Remnant II

by Randi Darren

  “I mean, I doubt that,” Steve said, his grip on his axe shifting. “But why not? Let’s take a look.”

  “I’ll remain with the wagon,” Lucia said. “My bow and I would be more useful out here anyways.”

  “I’ll go,” Jaina said.

  “I’ll remain here,” Nancy said as she clambered up into the back of the wagon.

  “Me too,” Ferrah said, following after the Wight.

  “I shall… stay and keep the princess company,” Xivin said, bowing her head slightly to Steve when he sought out her dark eyes.

  Her bright blond hair was starting to grow out now that she wasn’t in the guard. Her pointed ears held some of it back.

  All around, the squad Geneva had called forward was getting ready. It was a patrol through what was likely enemy territory, which would be dangerous at best.

  She thinks she’s failing me, the silly Elf.

  Coming over to the Elf, Steve took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze.

  “Don’t even think it,” he said, locking her eyes down with his own.

  “I… what?” Xivin asked.

  “Don’t,” Steve said, smiling at her. She’d paid a price for him, and he wasn’t going to forsake her.

  Xivin stared at him and then snorted, putting one hand on her hip. She gave him a wide smile, revealing perfectly straight white teeth and elongated canines. Though she was no longer a swordswoman, she kept herself in shape as best as she could.

  She wasn’t as slim, but she was still athletic and beautiful. Her change in exercise routine had her filling out in fun ways, however.

  “Steven Bril, husband, are you trying to tell me what my role is?” Xivin said.

  “No, I’m trying to tell you not to get that stupid Elf brain all twisted up over the fact that you’re not going on this little patrol with me,” Steve said. “Got it?”

  “Stop it,” Lucia said, swatting at Steve’s hand. “Xivin will be fine. I’ll make sure of it. Don’t worry for her.”

  Raising his eyebrows at that, Steve looked at the Fae.

  As far as he knew, these two hadn’t really seen eye to eye on most things.

  “Go on,” Lucia said. “Shoo, away with you. Unless you’re giving out goodbye kisses, in which case you may kiss me briefly.”

  Unable to help it, Steve chuckled at that. Then he deliberately kissed the back of Xivin’s hand and walked away.

  “Hmph. You’ll regret that later when I don’t give you my full attention in bed,” Lucia threatened.

  Uh… okay, yeah.

  He turned around and immediately went back to kiss Lucia’s hand as well.

  He wasn’t about to endanger his time with her. She was special on a whole new level when it came to the bedroom. She took care of him in a way he’d never known he needed.

  Ten minutes later and Geneva, Steve, Jaina, and her squad were moving into Bexis.

  “Much, much death,” Jaina said. “But no Creep. I sense nothing.”

  “Then it’s the same as we’ve seen so far,” Steve said as they walked past the first set of buildings. “Creep’s gone; the aftermath remains.”

  “So it would seem,” Geneva said.

  “See? You were foolish,” Jaina said. “Steve is the alpha for a reason. He brings strength. You should receive him when we get back to camp. I’ll let you be my beta.”

  Geneva grunted at that, her helmeted head swinging one direction and then the other.

  “Captain, you… turned down the homesteader?” asked one of the soldiers around them.

  “Enough chatter,” Geneva said. “Keep your damn eyes moving and your mouths shut. Enemy territory.”

  Steve felt like an odd man out here.

  He was carrying his axe as he always did, though without a shield, and dressed in little better than his farm clothes.

  “Before we stop talking, could someone tell me where the fuck we’re going?” Steve asked. “Because I’d really like a plan rather than just ‘wander through the graveyard of Bexis,’ ya know?”

  Calling it a graveyard might have actually been a compliment, truth be told.

  Most people would probably call it a butcher’s shop, given all the bodies, parts of bodies, and rotting flesh all around.

  The stench of death was a near physical thing. Like a hand wrapping around your nose and mouth, preventing you from not tasting it with every breath.

  “Keep,” Geneva said. “We’ll go to the keep. That’d be the last bastion of defense, and the most likely place we’ll find someone alive. It’s also the first place I would have to fix. An installed mayor would go there.”

  “Right,” Steve said. “Lead on then, cause I have no idea what’s what here.”

  Slowly, walking in a tight group, they moved onward.

  Step by step, street by street, they made their way toward the keep.

  Nothing moved.

  There was no life left in Bexis.

  I should probably see about moving a force of prisoners up here. I bet we could capture more murderers. Add more prisoners to my work pool. Could always use more.

  Resources are meant to be collected, after all.

  Just send them all back with a collar after we capture them.

  Finally, turning another corner, they found the keep up ahead of them.

  It was obvious there wouldn’t be anyone alive in there.

  The gates were chained shut. And in front of them, on the citizen side, was a mountain of blackened furniture. Beyond that, the keep itself looked like a burned-out blackened hulk.

  “Killed their leader,” Jaina proclaimed. “Good. Bad leaders should be removed. They’ll hurt the pack worse than any disobedient pack member would.”

  “I think… this is more than just killing their leader,” Steve muttered, staring into the wreck.

  “Yes. Yes, I would agree,” Geneva said. “This looks like a whole lot more than that. It looks like a traitorous revolt. It would seem we’ll have to do some rebel hunting while we’re up here.”

  “Oh? Wonderful. Is that a death sentence?” Steve asked.

  “What? How is that wonderful? That’s the very opposite of wonderful,” Geneva said. “And yes, it’s a death sentence. Why?”

  “Perfect. And it’s wonderful because I want them as prisoners. I’ll put them to work and use them on the farm, and at the outpost. If there’s nothing left to do there, they can work to fix up Filch, or maybe Bexis,” Steve said. “Much better than just killing them. I can kill them later if they prove to be a problem.”

  “You have no way to control them,” Geneva said as they began their exit. There was nothing else to see here now that they’d confirmed the state of the keep. “I can’t give them to you without assigning soldiers.”

  “Oh, I didn’t show you, did I?” Steve said, realizing the mistake for what it was. “I have a special control method. Anyone I capture and force into this method has no way to do anything but what I want them to.

  “If they disobey, they die. If they run, they die. If they do anything I ordered them not to, they die. Then I collect the bounty for it and go on my merry way.”

  “That seems… rather far-fetched,” Geneva murmured. “I’ll need to see how it works.”

  “Yes, yes, that’s fine,” Jaina said. “I’ll make a witch-stone necklace once we leave here. That isn’t an issue. You can wear it to try it out.”

  Steve briefly considered letting Geneva actually put it on. He was beginning to understand Jaina better, and she had a crafty way of thinking at times.

  The way she constantly approached him where he wasn’t expecting it, trying to push her boundaries with him.

  She was still the loving and generous Kobold she had always been with him, but she was rapidly figuring out how far she could push things.

  And if he didn’t miss his guess, this was her trying to get Geneva to wear a collar and then give her over to Steve like a present.

  “Better she didn’t,” Steve said, deciding. “We could have on
e of her soldiers put it on briefly, then remove it.”

  “Or a prisoner. I’m sure we’ll catch one soon enough,” Geneva said. “It isn’t like they have many places to go, and I have the tax map and census for the area. I know where all the settlements are and how many people should be around. Not that population numbers will be much use anymore, but I can at least validate some things.”

  A tax map? Huh.

  I suppose that makes sense. You do need to tax everyone, and the best way to do that is have a map and a census.

  Taxation is big business. The biggest business.

  Jaina gave him a sidelong look, but her lips curled up in a cunning smile. She was well aware that he’d broken her away from her course of action. And she didn’t find fault or flaw with it. If anything, she seemed rather amused.

  Steve grinned back at her.

  Between you, Lucia, and Nancy, I’ll need to be on my guard.

  Opening her mouth, she gave him a tongue-lolling grin, then moved into his side and physically rubbed up against him.

  “I love you, husband,” Jaina said warmly. “Please mount me when we get back. Right next to the wagon in that patch of dark green grass.”

  Several women coughed around them, and Geneva gave Steve and Jaina an almost pained look.

  It was obvious such a display would make the soldiers rather uncomfortable. Which made Steve have to really think about what it meant to be a soldier.

  Very much need to be on my guard with Jaina, Lucia, and Nancy

  Seventeen

  Geneva growled and flicked a hand at the map in front of her.

  “Filch is little better than a debtor to you, Bexis a flaming ruin, and bandit camps all around Faraday,” said the Lionan. “I wager I could hardly get close enough to figure out what’s going on with the city before getting drowned in cutthroats.”

  “That does seem likely,” Xivin murmured, staring at the map. “There are quite a few of them, too. Far more than I would ever expect.”

  “Yes, it does seem like there are far more than one would think there should be,” Geneva said. “Creep or not. This is more akin to a country being consumed in a civil war.”

  Well, it was more like an apocalypse. Given that the interior of the country didn’t feel the lash of the Creep as strongly, it only makes sense that she doesn’t get it.

  Out here, it was truly fight to live—or die and be eaten.

  Though… I’m really starting to feel leery about the Creep.

  I don’t feel like it’s over. Not really, at least.

  “I think you greatly underestimate how terrible the Creep was out here,” Xivin said. “If not for Steve, Filch would have fallen. It’d be much more like Faraday or Bexis, I imagine. They have defenses, food, and clean water, all things that were in quite short supply.”

  “Yes… you’re likely right,” Geneva muttered. “It’s just very hard to wrap my mind around it. The reports we received were nothing like this. Mentioned nothing of it, in fact.”

  “Did you get any reports from around here?” Xivin asked. “I certainly didn’t get word back that my reports made it. Nor did Shelly, for that matter.”

  “No. No, we didn’t. To be honest, it’s one of the reasons I was formally dispatched out here. There’d been no word at all. There was suspected treason, but that was about it,” Geneva said.

  Steve leaned back in the grass and lifted his face up to the sun. He really didn’t care one way or the other about any of this.

  He wasn’t good at military-type decisions. So far, he’d done much better with bigger-picture ideas and plans.

  Right now, he just wanted to add more people to his prisoner army and build them up. The bigger and better they were, the more he’d have to work with later.

  The stronger he’d be as a leader. The better off everyone would be who was part of his family.

  “We should send a scout to see what’s going on, if you haven’t already,” Xivin said.

  “Already sent, yes,” Geneva confirmed. “They’ve yet to report back, but they’re not due for another several hours so that’s not unexpected. Once they get back, we’ll have a better idea of what we’re dealing with. Though… to be frank, I already fear the worst. I get the impression these camps are all the remaining population of Bexis, and Faraday paid them off or joined them.

  “This whole place is likely swarming with treasonous scum. My domain will be that of a graveyard, I think.”

  Opening his eyes, Steve looked off toward his tent. The last he’d seen of Nancy, she’d been sitting in his tent, working at mending some of his and her clothes. Some of the seams had started to come loose.

  Let’s have Nancy. That sounds like a lot more fun than sitting here.

  And she’s always willing and eager for it.

  Getting to his feet, he walked over to his tent.

  When he lifted the flap and looked inside, he didn’t find Nancy. Wherever she’d gone off to, she wasn’t there.

  Looking around, he spotted Ferrah working at getting a nick out of a blade. As a blacksmith, she’d taken it on herself to assist with the maintenance of arms and armor.

  Steve move over to the Dwarf and cleared his throat.

  “Husband,” Ferrah said, glancing up at him. “Can I do something for ya?”

  “Seen Nancy?” Steve asked.

  “She left in a bit of a hurry with Lucia,” Ferrah reported. “Something about you, but I’m not sure what.”

  Great. Probably planning something for me tonight.

  Lucia takes her job of pleasing me quite seriously. Sometimes even if I don’t want it.

  “Something I can do?” Ferrah asked, looking up at him.

  “I mean… yeah, you could. Not sure how willing you are, though,” Steve said with a grin. “Get in my tent, take off all your clothes, and get on your back. I was hoping for a quick romp and would be really excited for you to be my willing partner.”

  Ferrah blinked once at that, and her cheeks slowly colored.

  “Okay,” she said, getting to her feet. “I think… I think it’s about time I got my Humanist accolade anyways.”

  Walking by him, Ferrah pushed the flap to his tent aside and went inside.

  Oh? Huh.

  Fun.

  Following the Dwarf inside, Steve turned and tied the flaps closed to make sure they were well and truly shut. He didn’t want anyone bothering him during his first go-round with Ferrah.

  “I kind of know what goes where. My mom tried to tell me what she could, but I was pretty young,” Ferrah said, untying the bindings on the front of her tunic. With her bust as impressive as it was, as most Dwarves’ tended to be, her clothing options were limited given the size of the rest of her.

  And since most Dwarven girls were made to look like very well put-together but short Humans, he imagined it was doubly difficult for Ferrah to find clothes.

  “I think I can take care of your needs,” Ferrah said, getting her tunic off and tossing it to one side.

  Steve had seriously underestimated her figure. She didn’t have Gwendolin’s waist or hips, but Ferrah could easily compete with her otherwise. And likely win.

  She was also rather thick and had a bit of weight to her. It was a pleasant surprise for Steve.

  He liked different things.

  Shimmying out of her pants, Ferrah looked at Steve and held up her hands.

  “I am as you see me,” said the Dwarf. “Sure you want this? There’s a whole lot of prettier Dwarves out there. Especially in Hilast. Lot of blacksmith Dwarves there.”

  “Maybe so, but you’re my Ferrah. I don’t want just any Dwarf. I want Ferrah. My Ferrah,” Steve said with a grin, undoing his pants. “Aren’t you my Ferrah?”

  “I—yeah. Yes. I’m yours, Steve,” Ferrah said, and her hands came down to hang at her sides. “I’m your Ferrah.”

  “Then that’s all I want,” Steve said as he stepped out of his pants and pulled at his shirt.

  “Okay,” Ferrah said.
>
  Before Steve could say anything, she went over to his bedroll and got down on her back. She got her feet down on the ground, then spread her legs wide apart and looked at him.

  “Uhm, gently, please,” Ferrah said. “Gently and slow.”

  More like Lucia then.

  But I really want to see that cute face of hers with me lodged between her lips.

  Nodding his head at that, Steve went over to Ferrah’s face instead. He got down on his knees in front of her, laid a hand against her cheek, and then moved his member forward toward her mouth.

  “Steve, I don’t know what I’m…” Ferrah said as his tip dangled in front of her mouth.

  “Well… guess I should learn,” she said, then parted her lips and took his head into her mouth.

  Pushing forward, he filled her mouth halfway and then drew back.

  He gazed down at her as he began to thrust in and out, watching himself slide through her lips.

  Much like when he watched Lucia perform, something in Steve’s head really ticked over when he watched a beautiful woman taking him into her mouth.

  Ferrah’s freckled nose and cheeks blushed prettily, her eyes staring up at him, watching him as he had her mouth.

  Taking a better hold of her jaw and head, Steve pushed himself up to the hilt. His tip glided down Ferrah’s throat.

  Ferrah’s eyes opened a bit wider as she gagged on him, but she didn’t pull away.

  “You alright with that?” Steve asked, drawing back to the halfway point.

  “Do it again,” Ferrah said around him, seemingly unperturbed. “I’ll get used to it.”

  Obliging her, Steve pushed until he was in her throat again.

  Ferrah gagged once more, and then her throat contracted as she literally swallowed at him. She didn’t pull away, even then, and seemed determined to take it.

  Steve began to pump back and forth slowly, filling her mouth and throat.

  After around thirty seconds, Ferrah let out a whoosh of air as she gagged on him again.

  Then she shook her head, pulling back from him.

  “Can’t,” she said, taking a breath as he came free. “I want to. I can’t. Not yet at least. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t worry about it. It was enough to watch that lovely face of yours taking it,” Steve said, moving over the top of her.