Wild Wastes 4 -Ch18-

“Red wants to sit with you, move over,” grumbled the Beastkin.

Blinking, Vince felt like he’d just woke up. Looking around he found he was sitting on the side of the Wyrm. His hands were covered in blood and bits of what looked like red meat.

Standing in front of him was Red with a massive chunk of heart from what was probably one of the Wyrms.

Shifting to one side he made room for Red.

“Red thanks her husband,” she said and sat down right next to him. She leaned in and started eating from the lightly-quivering heart. “Mm, gritty, but good. Reminds Red of the Dragon you shared with her, Bringer.”

Nodding his head, Vince really didn’t know what to say.

He still felt like he was waking up from a dream.

The last thing he truly remembered was yelling at Elizabeth.

Looking behind himself he checked to make sure he wasn’t sitting on the Dragon. Finding it to be the large Wyrm he checked his surroundings instead.

The other two Wyrms were dead as well.

Leila and Zathira looked to be prodding at two souls that were held up before the Gnome. Likely both Wyrms.

Elizabeth was laid out on her belly next to Blue and looked to be conversing with the Dryad. She didn’t have the look of being wounded, but still cowed from Vince yelling at her.

Not too far away was a group of ants. They were eying the corpses with what Vince could only assume was disbelief.

Coughing, Vince shifted around where he sat. On the grass not far away was his sword. He’d apparently dropped it after getting what he assumed he ate.

The heart of the Wyrm.

“Red wishes you were drunk from the heart and would mate with her. Caroline said you practically savaged her all night long after you ate a Dragon heart,” complained Red, chewing loudly. “Red thinks she’s a bit like the Dryads. Wants you to show your interest in her physically. Red just likes mating.”

With a sniff, Vince nodded his head and then coughed again.

“I enjoy doing it with you too, Red,” Vince confided. An odd thought popped into his head then about the red-wood ants. “So I wouldn’t worry about it. Wyrm heart just wasn’t as strong as a Dragon’s. Probably the lack of magic.

“Though… hey… if you get a chance, think you can find a few ant corpses and pull out their venom gland? I want to eat a few and see if I can’t get anything from it. You manage to do it without getting caught, you and I can… mate a few times tonight.”

“Oh? Okay. Red can do that. You will include our grove-wife, though, Bringer. Red must take care of her needs. Red is responsible for Blue,” asserted the Beastkin with a nod of her head. Blood dripped down her chin and splattered onto the dead Wyrm beneath them.

She was eating carefully which was interesting to watch.

“Red doesn’t want to make Blue wash her armor, again. Red is trying to be a good wife to Blue,” explained Red, apparently catching the way he was watching her. “Red is trying to be a better wife for you and Blue, both.”

Leaning forward again, Red took a bite out of the heart.

She’d actually managed to not get her armor, hair, or sleeves bloody. Only her hands and face were.

“Doing good, Red. I love having you as a wife,” Vince promised. “Now… we need to get going. Time to track down the soldiers that brought the Wyrms here. They might try again.”

“Our wife sent Sam to investigate. She will report to Blue, then to Fes Petra,” Red answered. “Our wife is impressive. Red loves Blue very much.”

Turning his gaze on the Dryad in question he found she was closer, but still some distance away. She was blushing, smiling, and gave him a small wave with her hand.

It was obvious she’d heard it all despite the distance. Dryad’s had fairly good hearing.

Red apparently saw it too.

“Red loves you Blue!” shouted the cursed one at the Dryad, waving her arm energetically at her. “You’re an impressive wife to Bringer and Red!”

Blue became a sheet of red-parchment now and her eyes started to glow. Turning she ducked her head down and walked toward Leila.

Then paused and looked back at them.

“I love you both too!” called Blue before moving again. Head down low and moving quickly to Leila and Zathira.

“Mm. Blue is so good to us, Bringer,” Red said nodding her head a few times. “Red thinks we should buy her a gift. She treats us well.”

We should. She does treat us well.

“Uhm, N-Nest-mate?”

Glancing to the Dragon who’d come up to him, he found she was nude and in her human form. She held up a Wyrm heart to him.

“M-may I present you with the heart of my kill, Nest-m-mate?” asked Elizabeth. “I k-killed it on my own, but Blue told me how to do it. I wanted to give it to you as an apology.”

Vince felt full to the point of being sick.

“Red thinks you might be a good wife to Bringer, too. Offering a meal is how Bringer proposed to Red. Red is now feeling nostalgic,” said the Beastkin, eying Elizabeth with a wide smile. “As a senior wife to you, you should get in his bed soon. You smell like Taylor does now which means you’re ready. Red made the mistake of waiting too long to do it. Don’t be like stupid Red, younger wife.”

Not wanting to, Vince took the heart from Elizabeth.

Her eyes were sparkling. Watching him intently now.

Something had changed since he yelled at her.

Wondering if he’d throw up, Vince started to eat the heart. If he wanted her to respect him as the head of a Dragon wing, he had to meet a few expectations of hers.

Especially after what Red said. If I don’t accept it, that’d just send Elizabeth into a spiral.

Ugh.

So full.

“Thank you, Nest-mate,” Elizabeth said with small rapid nods of her head as he ate. A small smile spread across her face. “Please… please address me as Beth, going forward. Only my mom ever called me Elizabeth.”

Nodding his head in return as he chewed, Vince hoped Elizabeth would wander off so he could get rid of the rest of this heart.

***

Standing at the large wooden gate to the fort, Vince waited with his pistol in hand. Hunkered down several boulders Zathira and Vince had moved over, they were in cover.

Sam had found the garrison that’d dispatched the troops to lead the Wyrm to the colony. It was a stone fort that’d been several days away on foot to the east.

They’d come a long way dragging those Wyrms along behind them. From a garrison that supported a city by the name of Bilbao.

It was part of a chain of cities that ran from the north edge of the country on the coast, down and to the south-east, stretching to a city named Barcelona. A wide line of fortresses garrisons, checkpoints, and patrols.

Anything past those cities was likely beasts from the Pyrenees mountains.

A wild no-man’s land no one dared cross except for along the old roadways that ran along the coasts on either end.

Elizabeth let out a loud roar and once more bathed the interior of the garrison with fire. The screams of the burning loud in the quiet afterward.

Blue squeezed off a few rounds as several soldiers rushed toward them. Dropping two while the third had it’s head removed by Zathira.

Her black arrow had penetrated through his forehead and taken most of the skull with it.

“Good shot, little miss sexy Dryad,” congratulated Vince. “You’ve gotten quite good at that. I’ve been meaning to ask as well. That a custom job from my dear brother?”

“Oh! Yes. He gave all of your Dryad wives one along with matching magazines that we fill just like yours. He said without his Dryads he wouldn’t be where he is,” confessed Blue with a happy giggle. “He even engraved all our names into each one and a cute little tree. We were all rather grateful. I never for a moment thought that the best thing to happen to my entire race would be meeting the Campbells.”

“Likewise, dear,” Vince responded and sighted his pistol on a soldier that was squirming around on the ground. Pulling the trigger once he watched the man’s head jerk to the side and go still. “Dryad’s are the foundation of my very existence. Need them all.”

Vince noticed Zathira was looking at him over Blue’s head now.

He found her predation of him hadn’t lessened at all. She continued to stalk him yet nothing further had happened.

Amusingly, at least to him, he found she’d put herself in a position where he could offer to assist her with her venom. Or at least, a conversation that ended with her bringing up her venomous tendencies.

Sparing her only a glance, Vince focused back on the fort.

They were really only holding the gate so that Leila could drop a hell-portal on top of them.

At least that’s what it looked like Vince, spinning in a slow circle below Elizabeth, but above the fort. The Gnome was perched on Elizabeth’s back and casting a spell that would simply curse every person in the fort to death.

She was fueling it with one of the swords of the Wyrms.

The simple reality was there was just too many soldiers in the garrison force for them to deal with easily. Right now they couldn’t see out the front gate because Elizabeth was forcing them to keep their heads down. Nor could they really see above themselves.

When the soldiers made an attempt to come this way, Vince, Blue, and Zathira forced them to re-evaluate that unwise choice.

Something smacked into Vince’s hip and caused him to glance down.

“My wings feel like they’re going to break,” complained Sam. She was latched onto his side, her shoulder up in his armpit and her head on his chest.

Her left hand was stuck up between his legs and fondling him quite openly. Her other hand was on his back.

“I have no idea how the Fairy’s did this so often without complaint. Or is that actually it. They’re so much smaller and… ah… yeah, that’s gotta be it,” muttered Sam, her fingers closing in firmly around Vince’s hardening member in his pants. “Oh! I got it just like that. Nice. I’m a regular ol’ snake charmer. I have a message from Petra.”

She gave his shaft a squeeze and then released him. Reaching down to her messenger bag she pulled out a sealed letter for him and held it out.

“Too long, did Sam read it for me version; crush the garrison, take Bilbao. Go no further, supply lines are crunched. Hold Bilbao until reinforcements arrive,” paraphrased Sam. She leaned in and kissed him at the corner of his mouth. She took the pistol from him, put the letter in his hand instead, and pulled two of his magazines free. Holding the weapon correctly while stuffing the loaded magazines into her bag she moved over to stand with Zathira. “Hey there, Zath. How’s it going?”

“I’m quite… well, how are you, Sam?” asked the Lamia as Vince contemplated the letter now in his hand. He had a bit of a strange reaction when he read letters from Petra and he couldn’t help it.

“Good, I got him so hard just from giving him a tiny bit of my hand. I’ve got him hook, line, and sinker. Vince’ll be begging to get in my beg,” answered Sam followed by round of his pistol going off. “And check that out, I nailed that guy in the eye. Today is awesome.”

Flicking open the letter Vince began to read.

Dear Husband,

I’m gratified to be writing to you that Cristina has arrived and is already assisting me greatly. It’s wonderful to have someone so similar to myself in age, view, and belief.

She has also been quite open in pursuit of information from me and is an eager student!

While I’m well aware this is incredibly soon, I want you to spend your owed favor from Ryker to make her immortal as I am. She will be my second I’m certain already.

With her serving as my second to me as Fes, I can train up a replacement for myself in no time at all.

The fact that she can fly makes it even better.

Frowning, Vince looked away from the letter.

She can fly? Neat. Her mom did have wings I guess.

With a nod of his head he went back to the letter.

Yes, I know what I’m asking of you, but you’re… attracted to me… so I don’t think you’ll have issues with Cristina. Despite me being grotesque and hideous to others, I’m glad you can see beyond that.

That you see me as I am as a woman. That you judge me on my heart and mind, not only the terribleness of my birth.

Next, this one would order you to destroy the garrison Sam reported. Then please proceed to Bilbao and claim it. Proceed no further as this one cannot stabilize the resources of the kingdom quite yet.

A month or two is required for the new farming tools to begin showing a difference.

Take the city, hold it, strike at our enemy, earn allies if possible. This one will send a relief force at that time as she cannot leave you there. You are too great an asset with your team to let you idle there too long.

Lastly, this one’s second has dispatched a double strength squad of soldier-ants that she trained, to your location. They should be arriving a day after this letter.

With all my love as your wife, and respect as her master’s general, I place this task to you.

Sincerely,

Fes Petra Campbell

Vince shrugged his shoulders at that and then refolded the letter.

Keeping himself low in a squat he shuffled over to Sam, who was perched against the rock and sighting his pistol against it. It looked fairly ridiculous in her hands, but she’d already demonstrated she could use it.

Reaching around the front of her he let his hands cup her breasts, slide down her front, and down to her hips. It all caused the Fae to shiver from head to toe.

“Next time give’em a squeeze Vince,” whispered the Fae followed by a trigger pull a split second after a soldier ran out from around the corner. “My boobs aren’t made of glass you know.

“Now, you gonna get a good feel or just putting the letter away?”

Once more Vince didn’t quite know what to do.

Putting the letter into the messenger back her laid his right hand atop hers and held the pistol. His left hand snaked up under her blouse and he moved it all the way up to where her bra started.

Curling a finger tip around the edge he brushed his fingers against her skin.

“Fondle me or move on, lover boy,” grunted Sam. “Not the place for flutter-fingers, alright? You can do that later when we have a bed and the like.”

Er… right.

Vince did as suggested and pushed his hand up under her bra, squeezed her firmly once, and then took his pistol from her. The Fae laughed and then scooted off to the other side.

“Nice. Your hand was way too cold for that but whatever,” said the Fae, pulling the magazines out of her beg. She stuck them back into his harness and then pulled out a pistol of her own.

It was much smaller, looked like something he’d never seen before, and actually fit her. Moving to the other side of Blue she aimed it down toward the gate.

Huh. Someone’s handing out guns to my people. Must be Mr. White Junior.

Sam’s gun went off and sounded far louder than it should for such a small weapon. It sounded just as loud as his in fact.

The brass casing that was ejected out the side looked a lot like one of his own as well.

“Hell yeah, got him on the hook, got a little second base, and got another head shot. Today is fan-fucking-tastic,” crowed the Fae. “Maybe I’ll let you get in my bed tonight Vince. I could make today amazing if I got laid.”

Leila’s death-spiral from the darkest part of hell instantly slammed down to the ground in the next moment. Even the color of the stones, the green grass, and the red blood of the soldiers became gray.

Then a stream of souls began wafting up from the fort and toward Leila.

She dismissed them even before they made it halfway to her. Sending them on to where-ever souls went. She had no wish to use them or utilize them.

In her own words, it was bad enough to kill them for simply being on the opposing side, using their souls poorly would be far too much. Turning a Wyrm into a spell focus was one thing, torturing soldiers for being the enemy was another.

“Geeze, Leila,” whispered Blue. “I know you wanted to show off for him but that’s a bit much, isn’t it?”

“Time to go,” Vince reminded them and stood up. “Resources and supplies we want, then we’re gone.”

“I’ll go get Red,” reported Sam, sticking her pistol into her bag and zipping off.

Blue let out a slow breath and then laughed, looking up to Vince.

“You know, it’s kinda annoying how well she took my lessons to heart. Sam that is,” admitted the Dryad. “She’s got you more worked up than Mouth often did and she barely did anything at all.

“If I knew you liked being pursued like this, I would have done it myself and fought my own instincts. I just never really thought of you as the… chase me… type.”

“Suppose neither did I. As to you, my dearest Blue,I dunno, I like you just the way you are,” remarked Vince, looking down at her kneeling in front of him. His mind went back to what Red had said earlier. He did need to give Blue a present. “I look forward to seeing you tonight. Quite possibly in Bilbao, in fact.”

“Oh?” she asked, her eyes moving down to his crotch and then back up to him. Her eyes began to glow softly. She smiled at him with what was clear anticipation. “How fun.”