Wild Wastes Omnibus

by Randi Darren

  “Ah… Unc—that is, Vince,” Eva said, getting his attention.

  Looking to the young woman, Vince waited, staring at her.

  Her cheeks turning a faint red, Eva opened her mouth once and then closed it.

  “She wants to ask you a question, and call you Uncle,” Blue whispered into his ear, masking the move by kissing his cheek.

  “I’m going to go outside, dear,” Blue said much more loudly. “Don’t be too long. It’d be good for you to view the troops.”

  Vince nodded, watching Blue leave before turning his attention back to Eva.

  “What is it, Niece?” he said deliberately. “Speak plainly.”

  Eva grinned widely at him. “Yes, Uncle. Sorry. Ah, I was wondering if you would spar with Uncle Berten and me? I watched the video of you fighting and it looked… it looked impressive.”

  Berten stood up straighter, grabbing Eva by the shoulder and taking a step forward.

  “Yes! Come, we should all spar. It’ll be good exercise.”

  ***

  Looking to the enemy encampment, Vince really wasn’t sure what to expect.

  It was a pile and cluster of wooden barricades, stone walls, and magical constructs.

  It looked like a hodgepodge of various defensive structures representing different cultures. No two were alike, and some were clearly much worse off than others.

  “They don’t fight as a unit,” Caroline said. “They only wish they were as unified as Yosemite.”

  “Red agrees. They lack what we have,” said the Beastkin. “We could tear out their throats if they decided to fight.”

  Vince turned his head and looked to Blue at his side as the other two continued to chat.

  “They seem oddly friendly,” he said to the Dryad.

  Blue looked up at him in that neutral way of hers. Then she slipped an arm around his waist.

  “They’re well suited to one another’s personalities. Red is trying to be much more like Caroline, and Caroline wants to be like a wild beast set loose upon you,” she said. “And I just wish for your company and attention.”

  Smiling at her, Vince leaned in and kissed her.

  “You have it, my silly Dryad,” he said.

  Blue was direct but fairly close-mouthed. For her to express her wishes was something new.

  Maybe Karya, Daphne, and Green dying affected her more than I realized.

  “Then that’s all I need. Other than your attention tonight. Be sure to bring along Caroline? I could use a good shaming,” Blue said, her eyes starting to flicker with color, one blue and one green.

  Goodness, she really has changed.

  “I’ll keep that in mind. Though I think this will keep us occupied for most of the day, wouldn’t you agree?” Vince said, nodding at the enemy army.

  “I’m sure I won’t take that long. And now that you feed Red directly, I find myself without the role we Dryads normally play for her.

  “Truth be told though, Red became quite a good kisser after a while.”

  Shaking his head with a grin at the sudden change in Blue, Vince put his attention back to the battlefield.

  The Wardens would move as soon as the Snow Elves started up their bombardment.

  Armed and armored Orcs marched out to the field, then locked their shields together in front of them.

  Vince could see the long, lithe forms of the Snow Elves interspersed throughout their ranks.

  Reaching up through the gaps in the shields, long spears of ice began to form.

  “It… almost looks like they’re constructing it from the air itself,” Eva said as she walked up beside Vince.

  “We remove the heat from the air. It’s easier to work with fire than to try and freeze the water in the air directly,” Caroline offered.

  Makes sense. That’s all freezing is anyways, a lack of heat.

  “One wonders what you could do to the body if you tried to cool an opponent’s blood,” Eva said quietly.

  “Bad things,” Red said, then nodded.

  The ice spears suddenly shot out from the lines and began raining down upon the enemy defenses.

  There was no response, no movement. Tri-lliance soldiers died when the projectiles slipped through, but there wasn’t a single thing done to meet Yosemite’s forces in the field.

  “Gerard said this was the usual outcome. Madeline’s people would stay in the field and fire until dry, then retreat. Only to repeat it the next day,” Vince said.

  “It seems… sacrificial,” Blue said. She leaned into his side, her personality veering wildly today from what Vince had come to expect from her. “As if they know they’re taking losses, but don’t care.”

  “I think they’re stalling. Trying to keep the army here. If this army were to turn west and link up with the other forces, that front would be much easier to deal with,” Vince said.

  Blue nodded, then laid her head to Vince’s chest.

  “I do wish for this to be over. I think I’d enjoy just a quiet life in your bed until the end of time,” Blue said. “I don’t want to see anyone else lost.”

  “Yes… I can certainly understand and agree to that.”

  A blur of movement and motion took Vince’s attention away to the southern line of the defenses.

  Wardens were moving at full speed, their weapons leveled in front of them. Then they opened up as they apparently got within firing range.

  Blue balls of what looked like fire spat out. Lancing across the field, they began detonating against anything they hit. Splattering their targets and everything nearby in bluish flames that seemed to stick.

  “It’s plasma condensed from nothing more than oxygen,” Eva said. “Felicia is a bit of a mad genius. She made the first; White made it economical.”

  “Does that mean it doesn’t run out of ammo?” Vince asked.

  “Somewhat. It’ll end up needing to recharge after a while. But it does that on its own. If they want to speed it up, a couple solar panels can be deployed by the pilot. Takes an hour or so to fully charge even without the panels, though. Not much, really.”

  “I don’t understand how Felix can casually send so many of these here to help me then. These seem heaven sent,” Vince said.

  “They’re older models we use for base defense. We have newer models but none of them are nearby that we could get our hands on quick enough.

  “Dad was operating under the idea that you needed things immediately.”

  So he stripped his own defenses to provide me with a weapon to safeguard my home.

  Vince shook his head, not having truly realized what Felix had done.

  The Wardens had stopped advancing and were just firing en masse into the defenders.

  As if realizing they couldn’t sit behind their defenses and sit this one out, enemy magicians started to throw spells at the Wardens.

  Blue semi-circles appeared in front of the machines when magic came close to them.

  “It’s a pity they have to use those,” Steve said, having joined Eva. “We might need them later.”

  “They’re limited?” Caroline asked. “They feel like simple magic shells.”

  “We only have two or three magicians in Legion. Those shields require a good bit of work to create and charge,” Eva said. “Magic seems much more common here, but I don’t think you could power those up.”

  “Of course we could,” Caroline disagreed. “It’s as simple as using the restroom. Open one’s magic and let it flow. My noble husband does it just to drain off excess magic.”

  Eva’s head spun to Vince with upturned eyebrows.

  “I’m not a mage. I just have a lot of inherent magic. I do bleed it into my wives, though. Elves and Gnomes apparently live longer the more magic you put in them.

  “My elven wives are more or less immortal now.”

  Pity Leila couldn’t come with us. She promised what she was tinkering with would be a worthwhile project when she was done, though.

  “You’re sure you could charge those shi
elds up?” Steve asked Caroline.

  “Indeed. We could.”

  Steve nodded at that and then pulled a black, bulky square out of his belt.

  “This is ENV-02. Local interrupt on procedure. Do not toss shields on empty. Save for reuse,” Steve said into the box.

  “ENV-01, understood. Saving shields on empty,” came back a voice from the box.

  “Those seem rather handy,” Vince said. He’d watched similar devices be used a number of times now, and the envy was getting to him.

  “Hm? Oh. I’m sure Felix already brought over an entire crate of walky-talkies, and probably a signal tower to set up in Yosemite,” Steve said, waggling the device back and forth. “He’s quick on stuff like that.”

  “I’m sure Dad took care of it,” Eva said. “He was complaining there wasn’t a satellite here on Campbell. Otherwise, I bet he’d already have simply handed out phones.”

  “Campbell?” Vince asked.

  “Ah, Dad’s codename for this world is Campbell,” Eva said.

  “It would seem your brother is rather sentimental,” Blue whispered for Vince alone. “And you seem quite happy about it all.”

  Unable to stop himself, Vince grinned and looked at Blue.

  “Is it that obvious?” he asked.

  “To me, yes. But I’ve spent more time with you than anyone other than Mouth or Meliae. Your wives look to her when they don’t understand you or want to ask you something. Then to me.

  “It was a great benefit for me to have trained so diligently in martial combat, as it gave me a great amount of time at your side, no?” Blue said earnestly.

  “I’ve become something of your fourth wife, behind Mouth, Meliae, and Fes,” Blue continued. “But yes. It’s obvious to me. You seem quite chipper about it. Happy, even.”

  “I am. I really am, actually. I love you all, and you do so much for me… but—” Vince paused, thinking on it. He hadn’t really put too much thought into it, but he knew she wasn’t wrong. “But it feels like I’m not alone. I have a living blood relative.

  “One that seemingly bent over backward to help me. That emptied out his own garrison to assist me in the defense of my territory.

  “Simply because he found out we were related.”

  Taking in a breath, Vince looked across to the enemy defenses.

  They were shattered things. Burning, flaming, masses of defenses that no longer served a purpose other than to act as grave markers, in a way.

  Even the stone defenses were on fire. Enemy troops were starting to simply flee in every direction, even as the Wardens continued to fire.

  A long note from a trumpet sounded, and the Orc line began to stomp forward.

  Apparently, it’s been decided that this is the end of this minor campaign over here.

  Gerard wants this done now.

  Not that I blame him. If we repeated this tomorrow, the Wardens’ shock value wouldn’t be as high or as useful.

  “I think I understand,” Blue said with a genuine smile for him. Her fingers stroked Vince’s forearm, then gently patted him. “I’m glad for you, and happy it has given you support. I only wish for you to be happy, my love.”

  “Well. You do such a good job all by yourself,” Vince said with a bit of heat to his voice. Leaning down into the Dryad, he started to nip at her ear and neck. “I can’t imagine where I’d be without you.”

  Blue made a happy little noise and then took a deep, shuddering breath.

  Vince couldn’t take it any further, of course. Or he’d literally strip Blue and take her right there in some wild victory sex in front of everyone.

  In front of his niece and his guests.

  He didn’t doubt Blue would be willing and would probably enjoy it, but these people might not understand Dryads, or might have different cultural norms.

  Vince sighed and released the willing Dryad with a massive amount of control.

  Realizing this was well and truly over as a battle, he set off for the command tent where his vassals were.

  Gerard, Berten, and Madeline were all watching together. Each one of them with a smile plastered on their face.

  As one, they realized he was coming toward them, and bowed their heads deferentially to him.

  “It would seem your brother is not one to be trifled with,” Madeline said. “If this is only what he offered for now, I would hate to see what he could provide us with more time.”

  “Funny you mention that,” Vince said. “Part of the reason I came out east is that I’m working to assist my brother with his own needs.”

  “Oh?” Gerard asked.

  “Indeed. I must travel east, to what used to be Kentucky. There’s a black dragon and half a hoard there with my brother’s name on it. I plan on taking that hoard. Every coin,” Vince said. “I need five of your best Elven magicians, five of your smartest and most adaptable warriors, and ten Undead that can take orders and still think on their own a bit. I’ll take them east with me, along with five of the Wardens.

  “The rest will all go with you to assist in the western theater with Duke Heint.”

  “The Wardens will be coming with us? You only need that few?” Madeline asked.

  “Yes, I’ll be fine with five, I believe. That and the other theater will need them much more after you finish up cleaning up here.

  “But there are Wardens already in the south as well. They were sent there with all the artillery, ammo, and firearms from my brother.”

  Berten started to laugh loudly at that, and clapped his hands together once.

  “This is only part of your brother’s gift? Ha! This is splendid. We’ll need to drink with him when this is all over.

  “I cannot wait to watch the Tri-lliance flee back toward the south.

  “And then we’ll chase them. Run them down.

  “Drive our enemy before us and listen to the wails of their loved ones as we conquer them. To lash them to a wheel and have them broken,” Berten said, making a fist.

  Conquering the Tri-lliance homeland? That’s definitely on the to-do list, isn’t it?

  Much like Verix. We can’t let them remain after this. We need to make sure they can never do this again.

  That they can’t rise again and attack us.

  I hope Petra is alive and well.

  I’ll need her mind and strategies if we’re going to try and take all that territory. I’m just not smart enough for that kind of thing.

  Chapter 15

  Vince finished up the letter he was writing and rolled it up.

  Sam was sitting on the table in front of him.

  Reaching over, he laid his hand on her legs and began to channel into her.

  He kept the speed of transfer low and slow, though. He needed her clear headed right now, as the letter she was going to deliver was important.

  On top of that, he was going to give her the contents verbally.

  “Must you? Every time I see you, you fill me up to the point that you have nothing left,” Sam said.

  “I do. You said you wanted to be big enough to receive me in bed, remember? Need to get you to at least Leila’s size,” Vince said. “And apparently the way to grow a Fae is to stuff her full of magic.

  “Be thankful I don’t make all the Elves take a turn on you.”

  Sam blinked at that. Apparently she hadn’t considered the fact that he could easily force her to become much larger immediately if he wished it.

  “Now, for the spoken part of the report. Just in case you have questions, since they might have them,” Vince said, giving Sam’s legs a gentle squeeze to get her attention.

  Turning her bright eyes on him, she nodded once.

  “I’m ready.”

  “Gerard, Berten, and Madeline are all heading down to the western theater. The enemy forces here were killed, captured, or routed to the last.

  “The Elves interrogated those that lived, and Gerard ripped information from the dead. Everything is exactly as we expected.

  “The only differenc
e is their timeline is longer than we thought. They can hold out for much longer, as there are more armies in the south.”

  “The south. How far south?” Sam asked.

  “South-America south. The Tri-lliance holds everything from the bottom tip down there all the way to here.”

  “Ok. And the armies in the east?”

  “The king in the east is indeed fighting two armies. Last report they had here was that the first army was hung up on Nashville. The second was somewhere in New York, chasing an army of the East up there.”

  “I see,” Sam said, then shook her head. “How much does our victory here buy us?”

  “Not that much. They were a strike force designed to pin up Yosemite with the aid of those dragons. It’ll help us to strengthen the other theater, but it doesn’t change anything.

  “It’ll come down to Felix’s weapons down there, honestly.”

  “Mmm. Alright. Anything else?” Sam asked, laying her hands on top of Vince’s.

  “I can’t really think of anything pertinent to add to that,” Vince said, thinking deeply on the battle.

  “Did you include what you were going to do next?” Sam prompted.

  “Ah, yes. I did. Heading deeper east, of course. With Berten and Madeline as my vassals, I plan on incorporating the land around here into Yosemite. I’ll have them all understand what’s coming later.

  “Elysia will have to send emissaries out this way to get them all wrapped up, but that shouldn’t be too bad.”

  Sam nodded at that.

  Looking at the Fae, Vince focused on her.

  She was indeed growing bigger every time he saw her.

  “You really are getting considerably bigger, now that I look. You can’t even sit on my shoulder anymore, can you?”

  “Not… really. My butt’s too big,” Sam said. She looked like she was fighting a pout.

  Vince could feel he was reaching the end of his mana flow. Turning it to full for a second, he dumped an ocean of magic into her.

  For five seconds, she was paralyzed as he packed her with magic.

  Then it was over, and she slumped onto his arm.

  “Damnit, Vince,” she said, shaking her head.