by Randi Darren
Looking at the green-eyed woman who was trying to save herself, Steve tried to get some insight into her.
Nancy Abellis
Wight
Father: deceased
Mother: living
Murderer- killed someone illegally
Depraved Predator- lives on the suffering of others
Merciful- has spared others for no reason
“I know,” Nancy said, apparently having caught Steve checking her information. “I only feed passively, though. I mean it! I don’t… I don’t cause suffering. There’s enough going around that I don’t have to do anything to anyone.”
“You spared people?” Steve closed the window without bothering to hide that he’d been looking.
“They… they were harmless. There was no reason to kill them,” Nancy said. “I’d already killed their leader and they were just… they had nothing. I let them go.”
“What? You said you got that for letting travelers go through,” said another woman.
“I lied—what of it? There was no reason to kill them, and I lied to protect myself after letting them go.” Nancy lifted her chin up. Apparently she wasn’t going to back down from the idea that she wasn’t in the wrong.
“Right. Don’t care.” Steve waved a hand at all of them. “Get Ina to make some massive stone weights. Put ’em on a chain gang. They can work the fields together and be their own anchor. I’m going to go cut down more trees.”
“I’ll be good for you,” Nancy called after him. “I can get people to do what you want if I use my abilities! I could make everyone else here work without having to use chains!
“Make me the prison warder!”
Steve stopped at that. If he could use Nancy in the way she suggested, it’d work out rather well.
“Fine,” Steve said without turning around. “Shackle Nancy down separately from the rest. We’ll see how she does with them shackled for a while. Once the walls go up, we’ll let her try being the warder.
“Need trees.”
Grabbing his wagon, Steve set off for the wooded area. He needed to get back to work.
Need to tell Ina.
He turned the wagon and headed over to where Ina had been working last. Spotting her, he pushed his wagon up to the side where she was digging away.
“Hey there,” he said as he came to a stop.
“Oh, hello. Look at that, you’re just the right height. How about you sit down on the edge right there and see if I can’t get you warmed up for me?” Ina said, reaching up to pat the edge of the trench.
Steve smirked at that, and then he instead leaned down into the trench and kissed Ina.
“Later,” he said as he pulled away. “Kassandra is going to ask you to make some things for our prisoners. I gave her the idea.”
“Mm. Okay,” Ina said, then grabbed him by the head and jerked him into the trench. “Never mind about sitting on the edge, we’re going to do it right here in the trench. Don’t mind the dirt; I was going to take a bath anyway in one of the barrels before you dumped it in. You can take one with me.”
Ina was already working at his belt buckle as he lay there.
He’d forgotten the cardinal rule with Ina.
Don’t respond to her when she talks about sex.
Three
Scratching at his cheek, Steve stared down at the knee-deep water below him. It wasn’t deep enough to have made Creep Witches, unfortunately.
They’d simply become corpses and remained there.
It was unfortunate, but in the same breath, he wouldn’t have had a way to control them if he’d made them Creep Witches.
At least he’d learned something.
To make a Creep Witch, they have to be completely submerged.
Steve nodded, then stood up and stretched out his back.
Last night had been different. He’d ended up spending it with Jaina after she’d gotten back. Kassandra had been bashful and declined his offer. Apparently, it was too much for her that there were so many unwed women nearby.
It wasn’t too much for Jaina.
Ever since their frank discussion outside of Filch, she’d never turned him away, not for any reason.
Even if it was in front of a dozen other people, she’d welcomed him eagerly to couple with her.
Pushing his fists into his back, he got a satisfying crack, and then he bent at the waist in the other direction.
“That was a good one,” Steve muttered. Grabbing his wagon, he left the corpses and slowly melting Creeps in the water. He had more trees to fell. Both for the cabin and the eventual palisade.
“Jaina and Ina will be working on the western wall. Adding stone again,” Kassandra said as she slid up to him. It was always interesting to watch her propel herself along.
“Pity I can’t hook you up to a wagon. I bet you could pull a lot more than I can,” Steve said.
“I… sincerely doubt that. You’re incredibly strong, Steve,” Kassandra said. “Though I do plan on joining you today. Our pet project will be starting, after all. It’ll be a good opportunity to see what she does.”
“You’re not afraid of her running? Or trying to help the others run?” Steve dragged his wagon along behind him as he walked to the trees.
“No. Jaina buried a spell wall a little way out from the camp,” Kassandra said. “If any of them cross it, they’ll… ah, she said ‘big, big boom,’ so I assume they’ll explode.”
“Hmm. Alright,” Steve said. “Think they’ll try?”
“No, I think Nancy is looking for a safe place to land,” Kassandra said. “Though I think they might try to overpower her, or one might break free on their own. She’ll need to be able to handle herself if she wants to be a taskmaster. I’m not sure on her motives. She’s… different.”
Steve felt a mite squeamish at what he was doing to the people he’d taken prisoner.
“By law, they’ll be put to death in any city they visit forever going forward,” Kassandra. “Murder isn’t a forgivable crime. While mating and having children with a Human is definitely a problem, it doesn’t merit an instantaneous death sentence. Murder does.
“You could always execute them and dump their bodies without anyone caring. You’d actually receive prestige for it. I’m sure you already did for killing the big one, in fact. Putting them to work rather than killing them is a mercy.”
Steve only grunted at that. He wasn’t about to debate the laws of the land with an inhabitant. As far as he could tell, he didn’t belong here. Everything always felt strange and slightly off beat to him.
“I’d like to go hunting for their villages later. It sounds as if their entire population is flagged appropriately for prestige gains. If we were to round them all up, we’d have a good chance to become nationally acclaimed by executing them,” Kassandra said. “So long as we did it as a group, we’d all get credit. It’d be very good for us.”
“You want to… go bounty hunting?” Steve asked, trudging along. It was an odd idea, but he wasn’t against it. If they were singled out for death, who was he to say no to a reward for doing the work?
“I do. Even as deeply as we’ve fallen into religious anathema, we’ve done nothing that would garner us a death sentence,” Kassandra said. “As much as everyone would make out Lamals to be a puppet nation for the priests, we do have our own laws.”
“Mm. Definitely something to consider,” Steve admitted. It had an appeal to him he couldn’t deny. “What exactly would prestige do for us?”
“Well, with enough of it, you could claim hero status. You could easily petition for anything from the nation. Become a mayor, counselor, ambassador—any position someone can hold without being born to it,” Kassandra explained.
“Like a citadel commander?” Steve asked.
“That’d be one open position, certainly,” Kassandra said. “Especially with a hero title. It would be hard for anyone to disregard that.”
I like this idea much more now. If we had enough prestige, we could
challenge Linne Lynn for the citadel. And from there… from there I could wage a war for humanity.
For everyone in the pig pens. Male and female alike.
Taking it a step further… couldn’t I change some policies? Couldn’t I make this place better?
Nikki made it sound like this nation was one step away from being destroyed by their neighbors. Could I go outside for assistance? Could I stage a coup?
Would I want to?
“My little snake, I want to ask you a question. One that you can’t discuss with anyone else,” Steve said.
Kassandra turned her eyes his way, looking at him with undisguised curiosity.
“Can you swear that?” Steve asked, giving her a sidelong glance.
“Of course. I’m your little snake, and I swear to tell no one of what you’re about to speak,” Kassandra said.
“You remember that I named Linne, right?” Steve asked.
“Yes. She violated an oath to you and was threatening you accordingly. You named her as is your right as a citizen,” Kassandra said.
“I can name anyone anything at any time,” Steve said. He’d been testing it out on corpses, Creeps, and critters. Anything he could see and was close enough to, he could title or name.
“You can… you can what?” Kassandra asked.
“I can title or name anything I want. Here, watch.” Steve turned to look at Kassandra fully. He put his entire attention on her. “I name you Little Snake the Punished.”
Kassandra practically flinched away from something in front of her.
“My… my name is now Little Snake the Punished. Kassandra is… it’s just a nickname,” she said, her eyes scanning back and forth across the screen only she could see.
“I remove my formal naming,” Steve commanded, doing the same thing as earlier.
“It’s gone,” Kassandra whispered.
“Yeah. In other words, if I wanted to name you Head Bedwarmer, that’d be your name and that’d be the end of it,” Steve said. “It isn’t just because Linne violated her oath. And I don’t know what that means, really.”
“Only citadel commanders really have that… right,” Kassandra said softly. “A few others do, but it’s fairly uncommon. But… Nikki said you couldn’t do it. She said you tried.”
“I did try. I didn’t do it right, I guess,” Steve said. “Because now… now I can do it. It’s as easy as swinging an axe to me now.”
“Name… name me Head Wife,” Kassandra said.
“I name you Head Wife,” Steve repeated with a flippant hand gesture.
“I’m your head wife,” Kassandra said, her tone almost listless. “I don’t… name me Queen of Lamals.”
“I remove your status as Head Wife and name you Queen of Lamals,” Steve said, still walking along. He wasn’t far off from the trees now and would be getting to work shortly.
“That didn’t work,” Kassandra murmured.
“Mm-hmm. Seems I need to have some type of claim or personal right to do what I’m doing,” Steve said. “I wasn’t able to name myself King either, if it makes you feel better. I name you Lead Bedwarmer and Personal Snake.”
“I’m… I’m exactly that now,” Kassandra said, her voice growing soft.
“I formally remove your status and return you to normal,” Steve said, reversing what he’d just done.
“Were… you able to name yourself a citadel commander?” Kassandra asked.
“No,” Steve said, letting go of his wagon. He picked up his axe and looked down at the head of it. He’d tried several things. “But for all I know, I tried to name myself incorrectly. Maybe there’s a specific title or attachment I need. No idea. And no help to be found either, obviously.”
“I suppose that’s true,” Kassandra said. Turning around, she rose up high off the ground and looked back the way they’d come. “Nancy seems to be getting everyone into their teams. Doesn’t seem like anyone is fighting her.”
“And you don’t think they can see us from this distance?” Steve pulled his axe back. Then he whipped it forward with a smooth swish.
With a thunk, the back of the tree exploded into a shower of woodchips. The tree began toppling over immediately.
“A few might be able to, but it’s unlikely. None of them are actually… made… for combat,” Kassandra said. “They’re farm girls. Their species are all the types that live in the fringe cities, villages, and towns. Not really in the bigger locations.
“Someone like Nancy wouldn’t really be welcome in a big city.”
“Awfully great looking for someone who wouldn’t be welcome in a big city,” Steve said. “I thought mothers went to big cities to have their girls prettied up. Like you.”
“Yes, well, I would wager Nancy is a bit more like Gwendolin,” Kassandra said. “Naturally pretty, with some hedge-wizard or witch work done out in the middle of nowhere. They’re a very similar species, you realize. They just differ slightly in how they survive.”
“What d’ya mean?” Steve asked as he walked alongside the downed tree. He lifted his axe, then brought it down and cut the tree into a manageable section he could get on his wagon.
“Gwendolin is a parasite race. She eats food and drinks water like anyone else, but to her… the attention of a man is something she craves. Much as I crave warmth and heat. We all have our little things that make us not very Human.
“Nancy is similar to Gwendolin, and feeds off despair and suffering.”
“Like how Nikki can’t help herself and starts baahing sometimes in bed?” Steve asked, bringing his axe down again.
“I… yes. That works, too,” she said.
“Goodie. Let’s see if we can’t find a nearby village,” Steve said, making a choice. “Might be interesting to see if we can raid it of everyone with a murderer tag.”
“Yes. I think we could manage that. I’ll head back for now and see what I can arrange,” Kassandra agreed. “That and check in on Nancy. See how she’s doing in her task.”
***
“They’re down there,” Jaina whispered softly in his ear.
In the end, Jaina had been chosen to go with him to see what they could. Kassandra remained in the camp with Ina to watch over things. There was no telling when another village patrol might stumble across their outpost, after all.
Ina by herself could probably wreck half the group before they even got close enough to shout at her.
“Many, many of them,” Jaina said, her lips brushing his earlobe.
Steve grit his teeth. He couldn’t see as well as Jaina could. He was starting to really hate the limitations of his race here.
Only thing we’re good for is breeding, damnit.
Thankfully, Steve’s foes seemed rather confident with their camp and defense. They’d lit torches at various points around their settlement. They also had a decent wall with a barricade of outward-facing spikes all along it.
There was no moat, though, and nothing to keep out the Creep.
Then again, we haven’t seen much of it since we knocked the wall down into that gap.
Creeps, those bitten, and a bit of the Creep itself, but nothing like it used to be.
In fact, now that I think about it, is that why I couldn’t turn those women who’d died into Creep Witches?
There wasn’t enough Creep to convert them?
“Everyone I’ve checked is a murderer or a murderer and a robber,” Jaina said as she began to rub her face into Steve’s neck. “They’re all valid targets.”
Jaina never failed to get affectionate if they were alone or somewhere quiet. She’d never turn away his affections, but it was obvious she preferred privacy.
“Should we take one? Kill them and get the nice, nice rewards, just to see?” Jaina asked.
“Probably. Not a terrible idea,” Steve said. He wanted to see if what Kassandra had said was true. He’d tried to look backward as he’d done before, but too many things had happened since then. There’d been no record to find.
“
Got anyone in mind?” Steve asked.
“Yes, yes. There’s a murderer just outside the gates in a tower. We’ve already seen their guards move in rotations. They changed their duties twice already,” Jaina said. They’d been hiding here for the better part of the afternoon and evening, watching. “She should be changing out soon. We can grab her then and make her end fast. Once she’s dead, we can run quick, quick away.”
Steve nodded at that. It was a solid plan. Certainly better than what he’d come up with.
Jaina suddenly nipped at his neck, her teeth sliding over his skin. There was even some light pressure followed immediately by several licks. Then she stood up in a low crouch.
Been getting more and more bitey. Must be a Kobold thing.
Getting to his feet, Steve grabbed Jaina at the base of her tail. It was something easy to hold on to, and she swore up and down it didn’t bother her in the least.
If Steve had to guess, she actually rather liked it.
Moving forward, the Kobold began leading him through the brush and dense undergrowth. What little light Steve had been able to see by was gone immediately.
To Steve, the world was as dark as if someone had put his head into the ground.
Much to his joy, Jaina kept them on something he could vaguely discern might be a path. His feet didn’t seem to slip out from under him as they would if he were walking on roots and rocks.
In all honesty, he had no way of truly knowing since he couldn’t even see his hand in front of his face.
Let alone Jaina.
Almost as quickly as they’d entered the forest of ultimate darkness and spiders waiting to crawl into their hair, it seemed they came to the edge of it.
Moving to the side, Jaina grabbed him and stuffed him down into a low crouch. Right into a bush that practically ate him.
She didn’t move away, though; she got down in front of him on all fours. She eased her head out of the brush and peered around at their surroundings.
Looking around, Steve couldn’t really see much of what was going on. He got the distinct impression the guard tower was directly out ahead of them. Looming above them in the darkness, just waiting for someone to walk out and be spotted.
