by Randi Darren
That or it was security theater.
Wait, what? Security… theater?
Shaking his head lightly, Steve wanted to punch Shitty Steve for his lack of memories. Repeatedly.
Until Shitty Steve was Steve the Stain.
Taking in a breath, Steve looked down at Jaina’s rear end.
He smirked to himself and pushed down on her with the hand holding her tail. Jaina was an honest girl and responded with sincerity.
As if some internal switch had been flicked at the pressure of his hand on her, Jaina’s rear end shot upward and her shoulders hit the dirt. Putting her in a very natural and obvious pose to receive a mate.
One of her hands came back into view and gently swatted at his wrist, her body going back into the crouch it’d been in earlier.
Poor thing. She’s more animal than Human, isn’t she?
Then her hand quickly patted his wrist. Interpreting that as the signal to let go of her tail, he did so.
Jaina was off in a flash, scurrying off into the darkness ahead of him.
There was a squeak in the dark, out ahead of him.
Jaina came back with a much larger woman tossed over her shoulder. She was bound in purple magic ties from the Creep Witch’s magic.
“Go. Time to go, go,” Jaina said, pushing her rear end into Steve’s hand. “Grab my tail.”
Grabbing it, he had only a second to get moving before she was hurrying along.
Taking them right back into the woods of blackness and snakes probably waiting to bite them as they walked along, Jaina kept them moving.
“Here is good,” she panted after a few minutes of moving quite fast. “I will rest. She’s bound and gagged. She’s not a struggler. Check her panel and then take her life. After that, check your own status. Then we’ll go.”
Tossing the struggling woman to one side, Jaina flopped down on the grass and lay there, panting hard.
“Good work, Jaina. You’re a… you’re a good girl,” Steve said, feeling incredibly awkward.
“Yes. Yes, I am. Thank you, Steve. Thank you.” Jaina sounded incredibly pleased with herself at that.
Looking at the woman struggling on the ground, Steve tried to see into her for more information.
Heather Bissell
Human
Father: living
Mother: living
Murderer- killed someone illegally
Purist- married her own kind
Traitorous- slept with a man outside her marriage
Divorced- no longer married to her spouse
Unable to see her face, and thankful for that, Steve shrugged his shoulders.
This had been the plan. This was someone marked for death if they ever encountered a soldier, officer of the law, or anyone who wanted prestige for the bounty.
Steve pulled out the bronze knife at his hip, then grabbed the woman by her short hair and rammed the blade home into her throat.
Working the blade to one side and then the other, he tried to make the kill as quick and clean as possible.
Just the same way you take care of the rabbits.
Right?
Same way Nikki does.
Or Jaina, the deer.
Just like that… it’s humane, it’s quick.
Steve grimaced. He wasn’t afraid of violence or hurting others. He’d killed people.
This was a person specifically marked to die. If he didn’t take her life, it was very likely someone else would for the same reason.
It was just strange to him to butcher the woman as if she were little more than cattle.
Steve checked her status and found that she was indeed already quite dead. It’d only taken seconds.
Though her body was still quivering and making strange gasping noises.
Something not right here… Then again, what is right here?
Looking at his own status, Steve called up where he was hoping to find a new notification.
Log:
Bounty collected.
Coin to be collected (12s) at a government-sponsored fine, tax, and levy station.
Steve has gained prestige for enforcing a cardinal law of the Lamals.
Steve has gained the title “Bounty Hunter” for his continued actions.
“That worked,” he muttered.
“Good,” Jaina said, still panting. Then she whined and got up to her feet. “Check her pockets. Then we go. We must be swift, swift.”
Nodding his head, Steve checked the dead woman’s pockets for anything.
“Be sure to check her undergarments for purses,” Jaina said as she stretched herself out.
Steve did so.
And found several coins.
Four
With a grunt, Steve nodded after he shifted the A-frame of the cabin’s roof into place.
It was nowhere near as big as the one back home.
Not at all.
This would be little more than a bedroom in comparison. Enough to house him, Jaina, Ina, and Kassandra, and that was it.
All his prisoners were going to be sleeping under a lean-to that was already lashed to the front of the cabin.
Nancy had been given the benefit of sleeping in the entryway of the cabin for her work. She would have a much more solid roof over her as she slept, and a solid wooden floor.
So far, the woman had earned her keep and then some. She’d kept her one-time compatriots and enemies in check and working smoothly while she maintained order.
There was no dissension in the ranks and no grumbling of any sort.
Looking out, Steve was pleased to see Nancy was indeed helping to tend the field as she oversaw everyone else.
Seems like she’s got a knack for it.
Steve dragged a wrist across his brow, feeling accomplished. All he had left to do was bring up the thatching he’d already tied together and lay it across the roof. That wouldn’t take him much more than an hour.
He’d be done today and sleeping behind walls.
Thinking about walls, he looked out at the moat around them. It was the same depth as the one that went around his home, but it didn’t have the same volume of water.
And that depth wouldn’t stay. It would eventually seep away and evaporate.
He was going to have to connect it with the main moat soon if he wanted this area to be as safe.
But in the same breath, I need to get the palisade walls up. Those murderers are all still out there. And the prisoners said it wasn’t just two villages, but more like… what… nine? Ten?
Mm.
Not something I can ignore.
Suppose I need to get the prisoners working on the wall with me now that the cabin is up. Moat can wait.
Except… Shelly’s late.
Should have been here two days ago.
Scratching at his shoulder, he looked out to the south. He didn’t like that Shelly was late. It made him nervous. Very nervous. He wanted to rush back home and see what was going on.
But Nikki had sent him out this way to take care of this. To handle it for her and secure their future, as she’d put it.
“Not about to disappoint her either,” Steve grumbled as his eyes slid across the horizon.
In the far distance, although it looked like little more than a speck to him, Steve felt like he saw something.
“Jaina,” he called aloud, looking where he’d last seen the Kobold.
She was happily gutting and skinning animals she caught in the area around their campsite.
“Yes, husband?” she asked, not looking up as she finished pulling her knife all the way down to the neck of the deer she was dressing.
“Is that Shelly?” Steve pointed in the direction he was looking.
Looking up from her work, Jaina turned her head toward him. Then she looked where he was pointing.
“Oh. Yes, yes. I think it is. It’s definitely a wagon, but it’s too far for me to see the details,” Jaina said. Then she went back to her work. It looked like she was getting ready to start pu
lling out entrails.
They’d use those later to lure predators into traps.
Jaina was rapidly becoming a very accomplished hunter.
“Kassandra and Ina should be back before the wagon gets here,” she said, again without looking up.
The pair had gone off to cut down trees with Steve’s axe while he finished up with the cabin. He wasn’t about to tell them no, and if anything, he appreciated it.
It frustrated him sometimes to think he was the only one who could do anything with his tools.
“I think…” Steve said after a pause. “I think I’m going to go greet whoever it is and see what took them so long.”
“Oh, yes. That’s not a bad idea.” Jaina used her knife to cut something out of the animal. “Have a nice, nice walk, husband. I’ll watch over our home and prisoners.”
Nodding at that, Steve hopped down from the roof and landed with a soft pat.
Nancy looked up from where she was pulling out a carrot. It wasn’t quite as big as the ones back home, but it was definitely larger than average.
The problem was that they’d been forced to ration the water they were using. Without a constant source of watering-can water, it was clear the effects were quite a bit less.
“I’ll be back,” Steve said when he met Nancy’s eyes. “Wagon coming in with supplies. Should make things easier.”
“Oh. Alright,” said his taskmaster.
“Should have one of my wives on it. Curious why it took them so long to get up here.” Steve brushed his hands off on his pants.
“Ah, yes. That would be a worry in my mind as well,” Nancy said. “May I introduce myself to them?”
“I don’t see why not,” Steve said. Nancy had been nothing if not kind and polite to him so far. He’d seen her enforcing obedience with her workers. She was swift, economical, and without cruelty, but she was unbending.
All in all, he was impressed with her when he really put some thought into it.
After nodding his head at Nancy, Steve turned and started heading off in the direction of the wagon.
“Break time,” Nancy said behind him. “Get some lunch, rest, and clean up. We’ll be on log clean-up after this.”
The soft padding of feet behind him made Steve turn around.
Nancy was coming his way, moving a bit quicker than normal to catch up with him.
Unable to help himself, he watched the way she moved for several seconds before he turned forward again.
Too pretty.
As pretty as Gwen and built the same way.
Wait, why’s she coming with me again?
“Ah, thank you for letting me join you,” Nancy said, falling in step with him. She was holding the solid stone ball and chain that was normally around her ankles in both arms. It looked really heavy, but she didn’t seem to let it bother her.
Frowning, Steve stopped and turned to look at Jaina. If he took Nancy with him, she’d explode from the inside out.
And he didn’t want to deal with her ball and chain right now.
Feeling annoyed, he realized he’d need to go ask Jaina to take care of this for him.
As if feeling his eyes on her, Jaina looked up from her field dressing.
Her eyebrows moved up on her forehead. Then she shrugged her shoulders and flicked a finger at Nancy.
There was a dull whine, and the anklet fell away from her.
“Oh. Oh, alright. Okay,” Nancy said, looking at her leg. “I… okay. Okay.”
She set the heavy stone ball on the ground and lifted up her foot to rotate her ankle around.
“Uhm, thank you for the trust,” she said, folding her hands together behind her back.
“Shut up,” Steve growled out. He didn’t want to deal with her right now. Part of him still wanted to pop her head open for the prestige alone.
But she’d earned her keep so far, and doing anything untoward to her would violate one of the only principles he had.
“Okay, yes, I’m sorry. I’ll be silent,” Nancy said, moving with him as he started to walk toward the wagon again.
***
Long before he reached the wagon, Steve realized it wasn’t Shelly.
It was Gwendolin. She was riding the cart as easily as if it were the simplest thing in the world for her. Like it wasn’t a problem and was as natural as walking.
They were maybe a minute out from reaching one another, he figured.
“She’s a Siren,” Steve said, breaking the silence.
Nancy had been as good as her word. She’d been absolutely silent for the entire walk so far.
“I see,” Nancy said. “She’s very beautiful. Even for a Siren. Very pretty.”
“Yes. Yes, she is,” Steve said. “Her name’s Gwendolin, but I just call her Gwen. Her daughter’s name is Nia.”
“Yes, that would make sense,” Nancy said. “Her child?”
“Yes, her child,” Steve said softly. “Though I’d kill for Nia.”
Must have read my status lines. Probably looked through it all.
“The uhm… the accolade for marrying a Wight is ‘Animator’ by the way,” Nancy said.
“Huh. It is?” Steve asked.
“Yes. I’m Undead, technically. I won’t age. I’ll look like this forever. And it’s very hard to kill me,” Nancy said. “It’s why I was chosen to be a team leader so often. I’ve been stabbed, gutted, and poisoned.”
“Oh. Interesting,” Steve said.
“I could have children just like anyone else, though. I’m not… not that different from a Siren. Or… or from a few of your other wives,” Nancy said.
Steve glanced at the beautiful Wight and then turned back to the wagon. He knew what she was getting at, and he didn’t really care.
All he cared about right now was that she was serving his purpose. Any talk of her doing anything other than keeping track of the prisoners or being executed for her bounty was pointless.
Up ahead, Steve could see Gwendolin and her wagon very clearly now.
She looked out of place dressed in riding clothes.
Possibly because she was stunning. Beautiful to the point that it made Steve’s thoughts wander at times.
Her long black hair was gathered loosely behind her head and likely reached down to her rear end. Where she’d worn no adornments in her hair previously, she now had small blue ribbons throughout it.
The clothes, ribbons, and hair made her pale skin glow in the sun.
Those big, bright green eyes were locked on him. Where he’d seen a weathered and optimistic soul previously, he now only saw a woman with joy in her heart and a positive outlook.
The features of her face, from her nose and lips to her jaw and ears, looked practically constructed to be part of the amazing whole that was her beauty.
Partially concealed by her clothes, and part of the reason she looked out of place in them, was a figure that had clearly been put together by a magical hand.
Gwendolin was a dream made real with wide hips, a narrow waist, and an expansive bosom.
And the smile she unleashed on Steve made his heart skip several times.
It was a smile only for him.
“Hello, Steve,” Gwen said as soon as they were close enough to hold a conversation. “I missed you.”
Grinning stupidly, Steve jumped onto the side of the wagon and wrapped Gwendolin up in a hug before kissing her soundly.
“Ah… I got it. Just… hand them—there we go,” Nancy said from somewhere beyond Gwendolin.
Pulling at the Siren, Steve practically dragged her out of her seat. He held her tightly against him as he kissed her like a starving man finding food.
A short time later, he finally released her and looked into her face.
For a reason he couldn’t explain, Gwendolin had slid through his heart and latched there tightly. Right next to Nikki.
Perhaps it was the fact that she cared for her daughter so deeply that she’d forsaken herself of ever finding a man.
Or that
she’d given so much to protect her daughter that she had become completely secondary. One of the initial reasons she’d even agreed to leave with Steve was for Nia.
In this world, this land, it seemed abnormal for her to have done such a thing. And it endeared her to him.
“Goodness, Steve,” Gwendolin said, looking up at him. “Isn’t it the Siren who’s supposed to take the other’s breath away?”
“I missed you,” Steve said, pressing his forehead to hers.
“I… yes. As I said, I missed you, too.” Gwendolin’s eyes scrunched up a bit as she grinned at him from an inch away. “Uhm, should you introduce me?”
“I’m Nancy,” Nancy said. “I have a murderer accolade. Steve took me as a prisoner rather than executing me. I’m a Wight. I’m working to become a mistress or bed-woman for him, though I’m also his prison warder for the others.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Gwendolin.”
“Ah, yes. A pleasure,” Gwendolin said, unable to pull away from Steve. After giving him a light kiss, she did turn her head toward Nancy. “I’m so sorry. He’s our beloved brute, and it’s just what he is. His head wife is Nikki; she’s a Faun. I’ll relay your intention back to her.”
Steve looked at the back of the wagon. It was far larger than any wagon he remembered them having.
Packed in close and tight were a good many water barrels. There were also plenty of supplies, and a bedroll had been laid out.
Grabbing Gwendolin a bit tighter around the hips, Steve pulled her up and over the rim of the wagon bed.
“Eep! It was nice meeting you,” Gwendolin said as Steve dragged her over the lip and out of sight.
“I look forward to speaking with you more at length,” Nancy said, vanishing from Steve’s view.
Steve laid Gwendolin down on the bedroll, then set his head on her shoulder and snuggled in close.
Nikki was where he went for comfort, but Gwendolin had rapidly become secondary in that regard. She’d started to seek him out to make sure he was well at times.
Which only further pushed her into his awareness.
“Oh, Steve,” murmured the Siren, running a hand through his hair. “Were you worried?”
“Yeah.” Steve pressed his face against the Siren’s neck.
