, a number of magazines for it, and his sword.

Wearing Legionnaire armor he felt fairly sure of himself, too. The only really he had with it was he really didn’t like wearing a helmet.

It made him feel closed in and unable to see everything.

Even if it would keep his head from being taken off by a heavy caliber rifle round.

Unholstering his pistol Vince pulled the slide to rack a round into the chamber. He flipped the safety switch and then pushed it back into it’s place.

Turning his head, he looked over his shoulder.

When he hadn’t been paying attention the Dryads, Elves, and Dragons had seemingly broken into groups of three each. Each one always had the same group-makeup as well.

One Dragon, one Dryad, at least one Elf.

Renata, Antona, and Elysia had all moved to stand near one another as well. Which meant what they were doing was starting at the top.

“Huh,” Vince muttered and nodded his head at them when they all looked at him. “Squads of three?”

“For now,” Renata answered with a brilliant smile as the other two nodded their heads. “We’re going to experiment to see what works best! The Praecantrix and Battle Dryads have more numbers to my kind.”

“We might end up adding more Dryads to each Dragon. We’re… we’re… I asked Meliae for permission to recruit Dryads into the Battle Dryads,” Antona added to the conversation. “I’m going to bolster my ranks. The Dryads are an under utilized resource right now in Yosemite. Most of them are just… pushing out children because they have nothing else to do. I want to expand their roles.”

Oh?

Well.

That’s surprising.

“As long as they’re in my grove and Meliae approves of them,” Vince clarified.

“The same will be happening for the Elves,” Elysia put in quickly. “I have an open recruitment for any and all Elves that have average or better talent with magic. Those with mana sensitivity but no training, will be trained.”

Vince had kept moving ahead even while listening.

Turning he looked to Renata as he was expecting a similar statement from her.

Smiling nervously, Elizbeth chewed at her lower lip.

“Uhm. Elizabeth is recruiting Dragons and Dragonnewts. As many as she can force, cajole, invite, or bribe. So long as they fully submit with their Dragon’s Word to her,” Renata admitted as he stared at her. Chewing at her full lower lip and wringing her hands together. “Only from Europe and beyond. Nothing from North America. That’s… that’s the North American Wing under Taylor’s jurisdiction.”

“Uh huh… and how big is my little… Dryad, Dragon, Elven army going to be in a few days?” he asked, suspecting this was bigger than he already knew. Perhaps even caused by his prodding of the possibility of an Elven Goddess.

“We’ll be at about two-hundred Elves and Dryads each. Ninety or so Dragons,” Renata said as the other two turned to look at her. For whatever reason they were using her as a conduit to talk to him. “I… I think having an Elven goddess would allow an Elf to be invited into… a Dragon and Dryad pairing. Using faith magic, a Dragon’s word, and the Elven heritage magic itself! Elysia… Elysia, myself, and Antona are experimenting a bit but there’s a missing component. Probably the deity.”

“Oh. So nothing to put in me? Good. Pretty sure I’m running out of room. I’m not an endless bag of space or something. I’m really getting nervous that if I get hit the wrong way I’ll just start throwing up plants,” joked Vince with a chuckle. He turned and looked back ahead.

Dragons, Dryads, Elves.

Realizing he needed to ask a question he looked back to the trio again.

“Elven goddess. Any thoughts?” he inquired to Elysia.

“Ah… none… but… apparently Ferris and Dea have an idea,” answered the High-Elf, looking to the two others. Who were now looking bashful and not at him at all.

Neither said anything.

Which meant they didn’t want to speak for their deities.

Shrugging, Vince looked ahead again.

“Can… we take the field first, my Lord?” inquired Renata. “We’d like to try out a few things. See what works for us. If-if you don’t mind.”

“Be my guest. They’re doing us a favor and preparing a nice formation for us to hit. Looks like they stripped their siege down to the bare minimum,” answered Vince, his eyes picking over the enemies arrayed about before them. “I’m sure Cristina and whoever’s in Coruna will see this as an opportunity, too.”

“Maybe. All the Dryads and Dragons in the city already exited,” Antona offered with some trepidation in her voice.

“Where’s Elizabeth, then?” Vince grumbled and then looked around. She’d slipped off at some point.

“Ah, relaying a few messages and… uh, bringing Blue here,” Renata mumbled and then sighed with a shake of her head. “She wants me to lead the Dragons in combat right now. I’m somewhat of a figure head after having died to complete my orders, been resurrected, than saved our Lord.

“I’m not as strong as her, but I’m also much more of a figurehead than her. I… I will… she made me a leader amongst the Draco Custodes. Antona is the same for what we’re calling the Bellum Dryadum and… and Brianne is that for the Praecantrix in all… similar capacities.”

Brianne is a Praecantrix?

Surprising.

She grew up since the last time I saw her then. She was still a bit of a young woman with fluffy ideas in her head.

“Draco Custodes. Bellum Dryadum,” repeated Vince, realizing they were changing their name to fit Elysia and her Elves.

All three nodded their heads to that.

“Our… our priestesses will be Blue, Elizabeth, and me, my liege,” Elysia stated. “Brianne is passing off all her duties and will be taking my place shortly. After that I’m going to formally resign and join Blue and Elizabeth in… the priestess-hood.”

Once again, Vince only nodded his head.

He didn’t really care how they managed themselves as long as it made things better for everyone. Anything else wasn’t much of a concern for him.

“Whatever you three wanna do,” Vince stated. “Elysia, plan on being a steward again while you’re here though. I’m worthless and Petra is going to lean on you hard.”

“Not a problem, my liege,” she stated with a sharp nod of her head. “Many of my family members joined through the normal jobs Petra needed filled. They’re all remaining at the fortress until such a time as the field is safer, or Dragons can ferry them around.”

“Ha… I should have known. I just need to leave it to my Elves,” said Vince laughingly. “Well, I guess my Elves, Dryads, and Dragons now. Don’t disappoint me, I look forward to seeing what you can do.

“We’ll dedicate this victory to the birth of the Praecantrix to help push you along. Well… if you can make it memorable.”

Setting off at a fast jog Vince began to peel away. He had a way to go if he was going to move behind the army.

Not to mention, he wanted to see if he could burn or steal their supplies.

This was a chance to let his people grow a bit with their own plans and resources without counting on him.

When he did find them he set himself to that goal and plunged whole-heartedly into slaughtering fools who could probably barely handle one of his children, let alone him.

There was no mercy in Vince for them. Each and every one who came at him was someone who willingly approached him to fight.

They could have just as easily ran away from him.

It wasn’t until a Dragon roar could be heard that he “woke up” from the mind-numbing and boring job he’d put upon himself.

Looking he saw that it was apparently Renata who’d made the roar.

Glancing around himself to make sure he was in the clear, he watched several soldiers who were flat out running away from him.

Given that he was at the center of a number of corpses all around him he couldn’t blame them.

In fact, they were the smart ones.

Of those corpses, the overwhelming majority fo them had been cut down by his sword. He’d wanted to face them in hand to hand combat to make their inferiority obvious as soon as someone tried.

Looking back to Reanta, he could see a number of Dragons all take to the air as well.

“Won’t… they just get hit by Nullifier’s and knocked to the ground?” Vince asked aloud, wondering if they’d concoted some sort of plan for this.

Lifting his sword up he casually pushed it through the wounded soldier he’d been staring at, running the blade through their heart and lungs. Twisting the blade to make it quick Vince put his attention entirely on the battle that was just starting.

An enemy I leave alive today is another one I must face tomorrow.

A very bright green Dryad shield came into life in front of the Dragon. Which was then reinforced by a bright blue web of mana that ran throughout the shield almost like the veins on a leaf.

Renata was obvious and in the front of the formation of Dragons. He assumed Brianne and Antona would be atop her given what they’d said before.

Rocketing through the air Renata pulled away from everyone else.

Multiple Nullifier rounds blasted into the shield that surrounded her. Causing it to practically instantly shatter apart.

Only to be reformed even as it broke.

Those bright lines of mana held it all together even as it restructured itself into one cohesive piece again. The amount of mana required to do all that seemed somewhat beyond what Vince would expect a mage to be able to hold up under.

There was just that many Nullifier rounds striking the Dryad shield.

“Renata must be channeling energy to Brianne, who’s reinforcing Antona, and providing energy for her as well,” mused Vince aloud. “That’d make sense and… it’d be quite viable. They’re all in physical contact with one another after all.

“If they were on the ground and in human form, Renata could use magic, having the Dryad shield for protection and Brianne acting as the fine tunning and accuracy.

“If physical, they could just shoot it all while Renata provided support. Huh… worked out rather well I guess. I wonder if dear ol’ dad-in-law had anything to do with this. He seems to be a god of unlikely coincidences.”

Casually as could be the Dragons shrugged off Nullifier rounds as if they were nothing. Linning up on the ground forces that’d been preparing themselves for a pike and shot type of fight the targets were easy.

Renata leaned her head down and casually drew a column of fire across the entirety of the army. Passing right over them even as they fired upward at her.

Rounds slammed into the Dryad shield and did little to nothing at all even as Nullifier spells continued to pound away at it. No matter how many times it broke, it was simply held together.

Then all the other Dragons came in a line. Dropping a wave of fire down just as Renata had done. Then they all turned away from the enemy ranks and began winging their way back.

Back to the line of Dryads and Elves marching forward with shields and rifles held.

Vince had amazing eyesight but even he felt they were too far to really make out much more than that. He swore he could see wings in their numbers though. As if some of the Dragons had remained behind.

Or… the Dragonnewts I suppose.

Vince turned away from the battle realizing it was already a complete victory. The remnants of the country wasn’t going to be much of an issue for his forces at this rate.

His attention would need to shift to Francia and what they could do. From what reports they had, they had better arms, armor, Nullifier strength, and even employed enslaved magicians.

They were going to be his fight from here on out.

Not the Francoist government here in Spain.

Marching off, Vince decided he might as well make his way down this siege line.

By the time he got around behind them, chances were they’d have quit the field outright.

***

Vince had been wrong, in the end.

The enemy had fled long before he made it around to the point that’d be behind them.

It was in fact only a few minutes after the rifles of the Legion opened fire. Showing what a high rate of sustainable fire with plentiful ammunition could do to a force standing around and attempting to reload and shoot in lines.

Even if they were doing it from trenches or behind cover, there wasn’t much they could do against such overwhelming force.

They needed much greater armaments and magic to stand toe to toe with the Legion of Yosemite.

Casually as could be, Vince walked toward where the mass of Elves, Dryads, and Dragons were. They were currently rounding up any and everyone who surrendered.

Then rushing them to stand in front of a Dragon, Dryad, and an Elf. Only to have one of those three nod or shake their head.

A nod got the prisoner moved to the next group.

A shake of their head provoked a sharp response.

The barrel of a rifle being put to the side of that prisoners head and a round going through it.

Dragons were casually circling around overhead, shields in place, as they clearly guided ground forces. Vince had no idea how they were communicating but it seemed effective and was working.

“Oooh, Petra… wait till you see our newest toy,” Vince whispered to himself. “This is a force that could show up anywhere, strike with overwhelming force, and then retreat quickly.”

Vince managed to walk right up to several Dryads who were busily talking to one another before anyone noticed him. He looked like any other Legionnaire really, other than he wore a sword and a pistol.

“My lord!” said one of the Dryads who promptly pulled their helmet off.

He was immediately blessed with a view of Dionara. An incredibly attractive Dryad even amongst Dryads, despite having very similar features to the majority of her kind. With short brown hair and warm brown eyes.

The Dryad next to her popped her own helmet off as well, revealing Ynes standing right next to her. She and Dionara looked quite similar though Ynes had a smile that Vince was sure could melt steel.

“Ynes, Dionara, a pleasure to look on you both,” Vince said and walked up to them.

The third Dryad had scampered off as soon as they realized it was him. More than probably to go fetch whoever they felt should be here to talk to him.

Distantly, he could hear a trumpeting from a Dragon that sounded immediately familiar to him. One that he knew by sound alone.

“Ferris?” Vince remarked and turned his head.

The large Dragon Goddess was currently whipping through the air before turning her head to lay waste to what was likely soldiers. All the while a multitude of spells were being shot free from a rider on her back that was almost certainly Dea.

“Ah… lord… are you alright?” Dionara asked, pulling his attention back to her.

“Perfectly fine, dear Grove-wife,” Vince murmured, turning to face her with a smile. “How’re you? Any fallen sisters I need to call back today?”

“No! No. Everyone’s fine, actually,” Ynes answered and shook her hands back and forth quickly. “Ah… we… that… our Elven partners took care of us. No losses, no… no wounded.”

“That sounds about right, honestly,” admitted with a chuckle. “Though I do wonder who they’re going to choose as their goddess.”

“Yaris,” Ynes answered with a smile that nearly sent Vince straight into bedroom thoughts. “Oh. I… my… I know you said you liked my smile but… well, yes.

“Anyways… Yaris. They’re going to turn her into a goddess. She’s a Royal Elf that brokered a deal with Vince Campbell to save her nation. She became his queen, battled every woman who rose up, became Fes, and single-handedly wrangled a multi-race people into one.

“Admittedly people say she couldn’t have done it without the Campbell brothers, but still, it’s quite the feat.”

“Ooh, Ynes… let’s see if we can’t steal him away,” purred Dionara, reaching out to take Vince by the elbow. “Look at me, Grove-husband. Aren’t I lovely? Shouldn’t you take us away from here? You said I was pretty.

“We can go pick up our Dragon and bring her with us. She’s a lovely Red. Strong in magic, almost as fast as Renata, and even stronger than a few other colors. You’ll like her a lot. We made sure of it.

“We already found a lovely High-Elf and a sweet little Wood Elf to join us in our squad as well but we don’t know where they are right now so it’d be a little hard to find them.”

Vince wanted to nod his head and agree.

He couldn’t deny he was heavily attracted to both women.

Any man would be.

“Ah… not yet, sorry, my liege. I’ll take you and them away after this personally and make it fun,” apologized Elysia, coming over at a quick walk. “We need to focus our efforts to deify Yaris. We’ll dedicate this all to her, the wife of our lord, the goddess of the Elves, the royal bloodline consecrated with and by Vince.

“Given how much respect the Elves already send her way… won’t be hard. The difficulty is… she won’t be able to be here given she’s our queen.”

“That’d be an issue I suppose. She’ll likely need a high-priestess surrogate to act in her stead. Sounds like you’re gonna get forced into a new role, my dear High-Elven High-Priestess to be,” Vince murmured, staring at Elysia now.

The woman in question frowned, blinked, then clearly thought that he was right as her face looked quite concerned now.

“That’s… fine. I’ll get through it and make it work. It isn’t an issue, my liege,” Elysia said with a wave of her hand. “So… let’s get this dedication moving. I’m told we’ll have to ritualize it, turn it into a story, and make sure there’s extreme belief in it.

“Ferris and Dea will be on hand soon to lend credence to that. You’ll need to pull your helmet off and help.”

“Oh… great. Fair warning though,” murmured Vince with a very predatory smile. “Rituals in my religion tend to revolve around… a lot of sex.

“You’re the high-priestess, right? Hope you’re ready to be watched by a several hundred pairs of eyes.”

Elysia blinked several times then took in a slow and deep breath, before giving him a somewhat tired smile.

“I suppose that’ll just be how it is,” she answered with a slow glow spreading through her face. “Well… it’ll least it’ll be memorable, my liege. In fact… I already have an idea on how to tie this directly in with Yaris.”

Then she smiled at him.