Remnant II

by Randi Darren

  He wasn’t about to ruin the clothes Nikki had made for him if he didn’t have to.

  “They’re a terrible little rabble of worth-nothings,” Kassandra hissed.

  “I mean… yeah?” Steve said with a laugh. “They’re murderers without skills from a village that could probably barely sustain itself before the Creep happened. Far as I can tell, most of the farms and food-producing communities got sick or were wiped out.

  “What else were they supposed to do?”

  “I… what? You identify with them?” Kassandra asked.

  “Don’t you? I mean, did you ever stop and wonder where you’d be if the Creep hadn’t brought you down right now?” Steve asked. “If you were sent to Filch, you’d probably be doing patrols and not sure of your loyalty. Filch and its last human mayor or the kingdom. If you went to the capital, for all we know, you’d be killing citizens in a food riot.

  “And you’re telling me you can’t identify with people doing what they have to?”

  Kassandra’s pretty face clouded up in annoyance.

  “You’re… right, Steve,” she said, deflating partially. “You’re right.”

  “Don’t fret over it, my beautiful little snake,” Steve said, then walked over to her to lay a hand on her scaled side. “I share your thoughts; I just understand where they’re coming from. I’m sure a farming community would look at what we’ve done so far with a critical eye for all the ways we’re failing.”

  Kassandra looked away and to the side. She apparently wasn’t willing to respond to that.

  “Hey, subject change—scales? Got any for me? You keep stringing me along,” Steve said, running his hand back and forth along her muscular snake tail.

  “I do, actually,” Kassandra said, turning toward him with a small smile. “I was saving them. I want to see if I can’t make a mail shirt out of them. Lamia scales are rather strong, you know. Stronger than bronze or iron.”

  “Oh? That’d be interesting,” Steve said.

  “I think I can make a punch for them if I use that new iron Ferrah is working with,” Kassandra said. “Should I put one on a necklace for you?”

  It was a strange question for anyone to ask, he imagined. Doubly so for someone like Kassandra.

  Can I hang part of my skin around your neck on a necklace?

  “I’d like that, please.” Steve gave her a firm thump with his hand. It took a whole lot more force than that to move Kassandra in any way. He’d learned that from wrestling her during their sex-play. She often wanted to be forced, roughed up, and hurt just a little.

  Nowhere near Nancy’s level, but she still enjoyed the play of it.

  Sighing, Steve looked out at the crowd of gathered misfit women. They were all in one spot, waiting for the magic Jaina and Ina had kept going to fail.

  It’d been several days at this point, and the well water was noticeably starting to dry up.

  “Alright, I’m done with this horse shit,” Steve said.

  “I… what?” Kassandra asked.

  “Nancy,” Steve said, looking for his henchwoman. She was never far.

  “Yes, Steve?” she asked, looking up from where she sat. She was going over a very basic reading primer he’d put together for her. If she was going to serve him, she needed to be able to do it in every way.

  “Get me a white flag and have someone stand over there waving it back and forth wildly. I want those idiots over there to come talk to us,” Steve said. “Tell everyone not to attack, too. I’m done waiting for them to leave. Going to just fucking end this now.”

  “I understand,” Nancy said, getting to her feet. She was off in a hurry, moving quickly at almost a run.

  She never waited around once he’d given an order, and sometimes she would take off at a sprint if she felt it was needed.

  No one paid Nancy much mind at this point. She was Steve’s shadow and clearly working for his benefit. Wherever she went or whatever she did, it was simply viewed as an extension of Steve’s will.

  What no one seemed to realize was that Nancy was only working for his benefit. Anything anyone said to her was almost always relayed back to Steve.

  Wife, prisoner, or otherwise.

  Steve was careful to not betray her. As long as she was his creature, he’d reap benefits from people telling her things.

  “What’re you going to do?” Kassandra asked.

  “Take ’em prisoner, get ’em to run, or kill ’em,” Steve said. “I was a nice guy for more than long enough. They could have left, and that’d have been the end of it. Done with that. Done with this. If they leave, I’m going to wipe out their village. If they stay, I’ll kill ’em. If they surrender, they can wear a collar.”

  Holding his axe, Steve marched off towards where Ina and Jaina would be. They typically took turns holding the magical shell they had up. A few hours at a time each.

  Right now, he was fairly certain it was Jaina.

  “That’d be agreeable,” Kassandra said. “It’s… frustrating to listen to you entertaining at night.”

  Steve raised an eyebrow at that and looked at Kassandra.

  “I want to, desperately, but… I just can’t. Not in front of the others,” Kassandra confessed. “With so many people practically on the other side of the wall.”

  Steve had spent the last several nights alternating between Ina and Jaina. Kassandra and Nancy had both declined, apparently not as willing to perform as the Creep Witches.

  Both of whom were rather loud and boisterous about it.

  Then again, Steve had the impression Nancy wanted him to force her to do it anyways. She just hadn’t said anything to him about it yet.

  Reaching the cabin, Steve found Jaina perched on the roof. She was staring out at the group of murdering bandits just outside of Lucia’s range.

  She was beautiful, exotic, strange, and her mother had spent way too much on her figure.

  Boobie-dog indeed.

  “Jaina,” Steve said, coming to a stop below her.

  “Husband,” Jaina said, grinning down at him and showing him her impressive teeth.

  “Get your cute furry butt down here,” Steve said. “I need—”

  Jaina leapt down from the building and slammed into him. She immediately started rubbing herself all over him, her hands going up under his loin cloth and grabbing hold of his shaft.

  “Yes, yes, right here, right now,” she said in a low rumble against his neck. “Mount me—show them all who’s your wife. I’m Jaina Bril.”

  Then she bit him, her teeth sinking partially into his shoulder. Her eyes looked up at him, daring him to do anything other than what she’d said.

  It didn’t feel like she was breaking the skin, but he was pretty sure she wasn’t far off.

  Grinning at the feisty Kobold, Steve wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and took a firm grip on her.

  Much in the way he’d done with Chessa. He’d learned from her directly that non-humans had very non-Human needs.

  Perhaps he wasn’t meeting one with Jaina.

  In a way… I do miss Chessa.

  Just not in the way I probably should.

  Then again, I’m not Human myself.

  Squeezing gently, he stopped once he felt Jaina go still, her jaw relaxing.

  “Jaina,” Steve said with a hint of iron in his voice. “That’s not what I want.”

  Grunting, Jaina let go of his shoulder and began to rapidly lick the area she’d just bitten. Her tongue rolled over the skin repeatedly.

  “Sorry, sorry,” Jaina said, then kissed the spot and began nuzzling and kissing up along his shoulder and neck. “Sorry, sorry, Alpha. I love you. I need a belly rub and to be mated with. This magic is tiring and making me irritable.”

  Figures.

  Patting Jaina lightly on the back, Steve got to his feet and held the Kobold physically against himself. He couldn’t imagine having more than one of her kind. She was becoming quite the handful.

  “Alright, we’re going to talk to our
temporary neighbors,” Steve said. “I want you to wake up Ina. We’re going to flash-fry them all if they don’t get the fuck off my land.”

  “Okay,” Jaina said, pressing her face against his shoulder. “I’m sorry. Sorry, sorry.”

  “I know, it’s okay. Go get Ina,” Steve said, putting the Kobold down.

  Jaina fled immediately, her tail tucked between her thighs. She didn’t seem upset or concerned, just put in her place.

  Which apparently, was what she’d wanted.

  Kassandra watched the whole interaction with interest, then looked at Steve.

  “It’s a wonder you can handle so many non-Human women without frustration,” she commented.

  “It’s not so bad,” Steve said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Just have to care enough, I guess.”

  “All done, Steve,” Nancy said, coming up on him from the other side. “I told Lucia not to fire on anyone.”

  Steve grunted and then looked out toward the bandits.

  A woman with a collar was frantically waving a white shirt back and forth as if her very life depended on it.

  “Your family doing alright?” Steve asked.

  “Yes, Steve. Thank you for asking,” Nancy said. “They’re adjusting very well and are quite pleased with their treatment. They’re deciding what to do next at the current time.”

  “Good,” Steve said, looking back at the cabin.

  Jaina came back out dragging Ina along by her wrist.

  The beautiful Creep Witch was rubbing at her eyes with her free hand, her hair a wild bush of blond strands sticking in every direction.

  “Steve? What is it?” Ina asked as she was dragged along. “Jaina wouldn’t say anything.”

  “Didn’t tell her anything. We’re going to end this right here and now,” Steve explained. “Because I’m fucking done with this. Come on.”

  Steve marched off to where the prisoner was waving the white flag and slammed his axe head into the ground. The woman with the flag was momentarily startled, but then went back to waving back and forth.

  Soon enough, a cautious group of women came ever closer to the outpost from the opposing camp. They looked very wary and clearly wanted nothing to do with Steve or his people.

  They shouted at Steve and his group several times, but he couldn’t understand what they were saying, so he didn’t respond.

  That didn’t stop them from repeating the tactic over and over until they were close enough, however.

  Eventually, they got into a range where a shout could be understood.

  “What do you want?” shouted the woman in the front.

  Steve decided to ignore it again.

  He didn’t feel like shouting this conversation.

  The woman clearly got the picture that she’d have to come within talking distance. Looking annoyed, nervous, and angry all at the same time, she stopped twenty feet away.

  “Okay, I’m here. What? What do you want?” demanded the woman.

  “Do you speak for the group?” Steve asked, indicating the group of murderers.

  “No, I’m just the one they sent out because they don’t give a shit about me dying,” groused the woman. The group that had come with her were still quite a ways away and making no move to get closer.

  Right.

  “What village are you all from?” Steve asked.

  Puffing up slightly, the woman lifted her chin up.

  “Carook,” she said.

  “I’m going to give you three options. Leave, surrender, or die,” Steve said. “If you leave, I’m going to find your village and decimate it. I’ll decapitate anyone who questions me and my axe. I’ll stand in your square with my axe in hand and conquer your lands.

  “If you surrender, I’ll treat you all as prisoners and put you to work. You’ll have a roof over your head, a chance to live your life, and food in your belly. As well as the promise that I’ll treat you fairly, even if I don’t pay you.”

  “I—”

  “And if you stay,” Steve said, cutting her off, “but you don’t surrender, I’ll kill every single one of you. Innocent, murderer, child, I don’t care.

  “Now go, give your leaders my ultimatum. Because that’s what it is. I’ll wait here for an answer. If no answer comes within twenty minutes after you get back to your group, I’ll kill everyone.

  “Do you understand?”

  “I understand,” said the woman. Turning, she fled quickly back the way she’d come.

  “Nancy, do you know where Carook is?” Steve asked.

  “Yes, I do,” Nancy said.

  “Good,” he said. “Could we take it the same way we did the last one?”

  “Probably. It isn’t as if word got out of what we did, after all,” Nancy said.

  “Wonderful,” Steve said, then turned to Jaina and Ina. “I want you two to put together a spell that will simply roll over them and wipe them out completely. A wave of Creep flame. Use all the black sand you brought with you, if you need to. I know where we can get more.”

  “I—Steve, I don’t…” Ina paused and sighed, pressing a hand to her head.

  “We can do it,” Jaina said. “Clean and swift.”

  Ina turned to Jaina with a concerned glance, then nodded her head as she turned back to Steve.

  “We can do it, husband,” Ina said.

  “Good. That’s what we’re going to do if they don’t surrender,” Steve said. “Because I’m done with this. I’m charging you to kill them all in the name of our farm. I’ll take responsibility for any innocents killed.”

  Ina looked uncomfortable and unhappy, but willing to do what he’d asked of her.

  Jaina on the other hand had eyes that were determined and beyond willing to carry out his orders.

  “Mark the time, Nancy,” Steve said.

  “Fools,” Lucia muttered. “They don’t know they’re tangling with a husband of the Fae’s royal bloodline. If only they understood their folly, they’d immediately turn themselves over to be possessions like good little peasants.”

  No one said anything to that.

  Though the woman with the white flag seemed rather nervous in this company.

  Looking at her carefully, Steve found she was at the same level of beauty as Kassandra and Gwendolin. With an equally impressive build.

  With strawberry-blond hair and dark blue eyes, she was an amazing specimen.

  After eyeing her from head to toe for several seconds, he broke his gaze away.

  She wasn’t one of his women, which made her off limits.

  Why was I even checking her out?

  I’ve got more than enough women to my name. I don’t need any more.

  Standing there, Steve waited.

  As patiently as he could manage.

  “That’s time,” Nancy said finally. “And yes, it really is. I counted it out in my head.”

  “Thank you,” Steve said. Then he turned to Jaina and Ina. “Kill them for me.”

  “Yes, yes,” Jaina said, stepping out in front of Ina. Pushing her hands out in front of her, she ripped the massive magic square that’d been covering them away. More Creep magic was added to it, converted, and the whole thing became a vibrating and quivering purple flame in her hands.

  Ina laid her hand on Jaina’s shoulder, her other hand clutching a sack tied to her belt at the side, and the angry spell tripled in size.

  Ina’s playing second fiddle in this one.

  Interesting.

  The spell grew larger and larger as Jaina began to move it away from their group.

  Glancing around, he found everyone watching the spell take form.

  Everyone except Nancy. Her eyes were reflecting the spell in a dark and glittering way as she watched Ina and Jaina.

  Turning his eyes back to the spell, Steve watched as Jaina grunted and then shoved her hands forward.

  With a shriek, the purple morass became a flaming wave and shot forward across the plain.

  Cracking, roaring, and spewing fire in every dir
ection, it was like something out of a bard’s tall tale.

  Then, the whole thing landed on the enemy bandits. Landed on them and kept rolling forward.

  Jaina grunted and jerked her hand to one side, and the purple ribbon of death sputtered before winking out.

  Bounty collected.

  Coin to be collected (241g 12s 05c) 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 Bringer of Justice accolade.

  Steve has gained the title “Blade of the Law” for his continued actions.

  “Let’s go loot their village and see if there’s anyone left to kill or claim,” Steve said. He didn’t want to waste resources if he could help it.

  Every little bit helped.

  Jaina looked at the bag at Ina’s side and tapped its limp form with a finger. It didn’t move very much at all.

  “That used all of our sand,” Jaina said. “All gone.”

  In other words, that’s not something we can repeat often.

  If ever again.

  Thirteen

  Grunting, Steve brought his axe around and put it straight through the tree in front of him.

  Hmm. Used to be that I would hit the tree and it’d explode.

  Now the damn thing just goes through it.

  With a weird hiss, the tree slid off its own stump and went sideways. It hit the ground with a heavy boom and fell still.

  Sighing, Steve walked over to the closest tree to him.

  “Village is clear, Steve,” Nancy said.

  Looking behind him, he found the Wight standing nearby. Her hands were behind her back in her standard “henchwoman waiting for orders” pose he’d come to associate with her. She was wearing a dark dress that contrasted in a lovely way with her eyes and skin tone.

  “Yeah? Took everything of value?” Steve asked, looking back at the tree.

  “And then some. We dismantled part of the village of anything that would be useful. Nails, lashings, leather ties, anything,” Nancy confirmed. “All that’s left is used wood.