Remnant II

by Randi Darren

  Linne’s chin lifted up, and her ears slowly swiveled around toward the rear.

  Steve got the impression she was looking from one person to the other, but he couldn’t tell from this angle.

  “Geneva Gosti, is it?” Linne asked.

  “Yes,” Shelly said. “She’s recently subjugated Bexis, Faraday, Hilast, and Rennis. I’ve received word that the military governor to our south has also reached out to Filch to discuss the situation with us.

  “Perhaps the citadel commander has not received her orders from Her Majesty as of yet? I imagine they might perchance assume you’ve fallen in combat. I’m sure that as soon as either of the military commanders report back, your orders will arrive.”

  I’m suddenly very thankful Shelly is here. She’s much better at saying it subtly without making it a threat.

  ‘Get in line, you nasty bitch, before the queen comes and smacks you. You’re a citadel commander, but you report to the queen.’

  Heh.

  I’d probably just end up—

  Linne moved then. Moved in a way Steve didn’t expect.

  Her sword whipped out and simply removed Shelly’s head from her shoulders. Then it swung to the right, cleaving Xivin from her shoulder down to her hip. Bringing it to the left, she stabbed forward and caught Misty in the chest.

  Linne flung her left hand forward, and a dagger flew free of it to embed itself into Kassandra’s throat.

  And right out of the back of it, turning her entire neck into a bloody ruin. Her head nearly fell off with how much of her throat had been torn away.

  Linne ripped her sword out of Misty and to the side. She nearly cut the Nereid in half as neatly as she had Xivin.

  Steve has gained a second Widower accolade.

  Arrows began to immediately rain down on Linne from the top of the walls.

  Standing there, Steve didn’t understand what’d just happened.

  “You’ll all surrender to me and—”

  Steve roared at the top of his lungs. It felt like something had bubbled up from the darkest, ugliest part of him.

  He slammed his fist into the tower, and the stone exploded outward.

  Not waiting, Steve leapt out of the tower straight for Linne.

  “I’ll fucking kill you!” he shrieked, his voice breaking and cracking.

  Linne’s blue eyes looked at him, recognized him, tracked him through the air.

  Taking a step to the side, she brought her sword back, covered in the blood of his wives, and waited.

  When he landed next to her, he didn’t bother trying to dodge. He just punched with all the force he had in him at her weapon.

  Which was now whistling toward him.

  His fist connected with the tip, and Linne was sent tumbling away. Her sword exploded into fragments and made the grass and dirt crater.

  “I’ll kill you!” Steve shrieked again.

  Linne got to her feet and looked at her right hand. Two of her fingers seemed to be broken and twisted from the impact of having her sword detonated.

  Her eyes flicked back to Steve, and he saw fear there. Absolute and uninhibited dread.

  Getting his feet under him, Steve began running as fast as he could at Linne.

  Who promptly turned around and ran away from him.

  “I’m going to cut a hole open in your head and fuck your brain until you die!” Steve screamed at her. Or tried to.

  He wasn’t sure he wasn’t just yelling incoherent nonsense.

  Linne was fast. Very fast. She was turning up the earth with just how hard she was running.

  Steve wasn’t as fast. His feet slammed into the ground and practically knocked him off balance with each impact.

  But he was quickly figuring out how to run with his full strength.

  Keeping the strength from piling on until after his boots made contact, he began to practically leap through the air towards Linne.

  “Gonna kill you, Linne!” screamed Steve as he began gaining ground on her.

  Linne glanced over her shoulder and spotted him, her blue eyes wide and terrified.

  Up ahead, Steve could see Linne’s camp forming up. It looked like they were trying to get themselves organized.

  The miserable cunt must have left orders behind.

  “I name you liar! Betrayer! Prostitute! Whore! Slaver! War profiteer! Murderer! Extortionist! Dishonest! Oathbreaker! Criminal! Felon! Condemned! Wanted dead!

  “I put a thousand-gold bounty on your head! I name you the most wanted criminal in all of Lamals, if not the world!” yelled Steve. “I name you my personal property, and I’m going to fuck you in the goddamn eye socket!”

  Then Steve and Linne were in her camp. The commander didn’t stop. In fact, she tried to run straight past her own soldiers.

  Losing her in the press of bodies, Steve was only marginally able to keep an eye on her.

  Then hands and weapons tried to stop him. Her soldiers had apparently decided they wanted to die before she did.

  Swinging out with his fist, Steve punched the soldier in front of him. A massive woman wearing even more armor than his own witch-knights.

  The breastplate buckled inward, and blood and meat splashed out through the holes her arms went through.

  Grabbing her helmet, he yanked it from her head and whipped it around to bludgeon another knight with it.

  When the bronze armor smashed into the head of the knight next to the first, Steve realized he’d torn the woman’s head off when he’d snatched her helmet.

  Steve grabbed at the second knight’s large axe on a pole-looking weapon and whipped it around.

  There was a massive cracking sound as the haft shattered and the head of the weapon lodged itself in someone’s guts.

  Steve pulled back with the broken wooden handle and then rammed it through the helmet of another woman who was close enough.

  Around him was a sea of armed and armored soldiers.

  Shouting wordlessly, Steve threw a round house punch that exploded a woman’s helmet and her head, then went into the shoulder of the woman next to her. Her torso made a sickening crunching noise as her shoulder was jammed into her ribcage.

  Literally.

  Snatching at someone’s arm, he tore it from them bodily and swung it like a club at the women in front of him. He needed to keep after Linne.

  He needed to murder her by removing her skull and fucking her brain.

  The armored arm exploded with the force of the impact, sending another woman’s head zipping away into the crowd.

  Steve kicked out with a foot, launching a knight like a bowling ball through her comrades. Arms, legs, and armor went flying in every direction.

  Chasing after Linne like a human battering ram, Steve caught sight of her.

  She was standing near the rear of the army and watching everything happen.

  “Linne! You’re mine!” Steve shrieked, grabbing the breastplate of a soldier nearby and bodily throwing her at the cat-girl commander. “I’m going to use you as a goddamn outhouse!”

  Apparently, that was too much for Linne. Or it was the knight that had just been thrown at her like a rock.

  The fallen citadel commander turned and ran away. Most of her command went with her. Retreating.

  More soldiers got in front of Steve, blocking his path.

  As his target got away, so far that he couldn’t even catch her if he wanted to, Steve howled and laid into everyone around him.

  He lost himself entirely in his work.

  ***

  Gasping for breath, Steve crushed the woman’s head between his hands even as she begged for her life.

  Bits of skull, brain, and a lot of blood welled up between his fingers.

  Taking in a heaving breath, he looked around. Up ahead, a soldier was running away as fast as she could.

  Grabbing at the leg of the woman he’d just murdered, Steve tore it from her hip and then hurled it at the runner.

  It smashed into the back of breastplate with a bang acco
mpanied by a sickening explosion of blood and meat. Both from the runner and the leg.

  Panting, Steve checked his surroundings again. No one was standing or moving.

  There was finally no one left to kill.

  Checking the ground, he found there were a large number of women with their hands behind their heads. At some point they’d taken to surrendering, and he hadn’t noticed.

  Stomping over to the closest one, he grabbed the soldier by the helmet.

  “Please gods no!” she shrieked. “No! No! Please, I—”

  Steve smashed his hands together, and her head vanished into a pulpy mess.

  Growling, Steve started over to the next closest soldier. She was praying endlessly, her gauntleted hands resting behind her head as if to protect it.

  “Steve, I think you should stop,” offered a soft voice. It didn’t put any ownership on him. A suggestion, really.

  Looking toward the speaker, Steve found Nancy there. She and his witch-knights had likely followed him as soon as they’d realized he’d left the farm to go visit Filch.

  “They’re not all dead,” rasped Steve.

  “I know,” Nancy agreed. “But I think you should take them as prisoners and use them as resources. There’s no need to execute them, is there?”

  “They live. They should die,” Steve countered.

  “Okay,” Nancy said, shrugging her shoulders. “I just thought you’d want to use them against Linne.”

  Linne.

  The name made Steve’s head swim.

  “She killed them,” he whispered. “Killed Shelly, Xivin, Kassandra, and Misty. She killed them.”

  “She… did,” Nancy said, looking uncomfortable. “She did kill them. I pushed Misty into the moat. Nereids are said to be part spirit. It seemed right.

  “The others I’ve loaded into a wagon. I felt you’d want to bury them at the farm.”

  Steve swallowed at that, looking away.

  “They were all dead?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Nancy said. “Even before we got down to them, it was… They were very dead. I don’t think any of them even realized what was happening, it was that quick.”

  “I’m going to crush Linne,” Steve growled. “I’m going to fuck her in the eye socket until she dies from it. Cum inside her damn brain.”

  “I’ll do all I can to support you,” Nancy promised.

  “This is because I didn’t just… declare war on Linne. I should have just gone back and murdered her,” Steve said, staring off at nothing now. “I could have prevented all of this. Everything. But I didn’t.”

  “I don’t think anyone could have predicted this outcome,” Nancy said. “Linne didn’t seem like the type to do such a thing.”

  Yes… she was.

  She was likely responsible for the entire Creep invasion.

  “I name Linne the reason why the Creep invaded Lamals,” Steve said. “I name her the bane of the alliance.”

  “She… what?” Nancy asked.

  “Pretty sure she killed a fellow citadel commander, and their city,” Steve answered. “She’s the reason we’re all in this mess. Her and her hatred of Humans. It’s obvious she only did it because the commander was a human.”

  “Commander Tahvo? He was a Human, yes, but he was also a great warrior. There was no one who could best him,” Nancy said, sounding confused. “Why would anyone damage the walls?”

  “Because she hates Humans,” Steve said. “She breeds them in her ‘pig pens,’ after all. To her, Humanity is little more than a weapon. Well. We’ll see about that.

  “We’ll see. I’m going to kill her. Then hunt down whatever family she has and kill them, too. I’ll kill everyone. Everything.”

  The guards of Filch were slowly making their way towards Steve. In his maddened craze, he’d been chasing everyone who tried to retreat or flee from the carnage.

  A trail of corpses would lead to where he was now.

  “I believe it, Steve,” Nancy murmured, right next to him now. “I believe you. Come. Let me give you a bath and wash you clean.

  “You look like a mess.”

  “This is nothing compared to what I’ll do to Linne. Nothing,” Steve promised.

  “I know… come… follow your mistress,” Nancy said, taking his hand in her own.

  Falling into somewhat of a trance, Steve did as he was told. He allowed Nancy to walk him off the field and back to Filch.

  Hours later, Steve felt like he was waking up.

  Looking around, he realized he was sitting in a bed. He didn’t really know where he was, but he knew Nancy wasn’t far.

  He could hear her talking in the other room.

  “…leave them in the field,” she said. “There’s no reason to bother with them. Just strip them of anything of value.”

  “I understand,” said someone Steve didn’t recognize. The sound of booted feet clacking against the wood told him that whoever they were, they were leaving.

  A door opened, then closed.

  “Did you get a messenger off to Lucia?” Nancy asked.

  “Yes,” Hiren said. “I sent Kimor. She has the most stamina and can probably get it there by tonight.”

  “Good. Good thinking,” Nancy followed up with.

  “I should go take care of him,” Felisa said with annoyance clear in her tone.

  “No, leave him for now,” disagreed Beati. “When he wants one of us, he’ll ask for one of us. Let’s let him rest until then.”

  “Yes,” Siena agreed with the Ogre. “Let him rest. If he wants comfort, he’ll ask.”

  “I’m going to go take care of him,” Felisa said.

  “Stop,” Nancy commanded. “Leave. Him. -Be. He’ll ask for it, if he wants it. For now, we let him rest. Let him come back to himself and find his own thoughts. I really think this… I think this isn’t something he can just be serviced out of.”

  “Won’t know till I try,” Felisa countered. “So let me try. It’s not like I’m telling any of you to join me.”

  The door to the bedroom he was in opened, and Felisa stepped inside.

  “Steve?” she asked, walking into his view. She was dressed in what he’d call house clothes.

  “Hey,” Steve said, meeting her eyes.

  “I was wondering if I could perform my duties for you?” Felisa asked. “Would that help?”

  Steve blinked and thought on what she’d just offered.

  If I’d been more aggressive.

  If I’d just killed Linne. They’d all be alive.

  All I had to do was be aggressive. To push, kill, and conquer. To take and hold rather than let others dictate terms to me.

  Lucia told me to push and take it all.

  That I deserved it all.

  I didn’t listen. And now I’m paying the price for that.

  No more.

  No more of that. I’ll not let anyone push me around or take anything from me ever again. From now on, I’m going to take from everyone else. I’m going to crush everyone and everything.

  It’ll bow to me or be broken in half, and that’s all there is to it.

  “Sure,” Steve said and started to work at his belt buckle. “That’d be great, Felisa. Go close the door and then come back over here.”

  He wasn’t going to say no anymore. He was going to take what he wanted and make sure no one else could ever hurt him or his loved ones again.

  Starting with the military governor from Odristan.

  She’ll face the iron hand of my rule and bend low to me.

  Or die.

  Felisa came back and got down on her knees in front of Steve. She leaned forward and opened her mouth, inviting him to take control as he always did with her.

  Putting a hand behind the Banshee’s head, he guided her down while angling his limp self into her mouth.

  With a soft swishing sound, she took him and slid down to his hilt. Her eyes moved up toward his as she began to carefully work him back and forth through her mouth.

  Never
again.

  Watching his witch-knight, Steve thought on all the things he’d do to protect what was his.

  Twenty-Nine

  Steve buried Kassandra, Xivin, and Shelly outside the palisade walls. He’d put together a location for a cemetery and set them to rest there.

  He didn’t want to see their tombstones too often, but he wanted them close enough that he could visit them when he wished.

  It’d been exactly a week since he’d sent the boat back downriver to Odristan.

  Standing at the exact point where they’d landed last time, Steve stared into the water as it flowed by.

  I wonder if Misty ended up being taken in by the water after all. Couldn’t find her corpse despite going to where Nancy said she’d pushed her in.

  That’d be nice… if maybe Misty is still alive in some way.

  Moving forward to the edge of the river, Steve stuck his fingers into it. He hadn’t actually been near the lake, river, or trench since he got back. He’d simply had too much to do.

  “You in there, Misty?” Steve whispered to no one.

  The only ones with him were Nancy and his knights, but they were backed up considerably. Steve wanted to be the first one to hopefully invite the military governor ashore.

  Nancy and the five knights were now his personal bodyguards, despite him saying he didn’t need it. Everyone else was on “farm arrest” and not really allowed to leave.

  He wasn’t going to risk anyone else.

  Ever again.

  The river water pooled in an odd way that wasn’t normal. It then made a small wave and crashed lightly on his fingers.

  “Misty?” Steve asked, his voice cracking.

  The water withdrew itself around his hand, leaving a strange circle with no water. At the center of that point, under his hand, was a small green stone.

  Steve picked it up and held it in his palm.

  Instantly, the water rushed in to fill the spot that’d been vacant, and the river did nothing more.

  Looking at the stone, Steve wasn’t quite sure what it was. But he was rather glad to know that at least Misty wasn’t completely lost to him.

  “I’ll come visit you tonight for a good, long soak,” Steve said, reaching out to trail his fingers in the water for a moment.