Eastern Expansion

by Randi Darren

  At least… it has all the appearances of physical torture only. They didn’t rape her or permanently disfigure her.

  A single knock came from the door. Vince’s eyes snapped to the wooden-framed entryway.

  “Enter,” Vince called as loud as he dared, hoping to not disturb Ramona.

  The handle turned and the door swung open. Walking inside was Heint, the first and only dragon Vince had met so far.

  He didn’t think for a second he could fight him and win. Dragons, by all myth and rumor, were bastards. They’d happily fly up into the sky and strafe you over and over, till you retreated or died.

  There was no reason for them to fight you on the ground.

  Vince would do the same of course if he were in a similar position.

  Honor is for the dead.

  “Councillor Heint,” Vince said, getting to his feet. He wasn’t an idiot, and he knew he wasn’t out of the woods yet. Gerard would help him of course, but Heint could cause trouble without risking anything for himself. “What can I do for you this evening?”

  Heint glanced at Ramona and then fixed his gaze on Vince. “I would speak with you, human. I’ve blocked the half-breed from listening in on us, should she awaken.”

  Almost immediately, Vince pulled on his mental abilities and started to sweep through the Dragon’s mind as passively as he could. It limited a lot of what he could read, but there was no chance of someone suspecting him of doing anything.

  “I’m more than willing to listen, Councillor Heint. I admit I’m curious about the content of the discussion given your preparation,” Vince said carefully. There wasn’t much he could get from Heint’s thoughts.

  Trepidation, determination, caution.

  Nothing that gave anything away or any surface thoughts.

  The Dragon sniffed once and then curiously, he smiled.

  “I admire your bravado earlier, and how quickly you realized what the reality of the situation was. I found myself pushed into a corner that I couldn’t get out of without putting myself in the way of progress. And progress, aside from profit, is key to the Tri-lliance,” Heint said, his voice quiet and clean.

  This had all the hallmarks of a prepared speech.

  “I wonder how much of what you said was true. Your army, leaving orders. How confident you are that your military could mount such an offense,” Heint continued. Walking over, the Dragon leaned up against the wall nonchalantly, closing the distance between himself and Vince.

  Vince felt a strange pressure inside his head. Almost like something sliding over and around his mind.

  Using his thoughts, Vince tried to recreate what he believed Seville had done. Hardening his mind and creating a barrier.

  Heint froze as Vince did so. Both of them realized at the same time that Heint was the one trying to peek into Vince’s thoughts.

  Well, Heint. I know your secret, and now you know that I’m not a normal human.

  “What I said about my army is true. Though it’s likely I understated their power,” Vince said, politely ignoring the fact that Heint was forcibly ejected from Vince’s mind. “Why do you ask, Councillor Heint?”

  “I… I,” Heint stuttered. Then he gave his head a shake and frowned. “Would you consider the idea of supporting me in a bid to take over Vegas?”

  Feeling as if his heart and mind had frozen, Vince forced himself to take a breath. “I see. I would ask… what did you have in mind in regards to ‘support’. What would I gain or how would I benefit? You’ll forgive me for not beating around the bush.”

  “Gerard would never go along with this, and I can handle him easily enough. Though I believe his people and those Srinis left behind wouldn’t support me in this endeavor. That is where I would be in need of your help. Support to clear the town, military backing, and financial cover should we be unable to bounce back quickly enough.

  “As for what you’d gain. I’d bend my knee to you as my liege. Duke or Count of Vegas to your Lord of Yosemite,” Heint explained. “On top of that, what we’re willing to trade for resources is perhaps only half of what we could be rid of. Should Vegas be a part of Yosemite, then it’d simply be a shuffling of resources, would it not?”

  That hit Vince in the right spot for sure. Double what he was trading for would buy them a long while. Almost enough time to make the turn.

  Almost.

  Even if everything turned out right, it would still be a failure.

  I’m ever playing catch up.

  “You would… trade calling the Tri-lliance your lord with calling me your lord? I don’t understand, and I think I’d need that clarified.”

  Heint’s face turned into a scowl for a brief second.

  “I am… a councillor, here. On the far end of nowhere, with no hopes for advancement. I’m far older than many of those young runts who currently hold positions at the heart of the Tri-lliance. My problem? Wrong clan. I’ll never have a chance. So I must make my own. I bend my knee to a master who has ten above them.

  “With you, I would be first amongst the peerage, and the first Duke. I believe… I believe you will change this land. For better or worse, you’ll change it. I would rather align myself now than later.”

  Selfish, self-serving, beholden to no one. I completely understand.

  Vince couldn’t help it. He could easily see how he himself would probably react in such a situation, and found that it would probably be fairly similar.

  “I see. You’d subject yourself to the rules and laws of Yosemite? Be my subordinate and hold to my word? Fight and die with me should the Tri-lliance come knocking?” Vince asked, clarifying, making sure.

  “Yes. I would. I give you my personal Dragon’s Word on all that we’ve discussed here. Though we’d first have to deal with Gerard, the guards, the military, and only after all that went well… the Tri-lliance. Right now they’re tied up with… problems. A war really. Down in the south. There is the strong possibility that they’ll come calling on us at some point. Though I think I can get us to at least a neutral position with them until that time. My clan is minor, but I do have a few personal markers I can call on,” Heint offered up.

  Vince thought hard on this.

  Deep and hard.

  This would help him immensely. A city like Vegas would see trade from all over. Opening it to humans, spreading the goals of Yosemite, converting it into a united city. That’d all be tough, but it’d be worthwhile.

  But this wasn’t an idle thought. A minor decision. This would quite literally be a declaration of war with the Tri-lliance. Losing Vegas wouldn’t be a minor trifle for them, but only something that they couldn’t act on yet.

  Do I commit myself, my people, and my friends to a war with the Tri-lliance, as the human kingdom watches from the west, and Verix from the east?

  I should speak with Mila when we return, see if she’d like to become the Duchess of Wooden Heart sooner than either of us anticipated.

  With that thought of Mila, Vince realized he was willing to dive into this venture.

  He felt sick in his heart, he knew he’d regret it, but this was one of the only ways he’d be able to get the resources his people needed.

  And it probably wouldn’t even be enough.

  “Alright. Providing we can come to a timeline that we can both agree to, consider it a bargain struck,” Vince said, holding out his hand to Heint.

  Heint nodded his head, and took Vince’s hand, shaking it firmly. To his credit, Vince kept a straight face even as a burning heat suffused his entire arm from the contact with the dragon. It lasted only a second, but it had felt like his arm had been bathed in lava.

  “We have an accord and on my Dragon’s Word. I look forward to serving, Lord Vince.”

  Releasing his hand, Heint took a step back. “Agree to Gerard’s deal, it’ll do for now. I’ll ensure that none of the gains leave Vegas.

  “I will prepare for a timeframe of… six months for your return. I should have everything in line by then, and the new coun
cillor will be arriving right around then. It’d work out strategically for us.”

  Vince nodded his head.

  “Six months,” he confirmed.

  Yosemite would grow.

  It would also fight a war that no one knew about yet. That no one could predict when it would come.

  Heint turned on his heel, and left without another word.

  No sooner had the latch clicked shut than Ramona lifted her head from the pillow.

  Grinning at her, Vince quirked a brow.

  In return, she held up two fingers, staring at the door.

  A full minute passed before she dropped her hand.

  “Heint came to offer you a deal?” she asked.

  “He did. Why?” Vince asked. Moving over to her bed, he squatted down next to her.

  “After killing Srinis, what was his reaction?” Ramona inquired, laying her head down on the pillow.

  “He seemed genuinely upset.”

  “Makes sense then. He was trying to work Srinis over to his side of the council. You killing him ended that. Now, with only two councillors left, and the other being the political minder, Heint might be able to make a move,” Ramona shifted on her bed, angling her head so she could look up at him without catching her horns in her bedding.

  “Huh? I never really got a straight answer from anyone. How does the council work here?”

  “Srinis was local security. Gerard the political minder, to make sure everyone follows the Tri-lliance. Heint is the face and purse. It’s separated out to give no one person complete power.”

  “Ah. Got it. Heint wants me to invade Vegas and take care of everyone, hand it over to him, and he’d be my Duke of Vegas,” Vince explained to Ramona.

  “No, he’ll betray you as easily as you would crush an ant,” Ramona said, her mouth turning down in a frown.

  “Truly? I thought the word of a Dragon carried more than that. Pity. He even agreed to the deal on his Dragon’s Word,” Vince murmured.

  I really do need Elysia with me. I think she’ll be a permanent fixture from here on out. I’m no good at this.

  “Wait. He gave you his Dragon’s Word? Did you shake hands?” Ramona asked, her tone changing.

  “Yes, we did. I admit my entire arm felt as if it were aflame as well. I take it that his word, when given in that fashion, is worth considerably more?”

  Ramona laughed softly and then laid an arm across her face.

  “Everything with you is so strange. Yes, him giving his word in that fashion means he’ll not betray you. It would seem in a hostile city, you’ve found your bedrock.”

  Vince nodded his head. Sitting down he pressed his shoulder up against the bed and looked around the room.

  “How strong is a dragon exactly? I’ve heard of them. Read about them. Never seen one up close till this ordeal. Could I have fought Heint?”

  Ramona didn’t respond immediately.

  The bindings on her wings creaked as she stretched on her bed.

  They were bound and bandaged behind her, her entire body in a state of healing and recovery. There wasn’t anything done to her that couldn’t be healed in time. Other than the mental trauma of being tortured.

  “I’m a Dragonnewt. Have you ever fought my kind before?”

  “No.”

  “We are… Dragonnewt’s that is… an offshoot of Dragons. Most people view us as what happens when you mix Humans with Dragons. We’re extremely powerful,” Ramona said without any tone of bragging.

  “In his human form I could beat him. In his dragon form, it’d be close to a fifty-fifty chance for either of us. We Dragonnewts aren’t given our name for no reason, after all,” Ramona lifted the arm across her face and flexed her scaled arm, then her clawed fingers.

  “We’re not tender creatures. We fight or die. Or both. It’s this very reason that I’d earned a few favors within the guard. Why I thought I could get us an audience without creating a problem. It took thirty guards to subdue me without killing me, and I killed at least half of them,” Ramona said, laying her arm back down. “You overpowered me by yourself, and with only your hands. You were choking me to death and there wasn’t a thing I could do.”

  Vince grimaced at the memory. He tried hard to put it out of his head entirely.

  “You could probably defeat a dragon in combat if they ever got close enough. If they knew how powerful you were, they’d just fly around you and breathe fire at you till you died.”

  Sighing, Ramona turned over carefully, making sure her wings and horns didn’t catch anything or get crushed. “If Heint told you to take Gerard’s deal, take it. After that you should leave.”

  “Right,” Vince said. Nodding his head once in agreement he got up and stretched one way, then the other. “Get some rest. I’ll talk to Leila about having you float the way she does. Getting you home like this is going to be difficult enough without carrying you.”

  Ramona turned her head to one side, peering at him from the corner of her eye. “You’d take me with you? I didn’t complete my end of the bargain.”

  “You’re right. You didn’t. You did try though, and you did exactly what you said you would. That doesn’t change my own end of the agreement now, does it? Rest.”

  The next morning Vince delivered the agreement back to Gerard, signed.

  He wasn’t sure of exactly what this would change for Yosemite, but it wasn’t enough. This entire venture was a failure.

  He’d failed to deliver what his people needed most.

  Again.

  There was nothing more to be done here. He needed to get back home, re-evaluate, and decide what to do next.

  He already knew the answer to that as well though. He needed to seek assistance from The West. The empire of humanity.

  Every kingdom, country, nation, or collection of people on the western seaboard all swore obedience to the Emperor. Each and every one of them all sent a portion of their population and supplies to the capital of the West. Those people would grow up to become the Emperor’s Guards. All trained in combat that pre-dated the Wastes, and given armaments to match.

  None challenged the emperor or his guards directly.

  In his view, the war in the north of his empire was more an annoyance. If he truly wanted to end it, he could. Though everything north of the kingdom of Portland would be a wasteland afterward.

  The reason they all swore loyalty to him, and why he could end it all if he wanted, was that the Emperor had hundreds of thousands of pre-Waste weapons. If he mobilized, nothing would be left standing after they swept through.

  His personal residence was that of Benicia, which was southwest of Sacramento.

  And that was where Vince had been invited by the emperor’s envoy. To discuss a trade agreement and whatever else might come up.

  He’d have to speak with the envoy once they got back to Yosemite, but he was sure there was already a prepared document for his acceptance. The Emperor seemed like a man who would put a checklist to everything, and then plan for every outcome accordingly.

  Thus, Vince knew what he had to do, and where he had to go.

  To the very heart of an Empire built on the backs of Waster slaves.

  Chapter 23

  The trip back to Yosemite was the definition of boring and uneventful. Not a single thing happened.

  To Vince it was a pleasant surprise.

  Leila had made a bed of air for Ramona to rest on for their trip. This was only after Vince had failed for an hour to conjure up the elemental spell as they walked along.

  The Gnome despaired of ever being able to teach him anything other than self-buffing spells, or mass energy infusion. Because everything else so far he’d failed at spectacularly without a hint of success.

  Self-alteration and energy transfer seemed to be the only two things he was good at so far.

  As a group they arrived late in the night. Everyone was taken inside and promptly sent to their rooms. Vince had lingered behind though.

  He made sure that Ra
mona was taken to a room that would be hers in his manor to live in.

  Then he made sure a group of Dryads converged in there to help put her back together since she’d suffered her wounds in his service.

  He told them to take care of her wing as well. He wanted it mended as soon as possible, and he’d personally repay the favor to the Dryads who accomplished it.

  After that, he made it to his room. Where he immediately passed out in his empty bed without another thought.

  When the morning came, it did so with anger.

  It was loud and angry and demanded his attention.

  Cracking open an eye, he felt lethargic in his sheets.

  And warm.

  Extremely warm.

  Like there was an oven next to him.

  Rotating that bleary eye downward, he found his answer.

  Fes was sprawled out over him, her deep rumbling snores filling the room.

  Smiling to himself, he looked at the Orc warrior who’d stolen his heart.

  Drool trailed down her chin, her tusks peeking out from between her lips.

  She was ever the fount of feminine wiles.

  His smile growing wider, he leaned over and brushed away the trail of saliva with his thumb. Moving in closer, he kissed her tenderly, his fingers caressing up and down her cheek and jaw.

  Her black eyes slid open, focusing on him.

  “Morning, love,” Vince said, kissing her again.

  Fes blushed, her arms wrapping around Vince’s lower back.

  “Morning, husband,” Fes said slowly. “Meliae said we could start trying again. That my womb is ready for another.”

  Vince frowned and laid his forehead against hers, staring into her dark eyes. It wasn’t exactly the conversation he’d been expecting to greet the day with.

  It felt odd, really.

  “Ok. Do you want another child so soon though? We haven’t even had a chance to be a family yet. Do you really want to be pregnant again that quickly?”

  Fes relaxed under him, her fingers brushing against his lower back as she figured out her response.

  “We haven’t had a son yet. We need to try again,” Fes said finally.