Wild Wastes 5 -Ch6- (Patreon)

“Vince, I feel there’s something… very wrong here. We should leave,” Leila murmured where she sat next to Vince. He got the impression she wanted to say more, but not right at this moment.

For the last three or four hours, they’d sat, talked, and ate with the Duke in more or less congenial company. The man had indeed brought his kids over, tea, and a great many side dishes.

There’d been no sign of anything being out of the ordinary in any way. Not at any level. To the point that he felt like his senses and his nerves were quite relaxed.

Except…

If Leila told him he had a ghost wrapped around his head and needed to dunk it in a barrel of water to get rid of it, he’d be seeing who he had to talk to to get said barrel. His trust in Leila was without end or measure.

Which meant that there was something very wrong here.

“Time to go?” he asked, not bothering to ask for more information.

“I… uh… you’re not going to-ah… yeah, we should leave,” Leila murmured, staring up at him strangely.

“Then we’re leaving. My lovely Gnomish Warlock wife said there’s something wrong, so it’s time to go,” Vince said and stood up. Reaching down he picked up Leila and held onto her while moving right to where Elizabeth was laying down. She was dozing near the fire and looked quite placated.

As he moved Vince pulled gently at his connection with Dea, Blue, and Elizabeth. He put an element of need and wariness into it hoping that they could interpret it correctly.

“Vince-you shouldn’t-errr… this is embarrassing,” mumbled Leila who put an arm around Vince instead.

“Elizabeth, time to go,” stated Vince as simply as he could. “Quick like. We’ve got news that we need to act on in the south.”

Snuffling, Elizabeth got up fairly quickly. Even before he’d really finished speaking, clearing having felt what he’d wanted from her.

Getting to her freet she spread her wings with a great shake of her body.

“Ah? What what? Narry a problem I hope?” asked the Duke as he came over toward Vince. He’d been speaking with one of his men quietly.

“Oh, just realized we’ve been here too long. Need to go check in with the forces we left across the channel,” lied Vince with a charming smile. As casual as could be he tossed Leila up to land on the back of Elizabeth. “We’ll be back in about thirty minutes, give or take. Just need to drop off what information we have.”

Everyone was quickly forming up around him even as he explained. Then began getting atop of Elizabeth as he excused them from the situation without instruction.

“What? But you haven’t even met the king yet,” mumbled the Duke, looking surprised and dissapointed.

“With any luck, he’ll be arriving when we come back!” Vince offered and then gently lifted up Elysia and pushed her up onto Elizabeth, only to mount on behind her. Dea, Red, and Zathira all got on behind him after that. “We’ll be back after we complete our check-in, it won’t even take a minute to relay the information.”

The second everyone was more or less settled Elizabeth took them into the air, wheeled around with enough force to cause all her riders to clutch to her, then begin speeding off back toward the main continent. Not waiting for even a second longer.

She didn’t even bother to try and gain altitude, instead opting to fly swiftly and straight ahead. Passing across the surface of the water much closer than Vince would prefer.

To the point that he could feel spray coming up to patter at his face as the waves met and pushed at one another below them. Some of the crests of those waves actually touching Elizabeth’s claws and tail.

“Red doesn’t like being so low!” called the Cursed one. “Red would prefer being higher instead, even if it’s still frightening!”

“Need to get out as fast as we can,” Elizabeth murmured, her wings pouding furiously at the air. “As soon as Vince wanted to go, I realized we were falling prey to something.

“Something was charming us into a lull. Placating us. We were being pacified without even realizing it!”

Thinking on that, Vince couldn’t disagree with her sentiment. It felt correct when he considered how he was feeling at the time. What his thoughts were like while on the land of England.

“It was a curse!” Leila shouted over the wind slashing at them. Blue or Elysia hadn’t had the time to get a shield up for them. They were more or less moving without any preperation. “Big one! Big subtle one!

“I didn’t even realize what it was until some of my defenses were starting to fail! And yes, I said fail, not tripped or activated! They just failed! As if the magic they held was eaten away at!”

“Something’s coming,” warned Zathira from the back of the Dragon. “Big. Not undead. Or living, either. Big, angry, and not friendly.”

Damnit all.

Walked right into a trap. Might as well been the proverbial frog in the pot of boiling water. Didn’t even notice what was happening to us until it was nearly too late.

Elizabeth began pounding her wings with greater effort, their speed gradually building up.

Blue and Elysia managed to work up a shield and get it in front of them. Cutting away a great deal of the discomfort of the trip.

Which was done just in time as Elizabeth continued to gain speed rapidly. To the point that Vince wasn’t quite sure everyone would be able to hold on as he could.

Can’t imagine many people being able to keep a hold on Renata when she gets going as fast as she does.

Flying onward, everyone fell silent, though they all continued to look over their shoulder. Expecting something to appear.

Nothing visibly did.

“Soon! Red thinks we’re soon to be over the land! Red will be happy to be over land!” shouted Red after they’d flown in silence. Pushing ever onward across the water toward the distant horizon and it’s questionable safety.

While everyone had seen it, no one had said anything about it.

Likely out of some obscene belief in jinxing it or calling unwated attention.

Or so Vince supposed.

“Red can fight things on land. Red can’t swim and will sink in water. Water is bad,” grumbled Red.

I mean, I get that.

“It’s getting closer,” Zathira warned in a voice that rose in pitch.

Looking past everyone and to their rear, Vince saw nothing.

There was nothing there that he could see in any direction or with the distance available given the nearly perfect weather. Nothing was visible to his eyes.

Zathira threw up a shield of blackness in front of herself that covered everyone and Elizabeth as well. Whatever she sensed or saw was only there to her.

Something that only registered to her senses.

Yet nothing happened.

“Ah, maybe this has been a mistake?” asked Elysia, voicing everyone’s thought aloud.

With nothing happening to Zathira, the shield, or them, it felt off. As if Zathira were completely wrong, in fact.

Err… wait… is Zathira the problem?

She’d have an idea about curses, wouldn’t she? She’s not a Warlock but a Necromancer. I’m fairly certain there’s some crossover there, but how much?

Did she—

A purple lightning bolt from the sky came down and slammed into Zathira’s shield. If it hadn’t been there it would have struck Elizabeth in the spine above her stomach.

A forked tongue from that bolt branched off and snaked down past Elizabeth, barely missing her. Crashing into the water below with a sizzle.

Lightning isn’t purple!

Zathira’s shield imploded under the force of the blow just as Vince realized they were indeed under attack. There was a thump as the spellwork Zathira had put up vanished, followed by another lightning bolt.

This one was much smaller and didn’t seem to have the same force as the previous one.

Elizabeth had apparently been aware of this one and juked to the side with a hard slam of her wings. Nudging her enough to the side that they were clear.

Whatever shield Elysia and Blue had gotten together was inadvertantly blown apart as the lightning grazed it.

The sudden and unexpected reappearance of the wind tearing at them dislodged Leila in a flash. Tearing her clean off the front of Elizabeth and propelling her backward.

Watching her tumble out of view Vince watched as Zathira slipped away as well. Her coils rapidly unwinding from Elizabeth as she slumped to one side.

Red was pulled from her seat whiletrying to grab for the Lamia and ended up being dragged off Elizabeth as well.

“Keep going! Report back to Petra and take orders from her. Come back if an when it’s safe! Something is here and tracking Elizabeth!” Vince ordered as he dove off the side of the Dragon.

Dea, Blue, Elysia, Elizabeth, and an angry looking Sam who couldn’t get away from Dea, zipped out of sight as Vince fell for a brief moment, then hit the water.

Not letting himself to sink far or long he spun around and began swimming backward. He could feel Red not far off, her mind panicking as she was struggling against the water.

Then he realized she was already under the waves. Not being able to swim she’d simply sunk almost instantly.

Swimming for all he was worth, Vince honed in on her. He was hopping that since she and Zathira had gone down together, he’d find them relatively close to one another.

Pulling at the water with strong strokes he managed to cut through it swiftly.

Then he saw Red and Zathira both, sinking down toward the bottom. The former panicking and clawing toward the surface with only one hand. The other was locked in tight to the back of Zathira’s clothes.

Oh my Red. You’ve grown so much and become so much more of a team player.

Caring for others, caring for what those people think of you, and doing your best to not fail them.

My little Cursed One.

Some might think you’re overly dependent but I see it as all growth. Growth and kindness for your companions.

Red’s head whipped toward him as he approached, her wide eyes glowing even through the water as brightly as ever. A sudden grin broke across her face as she spied him.

Instead of trying to swim upward, and failing specactularly, she began to fail at swimming toward him instead. Kicking in effectually and pulling at the water with one hand.

Zathira was limply hanging in her grasp and unmoving.

Reaching them quickly, Vince grabbed Zathira while moving his shoulder beneath Red’s flailing arm.

Forcing what power he had into his legs he began to kick for all he was worth. He’d contemplated using what reserves he had to get to them quickly, but realized he’d need it to get them both to the surface.

With one unconscious Lamia and a Cursed Beastkin who couldn’t swim, he was going to be doing the work of three people.

Breaking the surface almost comically like a dolphin, Vince pulled Zathira’s head out of the water. Behind him Red spluttered and coughed as her head broke water as well.

“Oh! I thought I felt you all here,” proclaimed Leila.

A disc appeared beneath the three of them and lifted them out of the water, just as it felt like Vince was going to get dragged back under. Having to hold two unconscious people up out of the water was harder than he’d thought.

It’d been easier to drag them to the surface.

Zathira flopped out of his grasp and onto the disc as Red fell to her hands and knees. Leila was standing in the middle and Vince was kneeling right next to her.

Then she sunk it back below the waves, shrunk it down, and cut out a great portion of it. Till it was just a few slats and poles large enough to hold them all up if their lower halves were in the water.

Only Zathira was above water.

Then Leila obviously cut the magic from it and it sunk lower in the water. Pulled down by their combined body weight, but it didn’t sink. It kept the four of them mostly above water.

“There we go. That’s the best I can do given what it was. Or what I think it was,” Leila said before starting to kick, trying to guide their makeshift raft toward the shore. “I felt whatever that was just before we were knocked free. It’s magic. Ugly magic with a will and mind of it’s own.

“Dark magic sent to track and follow us. It used up a portion of itself to attack when it did but is still after the others. If it realizes we split in half it might decide to come back for us and… that wouldn’t be very helpful. The longer it chases Elizabeth the more it loses it’s power, though I’m pretty certain I can feel more of it being sent this way. As if to empower or add to the first one.

“I worry that it might feel what I’ve done or this construct. If we draw it back… I’m not sure we can survive it. Zathira’s shield stopped it but the backlash was heavy. I couldn’t have put up as strong a shield as she did.

“This thing, whatever it is, is attracted to the use of magic and feeds on it. It grew faster when Zathira popped up her shield. We need to minimize our magical usage.”

Right.

Vince nodded his head, put his head down, and started to kick against the raft. Pushing it along through the waves and water toward the land.

Red tried to help as well but seemed to be splashing around more than propelling them forward.

Zathira remained motionless.

***

Shoving the magically constructed terrible immitation of a raft up onto the shore with a final effort, Vince collaspsed down to his hands and knees. He ended up right behind Zathira’s lower coils as she’d been the majority of the weight to move.

Groaning, Vince laid his brow to her body and just breathed in and out.

Red and Leila had been all but worthless in getting the Lamia ashore. She was simply too heavy and their additional strength hadn’t amounted to much at all.

“Red will go scout briefly,” stated Red. “Red will return shortly. Bringer… Bringer should probably work on a fire. Leila looks very cold.”

There was a scampering noise that accompanied the sound of sand being sprayed about as she bolted off.

Nodding his head, Vince just continued to kneel there. He was glad he was wearing his Legionnaire armor as he figured he’d probably be just as cold as Leila was.

Zathira felt practically ice-like and he imagined Leila wasn’t fairing much better.

Red being undead meant it wouldn’t phase her much at all as her body was abnormal to start with.

Grunting, Vince stood up and looked to Zathira.

She was blue in the face as well as her lips, but she was breathing. Though it looked labored and shallow.

Just beyond her was Leila who was curled up between a coil and hunched into herself. She was shivering and rubbing her hands back and forth against herself.

“Yeah, very cold indeed,” agreed Vince with a grunt.

There wasn’t any trees he could see nearby along the coast. It was fairly open, empty, and barren. There were several plants and shrub like things here and there.

Though nothing that would really hold a suitable fire.

That really only meant he had a few options to warm them up.

The first was body heat, the latter was using whatever power he had stored up.

Given what Leila had warned him about, using magic seemed like a bad idea. Which really left getting them further inland, bedded down somewhere, and then doing what he could to warm them up naturally.

Reaching down, Vince grabbed up Leila, held her against himself, and began walking away from the coast. They were going to need to head inland and he only had one pair of hands.

Moving forward he started up a short but steep incline. He hadn’t how fortunate he’d been till he looked up and down the coast.

A great many places here were quite rocky or had unsuitable places to stop at. A lot of it you wouldn’t even bee able to see until you’d already landed on the beach.

Readching the top, Vince stopped and looked outward.

“It’s all plains,” he murmured to himself. There was almost no cover, not much in the way of foliage, and nowhere to hide into other than some bushes. This whole area was a giant open area where one could see a great ways into the distance.

Not too far off was one such small clump of bushes. It’d be a perfect spot to store a Lamia and a Gnome while they regained their body heat. Especially if he personally joined them.

He’d likely be putting out a great deal of body heat once he got his armor off. He imagined that it’d work to repel the feeling of being cold by pushing up his temperature.

Which meant becoming warm in an actual physical way.

Maybe I’m a bit more like Berenga now.

Walking over to the bushes, Vince set Leila down amongst them.

“Going to get Zathira. Strip out of your clothes and lay them on the grass in the sun. I’ll strip Zathira when I get back, then join you two,” Vince murmured, to which Leila nodded her head. Her hands shivering away from her torso to the hem of her clothes. “We can have a casual threeway. You can be the teaspoon, I’ll be the table-spoon, and Zathira the damn laddle.”

Turning away he jogged back down to where he’d left out Zathira. He didn’t want to be out in the open if there really was another bit of ugly magic floating around looking for them.

The less visible they were for the moment, the better.

Not to mention he coudn’t deny he was looking forward to getting Zathira’s clothes off.

Just because he’d set her aside as a target of flirting and pursuing, didn’t mean he couldn’t admire her physically. Now he’d get to admire her visually.

Thankfully, he was at least doing this for the right reasons, even if his enjoyment was wrong.

The price we pay.

I get to see a Lamia nude, she gets to live, my morality takes a hit.

I’ll… make it up to her later.

Somehow.