by Randi Darren
Vince turned his eyes from the bush his stalker had been in, and looked to the Dryad.
Behind her was her troop of Dryads. All were on their feet, though a few looked unsteady.
“Ah, we head south. Across the ridge and onto an old road to the southwest. The signs are faded but it leads down south, down and around the mountains. Longer, but safer.”
Karya gave a short bob of her head and turned to other Dryads and began giving orders to them.
Vince tracked down Eva and Thera and gave them the same information he’d given Karya.
Soon after that, the entire group was on the move.
Slow and ponderous, the group moved out of the valley and into the plains to the south west. It was slow going. Terrifyingly so.
There were several times where they’d been forced to speed up or slow down, depending on what Karya felt was nearby.
As unlikely as it felt to Vince, their luck held, and not a single patrol was heading their way.
Vince wasn’t quite sold on the luck factor, and thought back to a pair of red eyes. Red eyes that had told him Elven hearts were “good meals” and that she’d eaten a number of them already.
He’d have to see to this stalker of his at some point, he didn’t imagine for a second she’d simply leave him alone.
She seemed like an imprinted animal more than anything. A tamed wolf that seemed content to eat whatever their owner brought or put down nearby.
In this case, Elves.
“Karya,” Vince said suddenly, making up his mind.
“Yes, Darling?” Karya had remained at his side, her Dryads spread throughout the mass tagging along behind them. Thera and Eva were both working the rear of the mob.
“Remember that creature I mentioned in the woods? The red eyed one?”
“Yes, I do. She sounds as if she’s under a curse or… well, undead. Why?”
“She’s still around. I’m pretty sure she’s been following me. She showed up just before we headed out. She said she’d killed and eaten the hearts of four Elves.
“I’m not sure this is the best time and place to bring it up, but I think it might be prudent. I’m almost positive she’s why you keep feeling scouts that simply go ‘out of range.’ They’re not going out of range, they’re being eaten.”
Karya chewed on her lower lip, her left hand coming up to worry at a lock of hair.
“I don’t like the sound of that. Cursed creatures and undead would definitely eat hearts. Neither of those are something we really want to mess with. Powerful magic surrounds the first, and the latter is simply hard to kill.
“Daphne fought a few she told me once. Said she ended up running away from them.”
Vince grunted at that, tossing the thought from his mind. It wasn’t like they could do anything about it anyways.
“I’ll talk to Meliae about it when we get back. Her mother is far more experienced and instilled a great deal of knowledge in her,” Karya said, nodding her head.
Then she pouted. “I miss Meliae and Daphne.”
Laughing softly, Vince wrapped an arm around her shoulders and drew her in for a hug as they went.
“Posh, my lovely Dryad. I’ll keep you company tonight and make love to you in front of everyone. In the middle of seven hundred people. They’ll watch me undress you slowly, carefully, worshiping that lovely body of yours. Then make love to you as gently and tenderly as I can.”
Karya’s face turned a dark red color, her throat constricting twice. “Really?” she asked after she got a hold of herself.
“Yes. Really.
Chapter 9
Travel was done at night, moving through the plains as they followed the road south.
They never made contact with any patrols, Elven or otherwise.
It wasn’t surprising considering they were moving through what could only be politely described as a desert. If one wasn’t being polite, you’d call it a sandy death plain where things went to die.
The only thing that gave them the ability to travel through here with so many people, and manage it without losses, was a Dryad’s innate ability to find drinkable water. Karya made it a point to remind him of her contributions and how he could repay her.
Much to her chagrin he continued to spend every other night with Eva. It only made Karya more aggressive during the days it wasn’t her turn.
Thera, for her part, seemed amused by the whole thing. Content that she had no part of the situation as of yet.
“It’s because she knows she’ll get her turn,” Karya said, watching him.
“Huh? What?” Vince asked guiltily, looking at Karya.
“Thera. She’s not as interested anymore, because she’s certain she’ll get her turn eventually. You wouldn’t take Eva without having decided to take them all.”
“I didn’t say anything about that.”
“You didn’t have to. Your face scrunches up when you’re thinking, and you were staring at her. She likes you staring at her, by the way. I know I do.”
“Hmph. You’re fucking with me, aren’t you,” Vince accused, turning his gaze to the beaten road they were taking.
“No. That was last night, Darling, after we stopped just before dawn. My dearest love. Beautiful and sexy man. You embarrassed me terribly. I can’t even think about what you’ve been doing to me without getting excited. I love you so much.”
Vince shook his head with a chuckle. All he’d done was make love to her in front of everyone. She was certainly easier to please than Meliae. That lovely broken Dryad seemed to require deeper and more horrible levels of shame each month.
Soon he’d be walking her around town on a leash as foreplay.
“Maybe when we get home, you can lay me out in the town square at sunset and— What’s that? It feels terribly abnormal.”
Following the direction her arm was pointing, he saw what looked like a clothed lump on the side of the road in the distance.
“Probably a corpse. The Wastes are a terrifying and horrible place. Most especially for humans.”
As they got closer, the tattered and torn clothes flapped in the gentle breeze.
Revealing pale gray skin. Gray skin that belonged to only one person he knew.
“Damn, I think it’s my red eyed stalker. Did she die?”
Picking up his pace, Vince jogged over to her.
Dropping down to one knee over her in the cold sand, he reached up and eased her onto her back.
Her chest rose and fell, though slowly.
Weakly.
Eyelids fluttered open, revealing glowing red eyes.
Eyes full of hunger and a predatory gleam.
A hand shot up and pressed to his leather armor, then stopped dead.
Recognition came into her eyes a second before she dropped her hand to the ground.
“Hunger. No food here. No prey that not yours,” murmured the woman.
“She’s a Cursed One. Not technically an Undead but kinda. I don’t recognize her race but… she almost looks like a Beast tribe. Though way more on the human side of it,” Karya said.
Looking over his shoulder, he found Karya peering over it at the woman.
“Ok?” Vince asked, hoping to get a bit more info from her.
“She was the target of a curse, or put a curse on someone else. Then was devoured by it. She’s… not dead, but not alive. She’s more like a vampire. Feeding on the life force of others.”
“I see. She said there was nothing to eat that didn’t belong to me.”
“Oh,” Karya said, turning her head to look at the distant Elves closing in on them. “I see. There’s very little in the way of life out here.”
Vince frowned, turning his head back to the fallen woman.
“She could have torn your heart out, you realize,” Karya said softly.
“Yes. She didn’t.”
“Would you save her if you could?” she asked in a whisper.
“I… suppose I would. I can’t guarantee it, but I really do believe she was eating
the Elven scouts. She’s… a monster but I owe her.”
“Any less monstrous than Kitch? Or Fes?”
“Ahhh… yeah, you’re right. Yes. I would save her.”
“Pick her up. We’ll take her to our next camp and I’ll see what I can do.”
Nodding his head, Vince slid the Cursed woman over his shoulder, pulling her arm across and her leg on the other side.
Balancing her on his shoulders, Vince got back to his feet and started walking forward again.
Karya flitted off without another word, moving into the massive group of Elves and vanishing amongst their number.
“Hunger,” whimpered the woman. Her eyes opened to slits, the red eyes peeking out in between her lids. “Much hunger.”
“I know. I’ll see what I can do just… rest, ok?”
“Rest,” she repeated. Then her eyes closed, and her body slowly went slack. Soft whispering breaths were the only indicator she yet lived.
Putting one foot in front of the other, Vince trundled along, carrying his unexpected visitor.
Karya returned twenty minutes later with two Dryads in tow. And what looked like a rolled up tent in its carrying bag.
He had no idea where she’d gotten it, but he imagined it wouldn’t be a bad idea to put his stalker under cover.
The day would be harsh and he didn’t figure someone already starving to death would do well under an open sun.
“There’s a deep ridge on the west side. If we enter it,” Karya said, lifting a hand to point towards a rocky area near the edge of the road, “we can get some cover for everyone during the day and rest easier.”
Vince only nodded his head with a soft grunt. Turning his feet in that direction, he kept on keeping on.
“Also, I’m certain I can save your stalker. Though it’ll bind her to you, much in the way a Dryad is. Are you willing to be responsible for her?” Karya asked, keeping pace with him.
“Bind her to me? How exactly, and how would I be responsible for her?”
“She’s cursed. Everyone agrees on that point. We can use that curse to bind her to you. A contract.
“As for being responsible for her, you’d be responsible for feeding her. That’d be your part of the contract. She feeds on life force. There’s a few things we can give her that’ll appease her. Won’t even cost you a thing or harm anyone.”
“And what does the contract involve?” Vince asked. His hackles were rising, something wasn’t being said.
Karya sighed and rubbed a hand against her arm. “You’ll have to spit in her mouth, and bleed into her mouth. Your life force is enough in both to form a binding. If she’s willing to contract with you, she’ll be fine. If she’s not, she’ll die.”
Blowing a raspberry, Vince found himself annoyed.
Picking up every stray I come across.
“Alright. I can handle that. I think. She seems… mildly useful for deep Waste missions at least. Is there anything I need to know? Do you actually foresee any problems out of this?”
“No. None at all. Fes will appreciate having more power.”
That she would, actually.
The two Dryads with Karya jogged ahead of them and began setting up the tent. It was larger than he had originally guessed. It would easily fit six people sleeping side by side.
“And who are they?” Vince nodded to the two Dryad women. He couldn’t remember seeing them earlier when they were all planting seeds in him.
“My grove wives,” Karya said with a hint of pride in her voice. “We picked them up recently. They’ll need to put their seeds in you soon, but not yet.”
“Uh…”
Vince wasn’t completely in the know about Dryad culture, but he felt like he knew a fair amount. He’d never heard of this.
“Dryad groves survive by banding together. Men will come and go, but the Dryads remain. Well, other men would have come and gone, you’ll be here as long as we are,” Karya admitted with an energetic laugh.
Stopping in front of the two Dryads as they worked, Karya continued.
“Normally Meliae would get first pick, but I have a need of them, and I’m here. I’ll give up my next set of picks to her so we’re even.
“They’ll serve as my handmaidens and whatever other tasks I give them. As the grove expands, they’ll in turn have their own grove wives to serve in a similar fashion.
“It becomes somewhat of a pyramid. Meliae, Daphne, and myself will be at the peak. These lucky girls will be that second level,” Karya said, gesturing at the two women.
“Can they say no? I mean, it almost sounds akin to slavery.”
“Well. They can’t really say no, it’s part of the oath to the grove. There are limits though. I can’t order them to harm, of themselves or the grove. I can’t order them to sleep with anyone and they’re not allowed to sleep with anyone other than the man of the grove—you, that is—or me,” Meliae said. “But otherwise, they must obey.”
They did go into this willingly… knowingly. They weren’t forced into this and they knew this would be part of joining the grove.
“And do I get to know their names or—”
“Not yet. For now they serve as my wives, and your concubines. In time, you may be given their names depending on how they perform for you. Who knows, maybe in a few years you decide to elevate one to a wife’s position instead of a concubine. Then they’ll move up to the same rank as myself, and I’ll have to get a new wife.” Karya shrugged her shoulders at that.
To her it all seemed like very normal and boilerplate contract laws.
At her casual admission that they could be elevated, both the Dryad women looked up.
The one on the left was slim for a Dryad. Lithe to the point of Elven standards of beauty. She had a narrow waistline, and more than an Elf in the chest.
Dark brown straight hair fell across her shoulders as if it were curtains.
She was unmistakably a Dryad.
Except for the fact that she had one bright blue eye, and one green Dryad eye.
Turning a faint red when she realized Vince was staring at her, the Elven-built Dryad turned her head to the side, getting back to work.
The second Dryad was almost as different from normal Dryads as the first one was.
She couldn’t even be five feet in height unless she was wearing shoes. She looked more like she was four foot ten on a good day.
Small, with a normal build, and curvier than her frame looked like it could support, she seemed almost like a diminutive version of Meliae.
Her face had a dusting of freckles, and her hair was a vibrant and curly red with streaks of gold in it. Unlike her companion though, her eyes were a standard Dryad green.
“Well, that’s different,” Vince said, staring. They were so unlike any Dryad he’d ever seen that he couldn’t look away.
“Indeed! It’s why I picked them. They’re so different than anything else you have that I’m betting they’ll catch your interest. If I can get you to spend more time with them, I get a strong peer who’ll no longer be my wife, but still mine. Best power alliance you can get in a grove.”
“Ah. Smart power play on your part then. Definitely unique though. Very unique.”
“Oh? I did good? You like my wives?” Karya asked, moving in closer to him. “Maybe I should give you their names after all.”
“Actually, I do like them. They’re exactly what you said. Different. Different is good.”
He wouldn’t bother to disguise his interest. They were long past talking about his sexual appetites. And Karya would probably dig at him till he admitted it anyways.
“For now… call them Blue and Green. That’ll be fine till I give you their names,” said Karya, indicating the one with the heterochromia as “Blue” and the short one as “Green”.
Both Dryads couldn’t ignore the conversation if they tried, and both had turned bright red.
Blue’s eyes actually colored accordingly, one eye greening over, the other going a full blue.
Not waiting for an invitation, Vince stepped in and then gently laid his stalker down on the ground against a tent wall.
“By the way, Darling,” Karya said, entering the tent. “Eva won’t be available tonight. I’m afraid your evening entertainment is Dryad. I do hope we’ll be enough for you.”
Blue and Green stepped into the tent, Blue taking a minute to button up the flaps. Green had a low folding chair in hand and set it in the center of the tent.
“Three performers, one stage.” Karya stepped in close to him and then quickly and easily began undressing him.
Vince snorted and then shrugged. “Fine.”
Far be it from him to say no to a four-way with Dryads.
“Blue, Green, get your tops off and then get over here,” Karya ordered, her fingers deftly working at Vince’s belt. “He likes to watch as you work.”
Flipping the tongue of the leather out of the buckle she unhitched it. Hooking her fingers into his underclothes, she kneeled down and pulled him out of his pants, boxers, socks, and boots.
“Sit on the edge, Darling. They’ll need easy access.” Karya eased him onto the chair, then spread his knees apart with a quick move of her hands.
“Blue, Green, kneel. Time for you to show how much you paid attention during my lesson.”
Moving around behind him, Karya nibbled at his earlobe and whispered for him alone. “Forgive me, I must train my wives eventually, and tonight is a good night. Not everyone had a mother as knowledgeable and powerful as Meliae. These poor girls don’t know a thing about men. I’ve been giving them as much information as I can since I chose them.”
Vince looked from one Dryad to the other, both of them kneeling between his knees.
His member stood at full mast, pointing at the spot between them, waiting for attention.
Karya certainly knew his tastes and had aimed to please him.
“Ok, Blue, I need you to put that lovely rod of his in your mouth just like we talked about,” Karya commanded. She wrapped her arms around Vince’s shoulders and laid her mouth next to his ear.
Blue eased her head down and hesitantly wrapped her lips around Vince’s length.
“Green, you slide underneath. You’ll need to use your tongue till it’s your turn. Focus on his balls and the spot between his sack and his… well…. butthole. See what he likes, memorize it.”
