by Randi Darren
“Oh,” Ina said. Then she sighed and nodded her head. She moved over to the open water barrel, grabbed the mug that was dangling from the edge, and began drinking deeply. After finishing off the contents in one go, she blew out a breath. “Get the sand?”
“Yes, yes. I will.” Jaina broke her eyes from the distant people and moved off to the wagon.
“Sand?” Steve asked, coming to stand next to Kassandra.
“The black sand left over from the zombies,” Ina said. “We’ve been experimenting with it. It makes spells more powerful. Goes really quick, though.”
“Huh. Alright,” Steve said, thinking.
“Misty started collecting it this morning. She said there was quite a bit of it at the bottom of her waters,” Ina explained. “I may not be built for… physical things and war, but I’m doing my best with all of this.”
“You’re doing amazingly, Ina.” Steve gave her a small smile.
The young woman with the confidence issue was quite dead, it seemed.
In her place was a very strong woman with a bright mind.
“When we’re done with these people, we’re having sex. And then again later, probably,” Ina stated. “And you’re not going to say no.”
She was incredibly sexually active, beyond the definition of forward. Ina consistently and often took Steve, whether he was in the mood or she had to work him up to it.
Steve stood there without responding to her in any way.
He’d found that sometimes, if he ignored her, she’d forget. Or her sex drive might reverse itself if given some time.
Responding at all gave her something to latch on to and work with.
“I think they just saw each other,” Jaina said, walking up and holding a small pouch out to Ina. “They’re moving toward one another now and are no longer concerned with us at all.”
“I think I like that even less,” Steve muttered. “Let’s… see if we can’t get closer to see what’s going on before it happens. If they want to make this easy and group up so you two can smoke ’em with a wave of fire, great.”
“I will lead the way,” Kassandra said, moving out in front. “Move out to the side, Jaina. Wait for my whistle to engage. You will be our flanker. Do as Steve suggested and wipe them out with a flame wave.”
“Yes, yes. I’m going,” Jaina said.
She dropped down to all fours, then brushed up against Steve and rubbed herself bodily against him before she ran off, keeping low to the ground.
Way too much like a dog. Way too much.
Two
Moving at a fast walk, Steve wasn’t really sure how he felt about all this. He wanted these people away from his family and the land he viewed as theirs.
If he had to kill every single one of them to do that, he would.
Without regret.
This was a dog-eat-dog world, and there wasn’t anything anyone could say to convince him otherwise. Especially since he’d already lost people he cared about.
Leathers and feathers, baby, it’s Mad Ma… Mad… God damnit, Shitty Steve.
This is becoming tiresome.
Kassandra and Ina were matching him pace for pace on his left, Ina between him and the Lamia. She was the most likely to meet a bad end if someone got close enough to her, but she was also the most dangerous to the enemy if they didn’t close on her.
Steve knew he was no whirlwind of violence with sword and pistol.
He was a brute with an axe whose imagination didn’t go very far at all. He wasn’t a deep thinker, a strategist, or a politician.
Carrying out orders in a brutal, intelligent, direct manner was what he did.
Out ahead of him, he could finally see the two groups. They were little more than smears of dark brown moving towards one another, but at least he could finally recognize that they weren’t part of the horizon.
“What’s in that lovely soldier’s mind of yours, my little snake?” Steve asked.
“We get close enough to see what’s going on and proceed no further,” Kassandra explained. “If we see an opportunity to attack both sides, then we do it.
“They’ll have items on them we could easily benefit from having.”
“I like it,” Steve said. The plan fit his mercenary mentality.
The conversation fell off a cliff with that statement, and no one said anything further.
By the time Steve could finally discern people and what they were doing, he found they were in the process of killing each other.
They all looked to be wearing the same type of clothes, both in fabric and quality.
And the weapons they were using looked as if they’d been tools not long ago. Strange swords that probably hadn’t been forged by a weaponsmith. Sickles that had no business being in a fight. And axes much like Steve’s were being swung like they were two-headed battle axes.
“They look like peasants,” Kassandra murmured. “Not one of them has any training. In fact, I think they’ve forgotten entirely about us.”
“Let’s capture them,” Steve said. “We could use some Creep bait or Creep Witches. Or we let them get turned and burn them down for black dust. You said it was useful, Ina?”
“Very useful,” Ina confirmed.
“Alright. I’m going to go find Jaina and work with her from that side. Our goal is to capture them if possible,” Kassandra said, then moved off. She was swift, low to the ground, and gone.
“Is this normal?” Steve asked.
“What?” Ina responded, sounding confused.
“Never mind.” Steve realized his question was actually rather stupid.
Of course, this isn’t normal. This was a functioning country not long ago. Death may have always come easy and cheap here, but it wasn’t always a full-out murder pit of awful.
But… if that’s true… why did everyone resort to absolute anarchy so quickly and easily?
In fact… even Nikki is absolutely ruthless when she decides it’s worthwhile. Though she’ll tend towards forgiveness and optimism if she can.
Gwen is the softest heart, but I think she’d butcher someone if it came down to it.
And that doesn’t even include when Nia comes into the equation. Heaven protect anyone who crosses Gwen when it comes to Nia.
“I’m going to put up walls of flame around them,” Ina said. “That should box them in and force them to face us. It might just be enough to intimidate them into surrendering.”
Steve nodded as he watched a pretty woman smash an axe down into a beautiful woman’s head. Blood splashed all over her well-endowed chest.
It is… absolutely strange to watch really pretty people murder one another.
Wouldn’t this mean most of these women had mothers who paid to have them beautified in a city?
That means they had a little wealth, right?
This whole world is so strange.
“I think it’s about time. The survivors on both sides seem to be eyeing the people on the ground. The wounded would work just as well as the living for us,” Ina said.
“Right,” Steve said, then started forward at a trot. Brining his axe up onto his shoulder, he ran straight for the biggest woman he could see.
Before he reached his target, a wall of purple flame rose up from the ground and surrounded the group of people from two sides.
Everyone who had just been brawling was startled out of their mad scrum. Heads turned to find Steve running at them.
As if Ina were a prophet, many women simply threw their weapons down and then held up their hands.
Steve didn’t stop. He kept running straight at his target. She was a rather large, broad-shouldered woman. The closer he got, the bigger she seemed.
“Surrender!” he screamed at the top of his lungs.
His shout was echoed by Jaina and Kassandra as they rushed forward from a different angle off to his right.
A few more women threw their weapons down after realizing they were being engaged by an unknown force.
The big on
e didn’t, though. She looked grimly at Steve, her hands clutching her axe.
Much like every other woman he saw in this messed up world, she was pretty. With light-brown eyes and dark-brown hair.
Her big frame let her sport an impressive bust as well.
“Put it down, big girl, or I’m gonna crack your head open,” Steve said, coming to a stop six feet away from her.
She was the only one with a weapon now.
“No, I’m leaving,” she said.
“You’re not. You’re going to be my prisoner. Or a corpse,” Steve said.
“What kind of—”
Steve was done talking. He started forward toward the woman. She’d had her chance to surrender, and he wasn’t about to bother with her further.
Grunting, the woman brought her axe around in a wide swing. Her arm length gave her an impressive reach. She could easily keep Steve at bay with it.
Except he didn’t care one whit about her attack.
No matter how strong she was, she was nothing compared to the Basilisk and the Troll he’d killed.
Deciding to sacrifice his shield—since he had several more and could easily make more—Steve used it to swat at the axe.
With a crash and a splintering noise, the shield broke at the midpoint. It had absorbed the woman’s full attack.
“I surrender, I surr—”
The woman’s voice was cut off as Steve brought his axe down into the top of her head.
Which promptly exploded into a pulpy mess that spewed blood, bone, and brains in every direction.
“Should have surrendered before you attacked me,” Steve said, spitting out some of the woman’s blood that had trickled down into his mouth. “Anyone else wanna try their hand at me?”
The surviving nine women shook their heads as they stood there with their hands up.
“Then get the fuck over there.” Steve pointed to Kassandra and Jaina with his axe. “Hand over any weapons on your person, get on your knees, and let them tie you up. Or I just fucking make your head axe-plode. Your choice.”
The twitching and blood-fountaining corpse at his feet decided this was a great moment to let loose a particularly strong stream of blood. It shot high up in the air in a red arc.
Women who’d been lying down scrambled to their feet, and those who were already up hustled over. They all practically tripped over themselves to get to Jaina and Kassandra.
“Alright, let’s figure out who’s wounded on the ground, who we can keep, and who’s worm food,” Steve said as he worked at stripping the woman he’d just killed of her clothes and possessions.
He pulled at one of her boots, hopeful they might fit him. His own boots were starting to look rather worn, and hers seemed in much better condition.
***
Having made a wagon, Steve was able to carry a good number of logs back with him each trip.
That alone was making him feel like he would get this done much quicker than he’d originally thought.
Moving across the temporary stone bridge Jaina had put in just for him, Steve kept trudging along.
Up ahead, Kassandra was still grilling their prisoners for information. Jaina was busily using Steve’s hoe on the fields he’d dug up, and Ina was digging out the remainder of the trench around the area they’d be living in.
They could use any of his tools, provided he gave it to them and they had the strength and will to use it.
Looking at his log pile, Steve turned his wagon as it cleared the bridge and made his way over.
He moved the logs from his wagon to the pile, then started pulling the wagon around to head back out to get more trees.
“Steve, I need a minute of your time,” Kassandra said from where she stood.
Fourteen heads turned to face him at the same time. His prisoners had nowhere else to be stored right now. There were four more nearby with wounds that prevented them from moving.
The rest of the dead and dying had been dumped into the ditch.
Hopefully, they’d return as zombies and could be doused.
“Right,” Steve grumbled. Not stopping, he pulled his wagon out and over the bridge. Only then did he turn back around and come over to Kassandra. He didn’t want to forget what he was doing next, and leaving the wagon there would be a great reminder.
“Okay, I’m here. What’s up?” Steve asked. He turned to look down at the upturned faces of his prisoners.
They ranged the entire gamut of possibility. From black hair to blond, brown eyes to green, and every body type from full figured and overflowing to athletic and toned.
And a number looked very non-Human.
“There’s a series of villages not far from here, out to the west, northwest, and north. There are perhaps nine of them. These two groups are from opposing villages,” Kassandra said. “They’re not from the biggest villages, either. Perhaps middle-sized is the best I can figure.”
“Alright, any of them explain how they found us?” Steve asked. “Am I giving someone a reward?”
Kassandra opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted.
“I found you!” one of the women immediately said. “I was scouting around, and I found your wagon trail! I came back and told Missy, and we came immediately!”
“Great. She gets a prize of some sort,” Steve said, indicating the woman who’d spoken. He didn’t bother to really look at her or pay her any attention. “And the other group?”
Steve got no answer as he looked around from woman to woman, and then the wounded ones.
“No one knows?” he asked.
“We were… just following their group,” offered one of the women who’d been in the more numerous party. “We didn’t notice your little setup until their group started speeding up. Then we moved to engage them. We just wanted their stuff.”
“Uh huh,” Steve said. “Think we should send one of the girls back to cover the tracks?”
“Yes,” Kassandra said with a nod. “I wanted to do that, but I didn’t feel right ordering Ina or Jaina around.”
Steve nodded at that.
This world had a matriarchy at the top, and it all rolled up to whoever the “lead wife” was, as far as he could tell.
Nikki was a fairly benevolent leader who didn’t force anything on anyone else.
Still doesn’t make sense.
Sending all the men to the front as soon as they have enough children doesn’t… add up.
Does it?
I feel like there’s something inherently wrong with everything.
“Right.” Steve looked out at where Jaina was. “Jaina!”
The small Kobold turned to face him from where she was working.
Steve waved his hand at her to come over.
Jaina came over with a smile, the hoe she’d been using resting on her shoulders.
“Yes, husband?” she asked.
“Need you to double back the way we came and obscure the wagon trail we left behind us,” Steve said. “After that, could you go clean up the battlefield and the trails those two groups made?”
“Of course!” Jaina said with a beaming smile. “Yes, yes. I can do that very, very well.”
“Great. Make sure you’re back before sunset. If you’re back before the sun touches the horizon, I’ll give you a really good belly rub.”
“Yes, yes!” Jaina said, then handed the hoe to Kassandra. She stepped in close to Steve and kissed him briefly, and then she was off in a flash. Running on all fours and sending grass up behind her.
“You spoil her,” Kassandra murmured.
“She deserves to be spoiled,” Steve said with a shake of his head. “She’s had a hard life so far.”
Steve had a deep suspicion that Jaina wasn’t altogether right in the head given what’d happened to her. That she was emotionally fragile or broken.
“There, that’s that then,” Steve said. “Anything else?”
“I think one of the wounded isn’t going to survive the night,” Kassandra said.
“I understand. I’ll make sure it happens. What do we do with them?” Kassandra indicated the bound women who were all kneeling next to them. “Should I make their deaths quick as well?”
There was a sudden gaggle of pleas, offers, and begging from all the women.
“Shut up!” Steve shouted at them, and they immediately quieted.
“No. Don’t kill them,” Steve said, glaring at them. “They all criminals?”
“Yes. Every single one of them is a murderer,” Kassandra said.
“Any of them married?” Steve asked.
“No. Apparently they send out the single women to fight to prove themselves,” Kassandra said.
“I’ll bed you!” called a beautiful woman with pitch-black hair, bright green eyes, and an amazing body. She was dressed in black leather and had incredibly pale skin. Pale to the point of looking sickly. “I’ll do anything you want me to!”
Suddenly all of the women were offering the same thing.
Steve held up a hand, very close to losing his patience and killing someone. These weren’t people to him. They were criminals, resources—things to be used and discarded.
Respect for life had no place here.
“I have enough wives—”
“You can use me as you wish, and I won’t be your wife!” said the same green-eyed, dark-haired beauty.
Once more, everyone started agreeing with her, though they weren’t as loud this time. They apparently weren’t as eager for that end, but they were willing.
“I have enough wives. That means I have more than enough women,” Steve said. “For now, you live. You’ll work my farm and do as I tell you. Anything beyond that is a question mark.
“If you do anything that even makes me think you’re going to be a problem, I’ll just kill you. You’re criminals. By the laws of Lamals, you should be executed outright.”
Actually, that’s strange. I don’t have a murderer tag. I’ve killed people.
In fact, what does that even look like?