by Randi Darren
Steve stopped next to the woman who was trying to pull her breastplate off to get to her chest. The bronze fragments from the sword must have really messed her up. Blood was flowing down the front of her chest.
Reaching over, he wrapped a hand around her throat.
“Surrender,” croaked the woman before he could fully close his hand. “I surrender. Help me.”
Frowning, Steve sighed and then lightly tossed the woman toward the other who’d surrendered.
“If she lives, you live,” Steve said. “She dies, you die. And you—”
Steve paused to look at the last knight standing.
“Give me a second to finish off your comrades. They’re suffering,” Steve said.
Turning his head down and to the side, Steve looked into the face of the woman with the hilt of a sword lodged in her throat and jaw. She was gurgling, likely drowning in her own blood.
There wouldn’t be a way to save her.
He lifted his axe up and smashed the back of it down into the top of her head.
It crunched grotesquely as her skull caved in. She was instantly killed.
Moving over to the woman with only one arm, Steve was rather pleased to see she was dead.
He didn’t want them to suffer; he just wanted them dead or out of the way.
“Alright, we can move on to you now,” Steve said to the last knight.
Who promptly dropped her sword, fell to her knees, and held her hands up.
“Oh? Done? Alright,” Steve said, then turned to look for Kimor and the other knight.
The one he’d slapped was kneeling not far, one hand to her cheek, looking very subdued.
Kimor was glaring at him, her sword held in her hands.
“I guess it’s time for you to choose. Submit and become a prize, or get your head pulled off,” Steve said. “Think on that for a second.”
Looking to the one he’d slapped, Steve walked over and tapped her with the toe of his boot.
“Hey, submit or die,” Steve said.
“Submit,” murmured the woman.
Steve nodded at that, then turned to the two who had surrendered willingly.
“Submit or die,” Steve stated.
“Submit,” they both said, though both of them were now working to save the life of the one who’d been shotgunned by the bronze sword fragments.
“Okay, Kimor?” Steve asked, looking back at the big champion.
Panting softly, red faced, and looking extremely angry, Kimor was clearly considering her options.
“Right. You keep thinking on that, I’m going to go pull Valist’s head off,” Steve said.
The false queen hadn’t been idle during all of this. She’d grabbed a sword from one of the women who had surrendered and was holding it in front of herself.
“Stay back, you filthy pigpen monster,” hissed the queen. “Lamals would do well to—”
Steve closed the distance to the queen and casually batted the sword out of her hands. With a squeak, the false queen partially spun to one side from the force of the hit.
Grabbing her by an antler, Steve pulled upward and bodily lifted her into the air. Screaming at the top of her lungs. Valist flailed at Steve and his wrist.
He brought his axe around and neatly separated her head from her shoulders.
Holding on to her by the antler, Steve nodded.
“Alright, Kimor, time to decide,” he said, looking back at the champion. Then he held up Valist’s head. “Or you can join her.”
Kimor shivered once with what looked like rage, then threw her sword down to the grass. Then she dropped to her knees.
“I submit,” she said.
“Perfect. I claim all five of you as prizes for the time being,” Steve said. He didn’t plan on keeping all of them, but it was easier this way for the moment.
He didn’t want to leave his prizes alone, which meant he had to get Geneva over here. At least until he figured out who to keep and had Nancy bind them.
Moving to an unobstructed view of Geneva’s camp, Steve waved his axe at them to get their attention.
“She’s dying—I’m sorry,” said a woman from behind him. “I’m doing everything I can! I swear! I’m sorry!”
Looking back, Steve found the two knights kneeling next to a woman who was clearly fading fast.
“Fine,” Steve commanded. “Keep working on her. Your life depends on it.”
Steve pulled the canteen at his hip off and threw it over.
“Make her drink that, too,” Steve said. “Might help, might not.”
If she dies, she dies. I’m sure I can give her gear to someone else.
Hopefully she’ll have a chance to submit, though.
***
Geneva’s soldiers were rapidly moving through the city. It wasn’t going to take long to have it under wraps as there was no reason to support a dead monarch.
This was mostly to root out anyone who didn’t belong.
Somewhat of a shame.
In the end, there weren’t that many of the citizenry for me to take from Faraday. The soldiers are hers, too. I really only got the royal guard and the knights.
I’m getting ripped off, aren’t I?
“With this done, it means we have to turn our attention back to the real problem,” Lucia murmured. “The Creep.”
“Indeed,” Geneva said. “Though I’m uncertain how to handle that. My plans are moot, as I’ve mentioned before.”
“Creep Witches,” Steve said. He was watching Hiren question his new knights. He’d kept all of them in the end. “I just need to make more Creep Witches. I’ll have that taken care of tonight.
“That’ll keep the cities relatively safe. Doesn’t solve the problem of the Creep itself, though.”
“If… if you really can keep the cities safe,” Geneva said, putting her hands behind her back. “That’d mean all we really need to do for the area is put together a fortification at the leading edge, garrison it, and have it ready to defend from threats. Internal and external. A wall behind the citadel wall, so to speak.”
“Yep, I can have the cities kept safe. I’ll parcel out three of my new knights to handle the city work after I have them converted,” Steve said. Steve had added becoming a Creep Witch as part of the agreement Nancy had put on the knights.
He needed Creep Witches. Not knights.
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Geneva said. “I’ll have all the mayors from Faraday, Hilast, and Rennis send their forces to the new location. They can start building it.”
“Can use Creep Witches for that, too,” Steve said. He was starting to just want an army of Creep Witches. His current plan was to take the entire royal guard he’d condemned from Hilast and Rennis and force them to become Creep Witches.
He wasn’t going to take no as an answer, or let Geneva convince him otherwise.
Creep Witches were needed.
And he had a force of condemned criminals he could put under a contract with Nancy and use to his benefit.
“Do what you need to do,” Steve said, glancing at the horizon. He had an hour or two before sunset. “I’m going to get my Creep Witches. Keep everyone away from my part of the camp, except the royal guard and knights from Hilast and Rennis. Those are all mine. Send them all my way. Tonight.”
He walked away from where Lucia and Geneva would likely plan where to put down the fortress. It didn’t concern him, and he really didn’t have anything to offer.
Walking over to Hiren, he knew what he had to do.
All eight of his knights turned toward him as he approached.
“I want all eight of you to become Creep Witches tonight,” Steve said. “If you volunteer for it, you stay with me. If you don’t, I’m going to give you to Nancy to deal with as she sees fit.”
All eight knights looked at the Wight who’d been standing there quietly.
She gave them a wide smile.
“I’m sure I can think of interesting ways to make use of you,” she said.
Steve immediately got eight knights all volunteering to become Creep Witches at the same time.
“Great,” Steve said, interrupting them. “Thank you for volunteering.”
“I’m going to go get our tent set up next to the pit, since you’ll be taking care of me tonight, Steve,” Nancy said, then started to skip off. Looking far too excited for someone who was about to die.
By being choked to death. Something she desperately wanted to happen.
Crazy.
But… she’s my crazy.
Twenty-Four
“Tomorrow?” Steve asked with a yawn.
“Tomorrow morning,” Geneva said.
“Alright. Fine,” Steve said with a bit of annoyance. He was tired of marching around. They’d been on the move all day, and he was spent. It’d only been two days since they’d put Hilast and Rennis back to order.
Not a soldier. Barely a farmer. This sucks. I want to just… go home.
“This is the best location,” Geneva said, not for the first time. “It’ll be the best place to set up our fortifications. All it’ll take is some work here and there in the surrounding areas, close up some paths, and we’ll be guiding any type of problem from the east right through here.”
“Yeah, yeah, heard you the last time.” Steve waved a hand at her. “Fight off bandits, Creeps, and whatever the hell else.”
“My beloved consort, you’re being a bit short,” Lucia murmured softly, turning her head to catch him with her eyes. She was still sitting in the wagon with Xivin, even though they were stopped for the night. For whatever reason, she’d taken it upon herself to remain with the Elf if at all possible.
Checking a sigh, Steve glanced down at the grass beneath his boots.
“Sorry, tired of being away from home,” Steve muttered. “Your home too, ya know, Gennie.”
“I… I suppose that’s true,” Geneva said. “Well, after this fortification goes up, we can head back home. Most of the troops to be stationed here will be from Faraday, Hilast, and Rennis. I’d rather not spend any of the soldiers I brought with me here.”
“Uh huh,” Steve said. “If the witches are up for it, can they start building tonight?”
“I… don’t see why not,” Geneva said.
Steve nodded his head, then turned and found Hiren not far off. She’d become the nominal leader of his knights, which included everyone in the converted royal guard.
In the end he’d kept Hiren, Beati, Felisa, Siena, and Kimor of the converted knights and champions. The other three he’d left to protect Faraday, Hilast, and Rennis.
“Nancy,” Steve said, looking toward his Creep Witch, mistress, and henchwoman.
“Yes?” she said, giving him a grand smile. Ever since he’d done what he’d promised and strangled her to death, she’d become unable to contain herself around others. It was very obvious she was completely his creature.
“I want all the Creep Witches spun up. Have them build a fort or something and—”
“I can guide them,” Geneva said quickly.
“Fine, have Gennie guide them and get this done. I’m not just over this, I’m done with it,” Steve said. “In fact… maybe I should just take my wagon and go home. This is stupid. I don’t need to be here anymore.”
“That’s—” Lucia paused almost as soon as she started talking. “Actually, we really don’t need to be here now. Do we?”
Lucia toward Geneva and looked to be considering the whole thing.
Geneva’s face blanked out as if she’d been struck.
“No,” she said after several seconds. “I guess… no. No, you’re not needed here.”
“Great. Leave the royal guard with an overseer, Gennie,” Steve said. “Let’s go home.”
Geneva sighed at that and shook her head. “I can’t. I must remain. I simply can’t abandon my troopers here.”
Closing his eyes, Steve turned his face to the sky.
“Okay, fine. Fine. Leave the royal guard here with Gennie,” Steve said.
“And the bedroom knights?” Nancy asked.
“Coming with me. They’re going to help me train up more Creep-Witch knights. Witch-knights,” Steve said. “Huh. Knights who are made into Creep Witches. Witch-knights. Done, I like that.”
“Still… bothers me that you can do that,” Xivin said, shaking her head. “Though I’m quite glad to be married to you. It’s wonderful to have such a strong husband.”
Steve grunted at that.
“Whatever,” he said. “So… that’s it then? We’re… done?”
“You’re done,” Geneva said. “I’ll head home once we have this up and ready. In the meanwhile, I’ll wish you safe journey, husband.”
Huh… that’s… unexpected.
Alright. Home… home to Nikki, then.
***
“This is much bigger than I expected,” Hiren said softly from Steve’s right.
When he looked over, he found the four other knights in line with her. They were all wearing their bronze armor, with their shields at their hips.
Bronze is really heavy, isn’t it?
And let’s be honest, they call themselves knights but they’re not. Not really.
Breastplate, shoulder guards, forearm guards, waist protectors, and leg guards.
More like something from ancient Greek warfare. I wonder how they got to the term knight from that.
Wait… what was that? Ugh. Whatever. I don’t care anymore.
“Won’t be big enough, I’m afraid,” Lucia said with a sigh. “We’ll need to expand the house again to house your bedroom knights.”
“They’re not wives,” Nancy said. “They can live separately. A garrison bunkhouse next door. I’ll live there as well.”
“Oh. Oh! Yes, that’d actually be preferable, wouldn’t it?” Lucia commented and then laughed softly.
“Can’t wait to get back to my forge,” Ferrah said. Sitting atop the wagon and guiding it, she’d taken the place of Xivin, who had been dropped off at Filch on the way by. “Never leaving again. Not meant for travel.”
Steve chuckled at that. Ferrah had truly been uncomfortable almost the entirety of the trip.
“Hated it completely, huh?” Steve asked.
“Well… not… not completely.” Ferrah’s cheeks turned a deep dark red.
“Such a soft-hearted Dwarf you are,” Lucia said, looping an arm around Ferrah’s shoulders. “Though I really do appreciate you. You’re a wonderful conversationalist.”
Really? Huh.
I can’t get her to talk to me about anything.
Or maybe she’s still figuring ‘us’ out. That’d make sense, wouldn’t it?
I think it would.
“…easy to talk to,” Ferrah said, still looking down at the oxen in front of them. The Centaur who’d carted them this far had gone back home in Filch, and the oxen had moved in to replace her.
It’d ended up being convenient since the oxen were due to be sent over to the farm anyways.
Steve heard it as soon as the bridge came down.
Nia singing her Steve song.
Before it’d even hit the grass, the small Siren was sprinting toward him. Her dress and hair flew out behind her as she pumped her little arms and legs.
Grinning, he could feel her song’s power. It grew stronger and more powerful with every step she took toward him.
Of strength.
Indomitable strength that couldn’t be brought down by anything. A pebble stuck in the way of a boulder but refused to move.
And wouldn’t be moved.
“Steve!” Nia shouted. She flung her arms up even as she came at him.
Getting down to one knee, Steve opened his arms up to her. When she slammed into him at full speed, he stood up, slid his left arm under her butt, and planted her onto his hip.
“Welcome home!” the little girl shouted, then kissed his cheek. Her arms wrapped up around his neck and began squeezing the life from him. “I missed you, Daddy.”
Without him wishing it, an entire slew of memories threatened him. Of a little girl hugging him in the same way, telling him she’d missed him. Growing up into a young woman, an adult, and then a mother herself.
Steve hadn’t just had a daughter, but grandchildren.
And then corpses all around him. Blood pooling and filling the cracks between the paving stones. A soldier wearing a bright green surcoat and holding two bronze swords.
Before he could latch on to any of it, it was all gone in the blink of an eye.
Missing a step, Steve almost lost his footing and went tumbling. Only Hiren’s hand catching his elbow kept him from doing so.
“Whooooa!” Nia said, and then she laughed, leaning back to look him square in the face. “You’re silly.”
“I… I guess I am at that,” Steve said, not understanding why he felt completely unhinged at the moment. He was angry and despairing at the same time.
Though the feelings were fading quickly.
“I’m going to be an older sister,” Nia said.
“I know,” Steve said with a chuckle.
“Will you be an older sister for my child as well?” Lucia asked, leaning over the side of the wagon and running her fingers through Nia’s hair.
“Aun’ Lusa? You’re having a baby?” Nia turned toward Lucia, her voice going up in volume excitedly.
“I am. Will you be their older sister?” Lucia asked, grinning at the girl.
“Yes! I will be older sister to everyone!” Nia said, holding her arms out above her head.
“Good!” Lucia said with a laugh even as the wagon moved ahead to cross the bridge.
Steve and everyone on foot waited behind, giving it the space it needed to get over.
“You’re staying home?” Nia asked.
“Yep! For as long as I can,” Steve said. Then he pointed at Hiren and the others. “I need to build some houses. One for Nancy and my knights.”
“Oooh,” Nia said, looking at the women. “You’re all really pretty. You can be my auns.”
One and all, Nancy and the knights smiled at that.
Then Nia looked at Steve and put both her hands to his face.
“They’re my auns,” Nia said. “They’re pretty. And big.”
