Remnant II

by Randi Darren

  “Nothing’s wrong,” Gwendolin said, getting both of her arms around Steve. “Shelly had to go to Filch. Someone from Commander Lynn arrived and asked to speak with the governor. We thought she’d be back in a day, but it took longer. So I came instead.”

  “Oh, good,” Steve said, closing his eyes.

  “I brought the watering can with me. We were able to move the barrel you put it in just like you thought, even though we couldn’t move the watering can itself,” Gwendolin said. “Ferrah sent something to test out that you’d mentioned as well, and—”

  Steve bit gently into Gwendolin’s throat, his hands coming down to rest on her hips.

  “Oh. Ah… mm,” Gwendolin said. Her head tilted to one side, exposing her neck to Steve entirely. “I… could we? Could we… do it… right here? Right now?”

  That was a surprising request to Steve.

  He thought for sure she’d tell him no or to wait for a real bed. Certainly not in a wagon with Nancy less than two feet away.

  “And uhm, can you do that thing we talked about? I want one,” Gwendolin said, leaning her head back and lifting her shoulder, forcing Steve to meet her eyes. “I want one as soon as possible. Before Nia gets older.”

  “You do?” Steve asked. He knew exactly what she was asking. She wanted him to impregnate her.

  Here, on this world, he’d found that being pregnant was an honored status. One that widows like her supposedly couldn’t achieve.

  It was doubly honored if you were the first in a marriage to become pregnant.

  “Yes,” Gwendolin said, smiling at him. She looked up at the edge of the wagon and then back to Steve. “I know Jaina would agree as well.”

  Ah. So… she does want me to impregnate both widows first.

  Alright. I think… I think I could do that.

  Gwendolin reached down to his pants and almost instantly got them loosened, then pushed them down towards his knees.

  “You’re positive?” Steve asked.

  “I… Steve,” Gwendolin said, pausing to deliberately glance toward the front of the wagon where Nancy was sitting.

  Frowning, Steve sat up and moved to the wagon’s lip.

  He reached out, wrapped a hand around Nancy’s throat, and pulled her backward till she was looking up at him, bending her partially over the rim of the wagon bed.

  “Nancy,” Steve growled, giving her throat a soft squeeze.

  She nodded her head and stared up at him with wide eyes.

  “Whatever you hear, you’re to repeat it to no one,” Steve whispered into her ear. He didn’t want Gwendolin to hear anything of this either, for that matter. “No matter what you hear. Do you understand? To no one. Not even my other wives.”

  “Yes,” whispered the Wight. “I swear it.”

  “Good. You want to be my mistress? Then start acting like it. You’ll be my secret keeper from everyone, and you’ll do the things I want you to and like it,” Steve continued, his lips almost inside her ear canal. “Do you agree?”

  “I understand. I agree,” Nancy murmured, nodding her head quickly. “Your mistress and secret keeper. I understand. I can do that. Yes. If you swear to keep me alive, healthy, and taken care of.”

  Steve considered her offer. She’d been useful so far. Very useful. She’d bent to his will and done what he asked and offered everything up to him.

  “Done. I swear it,” he whispered in her ear. “Now swear in return.”

  “I swear it,” Nancy said, one of her hands coming up to rest on his around her throat. “I swear to be your mistress and secret keeper.”

  Letting out a breath, Steve released her and moved back down to Gwendolin. She had a very confused look on her face.

  “She won’t talk,” Steve said. “Are you sure? Pregnancy for you and Jaina?”

  Gwendolin took in a slow breath and then let it out. “Yes. I’m sure.”

  Then she opened her arms to him, her tunic falling open as well. He noticed in that instant that her pants were all the way down past her ankles and coiled next to a box.

  Apparently while he’d been chatting with Nancy, Gwendolin had taken care of her own clothes.

  She was impossibly beautiful.

  “Come show your wife your love,” Gwendolin purred at him, then immediately began humming her personal Steve song.

  He pushed down on his pants and nearly jumped atop Gwendolin, he moved so quickly.

  Laughing softly, she shimmied around to get her legs spread out and around his hips.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” she murmured, humming her song whenever she wasn’t speaking. “Slow down and take me gently.”

  He gave her a nod, then leaned down and kissed her hungrily. His tongue immediately slipped into her mouth as his hands pressed into her hips.

  Gwendolin received him without hesitation, practically moaning her song as her tongue slid along his own.

  Her thighs trailed up along his hips, her ankles and feet brushing against his calves. She was pulling at him subtly.

  Before he could do anything to insert himself into her, she’d already taken his tip with her left hand and was guiding him up and in.

  Moving with the motion she’d started, Steve slid into the Siren.

  Gwendolin laid her hand on his rear end and pulled at him with her fingers as he filled her.

  She broke her song partially with a groan, and her body flexed and went tight under him. Pushing down on her hips, Steve kept going till he felt there was nothing left to fit in. He was at the hilt, and he could feel her insides pulsing around his shaft.

  Breaking the kiss, Gwendolin laid her head against the bedroll and let out a rush of air.

  “You’re a lot bigger than I expected. I didn’t really believe everyone,” she murmured. She shifted around under him, tilting her hips slightly until she seemed to get comfortable. Then she lifted her hands up and laid them around the back of his neck. “Come, husband. Lay claim to me, fill me, and give me our first child. Give Nia a sibling.”

  As her words died away, she began to hum his song again, her eyes wide and bright, her smile huge.

  Encouraged, flattered, and feeling beyond sexually needy, Steve pulled out of her and then rolled forward. He worked to curve his hips up and over her so he could grind at her clit at the same time.

  Gwendolin moaned as he moved atop her, then shifted a little more and lay still beneath him. Her eyes slowly narrowed till they were only halfway open. It was obvious she was watching him and enjoying his response to her song.

  Leaning his head down, unable to look at her amazing face, Steve began to lightly bite at her neck and shoulders. At the same time, he rocked back and forth, gliding in and out of the lovely Siren.

  As she hummed and moaned in tune with his thrusts, Gwendolin seemed lost in her own little musically enhanced, sexual world.

  Steve was going easy on her, enjoying the simple act of making love to her. His hips ground down into her with each thrust, and he wasn’t trying to pound away at her.

  Pushing down with his hands on her hips as he moved upward was the extent of the force he was using on her.

  “Steve,” Gwendolin said in a throaty whisper. “I love you.”

  Unable to help himself, he bit down on her shoulder at her words, and his fingers tightened on her hips.

  “It feels so wonderful—you’re amazing,” she said, her melody resuming its cadence immediately after she finished speaking.

  Steve shivered at her words. With the way she was stroking his ego and emotions, he felt like he was being bathed in the warmth of her heart. Her song pulled at him.

  “Don’t forget to give me our first child,” Gwendolin murmured, kissing the side of his head and ear. “Give us our firstborn.”

  Letting out a soft pant as he picked up speed, Steve continued to pin and love Gwendolin into her bedroll. There was no force in any of it, however.

  He was making sure to try and hit all her needs at the same time.

  Where Ina and K
assandra often wanted to be split in half, it was obvious Gwendolin was far more like Shelly.

  “Steve, tell me it’s going to happen,” she whispered. “I want to hear it. I’ll be the firstborn-wife.”

  “You’re going to be pregnant,” Steve mumbled, letting go of her shoulder with his teeth. “You’ll be the firstborn-wife.”

  “Yes,” Gwendolin whispered.

  Taking the opportunity he’d presented her by lifting his head to respond, Gwendolin immediately kissed him, her tongue pushing into his mouth. Her right hand was combing through the back of his hair as her left hand slid down towards his rear end again.

  Steve pumped into her over and over, losing himself in it. In the madness of making love to such a beautiful and willing woman, one whose constant humming drove his heart, mind, and soul into a maddening frenzy.

  And to impregnate her right now.

  You’ve requested to enable procreation. Please confirm that you wish to disable your procreation limitation.

  Yes! Yes, please. Give Gwendolin a child.

  Procreation enabled.

  Grunting, Steve began to thrust a bit harder into Gwendolin as he hit his peak. His shaft expanded, and he felt himself spilling seed into her depths. Unable to breathe, and feeling a bit dizzy, he forcefully broke the kiss with Gwendolin.

  Singing aloud now, the Siren was pulling at him, moaning, and shuddering under him.

  Impregnate Gwendolin Bril?

  “Yes,” Steve panted, “Impregnate Gwendolin Bril.”

  He ground into her and pushed as deep as he could while continuing to climax.

  “Gods, yes,” Gwendolin groaned, rolling her whole body with each of his thrusts. “Impregnate Gwendolin Bril.”

  Conception achieved.

  Steve has gained notoriety for breaking the laws of the Lamals.

  Steve has gained the Number One Fan accolade.

  Steve has gained the Father accolade.

  Panting, Steve finally came to an end and laid his forehead down on Gwendolin’s shoulder.

  She laughed softly under her breath as she ran her hands all over his back and shoulders.

  “It happened,” she said in a laughing pant. “I’m pregnant. I got my Humanist accolade and the Firstborn Mother accolade.”

  “Congratulations,” Nancy said from up front.

  “Thank you,” Gwendolin said, apparently not caring in the least about Nancy. She started laughing again, her arms tightening around Steve’s shoulders. Then she pressed her lips to his ear and hummed several notes of his song. “Let’s do it again. Maybe you can give me twins. A Firstborn Mother with Twins would be an amazing accolade to have.”

  Five

  Pulling the lid off a water barrel, Gwendolin looked inside.

  “Oh, it’s only half full,” she said, then turned to Steve with a smile.

  While it had been several hours since their first time in the wagon, two hours since their second and third time, it still felt surreal to Steve.

  Gwendolin was pregnant beyond a doubt, and she was acting very affectionate with him. More than she had previously, certainly.

  She’d cared for him and shown him that care, but now it was downright almost smothering.

  Reaching in, Steve fetched out the watering can and carried it over to the moat. He jammed it in at an angle and then gave it a once-over. It was draining appropriately.

  He shrugged and turned the whole thing upside down. After watching it for a few seconds, he thought it was emptying faster like this, but he had no way to be sure.

  “Ferrah sent these… things,” Gwendolin said from behind him. “She said you had talked to her about it?”

  Looking up at the Siren, Steve found she was holding what seemed like a copper pipe in the shape of a J and a stopper.

  “Great,” Steve said, taking it from her.

  He’d had a weird thought when he’d been trying to figure out ways to make the water come out faster.

  Mostly it was weird because he swore he had a memory of this from somewhere, but he couldn’t relate it back to anything.

  It was just one more thing to heap upon the many curses for Shitty Steve.

  He took the stopper and fit it into the spout of the watering can. Water ceased to flow, and it seemed to be perfectly sealed.

  With a nod of his head, Steve pushed the copper pipe into the watering can. The long side of the pipe slid into the body of the can itself.

  He felt and heard when it hit the bottom of the watering can. Ferrah had designed it specifically to rest there. The hook of the pipe came out and went upwards and away.

  Giving the watering can a shake, Steve felt like he was supposed to do something else, but he wasn’t sure.

  He frowned, then leaned down and then blew as hard as he could into the pipe.

  The result was immediate.

  Water began pouring out of the watering can at an increased rate.

  Not sure… if this is how it’s supposed to work, if this world is messed up, or what, but I’ll take what I can get.

  He left the watering can there, and as it emptied endlessly, he felt better.

  It was definitely flowing much faster now, and it seemed to be able to continue with whatever he’d done.

  Then again, an endless watering can isn’t exactly realistic, is it? Hah.

  “Well,” Gwendolin murmured. “That’ll be helpful. If it fills everything as quickly as I think it will, does that mean we should take even more land?”

  Steve frowned, thinking on that.

  He knew that was the exact question Nikki would pose to him. She had plans within plans to provide for her family, and future generations.

  That included taking as much land as possible and holding it as their own.

  But isn’t that thinking more for when the Creep was here? We haven’t seen much of it lately.

  Maybe this is over and we won’t have to worry about it much. Maybe we can just… give up this outpost and go back to the farm and settle in there.

  Have a normal life.

  Standing up, Steve brushed his hands off on his hips.

  If that’s the truth, doesn’t that mean I need to round up and execute all those murderers as quickly as possible? We’ll need to catch them, bring them back to the farm, and execute them.

  Earn prestige for everyone so the government leaves us alone.

  I’m on a time-limit with the criminals.

  He nodded his head as he firmed up a plan.

  “I meant to ask,” Steve said, looking up. “How’s Lucia? You wouldn’t be here unless… she was worse beyond saving or better enough that you could leave.”

  “Oh! Oh, I’m so sorry,” Gwendolin said, touching his chest with a hand. “She’s fine. Absolutely fine. I find that my ability to help others has grown substantially. She’s well and good. Though rather angry at you. She was expecting to find you when she woke up, I think.”

  “Err, yeah. That sounds about right for her, I suppose,” Steve said with a grin.

  “Indeed. Expect her to show up and possibly beat you.

  “Oh, there’s Jaina. I’m going to go chat with her. I think I have a new subject to talk to her about. One that I think will raise her spirits without me giving anything away,” Gwendolin said. Walking up to his side, she laid a kiss on his lips that practically made him ask for a fourth round before she moved off.

  Steve glanced at the watering can and found it unchanged. Emptying into the moat.

  I’ll have to dig it into the expansion line for the eventual goal of the outpost, then finish out the final size quickly. That’ll keep me non-stop busy for a while.

  Maybe tie it into the water heading to Filch itself.

  Turning to his side, he found Nancy standing there. She had her hands behind her back, seemingly waiting for him to give her direction.

  “Get your women together. We’re going to go ditch digging,” Steve said. “Meet me in the far boundary. Tell everyone not to cross to the other side of it no ma
tter what. Not on any circumstance.”

  “Yes, of course,” Nancy said, and immediately moved away from him.

  Clicking his tongue, Steve walked over to the small cabin, grabbed his shovel, and started digging straight toward the expansion line. He had no desire to waste any of his can water.

  He worked quickly and was able to finish digging to the extension before Nancy rejoined him with her women in tow. They were all holding shovels and looking bored.

  They’d been fed better than they had back in their villages, treated kindly for murderers, clothed, and given water as often as they wished.

  By all accounts, they were more farmhands at this point than anything else.

  On top of that, someone had removed their stone balls and chains.

  Wonder if that was Jaina or Ina. Kassandra couldn’t do it.

  “We’re digging along the far boundary,” Steve said, looking up from where he’d stopped working. “Pay heed to the markers and don’t cross them. If you cross them, you’ll die. It’s very simple.

  “Questions?”

  “No,” Nancy said.

  “Get ’em going and then come back, Nancy,” Steve said. Bending to his task, he started digging straight out from the expansion line toward the boundary.

  Nancy didn’t leave, though. She turned, motioning to her women and then the boundary.

  “I’ll catch up with you,” she said to them.

  As one, the group moved off without a word. They apparently had no resentment toward Nancy.

  It didn’t really make sense to Steve.

  Standing up, he watched the women leave and leaned on his shovel handle.

  “You didn’t kill them,” Nancy said. “Or me. Nor are you… abusing… them. Far as they can determine, you’re treating them more like farmhands.”

  “They are farmhands,” Steve said, looking at Nancy. “Farmhands I’ll kill if they do anything I don’t like. But… as long as they earn their keep, they have nothing to fear.”

  “And that’s why they’re not trying to make problems. To be fair, there’s more food here than where we came from,” Nancy said. “And your wives are actually quite pleasant. It speaks well to your character.”

  “Says my mistress and secret keeper,” Steve said with a scoff.