Wild Wastes Omnibus

by Randi Darren

  “I confess, I already have a number of women who share my bed. Quite a few in fact. I already have children with a number of them,” Vince admitted. There was no point in belaboring this.

  “Yet none are your queen, are they,” said the princess with a wolf-like grin.

  “Ah… no. None of them have been crowned, I suppose,” Vince agreed.

  “Then there we are. I shall be your queen. I’ll not disallow you to have your concubines. So long as you visit our bedchamber and work to give me a child. I would agree to that, and foreswear having any lovers other than you.”

  And like that, she brushed away his concerns as if they never existed.

  Vince couldn’t shake the feeling that this was all an elaborate set up by someone, but he couldn’t figure out who.

  Would Fes and the others care? Would they tell me to reject this deal? Probably not.

  Fes would tell me she’s unique, powerful, and gives us leverage. To claim her and make her mine for the sake of bolstering the strength of the kingdom.

  The rest would follow her lead… but is it worth it?

  It’d spare so many lives on both sides. We’d have to commit to helping them rebuild and reassert control, build a garrison, set up infrastructure, give them a codex, get roads planned out.

  Yet it was all worth it if he could spare the lives of his soldiers.

  “I agree,” Falaein said after a moment. “So long as no other has a higher rank than I, other than you, Vince, then I agree.”

  Sam appeared out of nowhere and sat on his shoulder. She leaned in close and pressed her face into his ear.

  “Your general and Fes want you to accept the deal,” Sam whispered. “They believe it to be the best option available so far.”

  Nodding his head, Vince reached up and gave the Fae a careful pat.

  “I …accept,” Vince said with tired acceptance.

  “Then it’s done. We’ll have the wedding ceremony today, and reconstruction can start tomorrow,” the princess said, a smile curving her lips. “After that, we can return to your capital, and I can begin learning of our lands.”

  Without another word, she happily filled her plate and began to visibly enjoy her breakfast as if nothing had just happened at all.

  Vince and Falaein stared at each for a long moment, before the older man shrugged his shoulders.

  Returning to his breakfast, King Falaein, now Duke Falaein, ate saying nothing more.

  Epilogue

  Yaris toyed with one of the figurines sitting on the giant map.

  “And this is Duchess Mila?” Yaris asked, looking up at her husband.

  Nodding his head, Vince pointed to Wooden Heart.

  “This is their grove. We have a garrison there and we’re putting a road in between the two locations. Every Dryad that joins my grove comes first from hers,” Vince said.

  Yaris nodded her head, carefully tucking a strand of hair behind her pointed ear.

  “We have four dukes and our territory is rather large already. I can see why you were insistent on making sure Verix could not be a threat again. It’s a wise move, husband,” Yaris said, setting the piece back down onto Wooden Heart.

  Vince frowned and looked around.

  They were in the royal study, and the only other occupant at this moment was Felicity. She, however, stood as far from Yaris as possible at the very entrance of the room.

  He couldn’t argue with her title for him though. He’d gone ahead and married her to placate Verix and bring them into the fold, while ensuring that they would be law abiding citizens.

  The ceremony itself had been held in the temple of Verix, and had been an occasion of joy for the inhabitants of Verix.

  Their war would now end, their city would grow, and being part of the kingdom of Yosemite was viewed as a good thing.

  Utilizing the corps of magicians from both armies, Yaris molded them into one engineering team, and got the walls put back up before the evening of the first day.

  That night had been strange for Vince. He’d taken to bed a woman he barely knew with the intent of putting a child in her. With her permission and desire.

  She insisted that he occupy her bed every night the entire way back to Yosemite.

  If she wasn’t pregnant by this point, Vince wondered if she ever would be.

  “Husband? Where are your thoughts?” Yaris asked, her shining blue eyes boring into him.

  “Ah, sorry. Wondering where this all goes next. I hadn’t really planned for what came after Verix,” Vince said truthfully.

  “Ah. Yes, I imagine the emperor to the west and the Tri-lliance in the south will eventually turn their sights on us. I believe your warrior concubine and general concubine are already hard at work though to shore up the defenses of the kingdom,” said the queen of Yosemite.

  She keeps insisting on calling them that.

  She says it with no malice, but there isn’t any other reason to say it other than to create a distinction between herself and them.

  “Yeah, they’re… yeah. The soldiers of Verix are being blended together with everyone else, and the recruits are being cycled everywhere else. Though paving that road on the return trip was a solid idea on your part,” Vince said, tapping the map between Verix and Yosemite.

  A smooth stone road had been put down between the two locations. After having established the how of it, squads of engineers and soldiers set to work building roads to Denver, Vegas, and Wooden Heart as well.

  Denver.

  Yaris sighed and pointed to Denver, as if reading his own thoughts.

  “I fear the Duke of Denver may eventually turn on us,” she said.

  Vince nodded and then shook his head.

  “Yeah, it’s possible, but not a problem. The Dryads themselves will probably be able to be turned to Priests of Yosemite. It’ll take a bit, but I think we can make it work. We’ll need to establish a garrison up there and populate it with a good number of them,” Vince explained.

  “Where do you plan on getting all these Dryads, anyways?”

  “I… make them. With the Dryads in my grove,” Vince said neutrally.

  Yaris’ eyebrows rose upwards.

  “I don’t think I understood when you told me you shared your bed with many. I … now understand. I also understand how you’ll be using that to your advantage for their loyalty. I approve completely. You’re quite the pleasant surprise, so far,” Yaris said, giving him a beautiful smile.

  “Your highness, you have a meeting in a short while,” Felicity called out to Yaris. It could only be Yaris who she was addressing since she didn’t call Vince that.

  “Ah. Yes. Thank you. I’ve made a few arrangements to meet with your inner circle. I assumed they’d be the best place to start to learn from. I’ll see you tonight, husband,” Yaris said. “Have no fear. I’ll do my best to be a good queen to you. I’ll carry my own weight. I promise.”

  Closing in quickly, she pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek and then left the room with Felicity in tow.

  As soon as the door closed, Vince slumped into a chair.

  A minute passed before the door opened and Elysia stepped in.

  “Ah, there you are, my liege,” said the High Elf. She stepped over to him quickly with a wide smile. Leaning over his chair she kissed him with a bit of hunger. Her hands came up to rest on his shoulders and dig into his clothes.

  Then she pulled away and sat down in his lap.

  “For what it’s worth, she actually is of the royal line. I had Blue and Green dig through her belongings. She brought with her quite a few family heirlooms that disappeared. She also… she also has a certain magical presence over other Elves,” Elysia said.

  “Oh?” Vince asked, laying his arms around her hips loosely. She was definitely showing her pregnancy now. “I suppose that’s good to know.”

  “It’s something we can leverage. More Elves will join us simply because she is your queen.”

  Vince could only nod his head. He hadn’t had muc
h time to talk to anyone, and he was growing worried Fes would kill someone soon.

  “And before you start fretting, Fes and Petra spoke with everyone. We’re all aware, understand, and agree,” Elysia said, pressing her forehead to his.

  The angle afforded him an amusing view down her dress.

  “Get her pregnant, have an heir; we’ll handle everything as it comes.”

  “And then what? A child with her would take precedence over all of their siblings, or so she’d have you believe,” Vince said, his voice turning bitter.

  “Maybe it should,” Elysia replied evenly. “It’s not a terrible problem, you realize. You’ll have many, many children. Having a council amongst them, one representative for each of your wives, and that one sitting at the top, wouldn’t be a terrible form of government. It might actually work out rather well.

  “Don’t worry over it, we’ll figure something out, my liege.”

  “Mm. How’re your sisters?”

  “They’re quite well. Thera seems quite pleased with how large she is. Eva feels sick more often than not. Meliae is doing what she can,” Elysia said.

  Laying her head on his shoulder, she closed her eyes and snuggled in closer to him.

  “Blue and Green are also doing well. They’re looking pregnant and apparently have chosen to let them be whatever they will. All of the other Dryads are pregnant with twins or triplets. The vast majority of them seem to have worked tirelessly to ensure at least one is a Dryad, too,” Elysia said.

  “Mm. Any word from anywhere? Anything concerning?”

  “Not really, my liege. The Gryphons are being trained and the recent generation seems much more suited to being mounts. I think we’ll have riders within the next three years.

  “There’s been no formal dispatches from the empire or the Tri-lliance, though both have sent emissaries here. They’re both spies, and have spies in their entourage, but nothing we didn’t expect.”

  Frowning, Vince felt like he was missing something. As if there were something that he should be doing, watching, or discussing.

  “For all intents and purposes, everything is exactly the way we want it to be. At least for now,” Elysia said with a smile. “Oh! Actually there is one thing. Mila sent over another ten Dryads. You’ll need to have a night of seeding for every Dryad, new and old.”

  I guess… everything really is just on hold right now. Until something changes.

  Status quo.

  Normal.

  I mean, this can’t last. Eventually one of the warring parties will give up ground and be forced to surrender.

  Then the victor will probably turn their sights on Yosemite.

  Now is the time to prepare. To build up. To ready ourselves for the time that they look to us.

  Because that’ll be the same time we look to them.

  Vince smiled wolfishly to himself at his thoughts.

  Well. As normal as it can be.

  For me at least.

  “If you can slip away, I’ll be in the other room with six tied up Dryads. I captured and subdued them while you were busy,” Elysia said, slipping out of his lap and leaving without another word.

  End of Book Two

  Chapter 1

  Vince managed, barely, to not drum his fingers against the table.

  In fact, he personally would have viewed his decorum during this ordeal as a magnificent success.

  He hadn’t killed, maimed, hospitalized, injured, or even hurt anyone since he’d arrived a month ago.

  Though he was sorely tempted to.

  The amount of stupidity on display between these two men was amazing.

  “—ing this whole mess. The number of atrocities your men have committed are beyond count,” said the ambassador for the kingdom of Portland.

  “As if you could talk, you buffoon! Your soldiers captured a number of citizens and turned them into comfort women!” screamed the man who represented Washington.

  Vince’s hand clenched suddenly, and he stood up. His chair squeaked, slid out from behind him and then toppled over, clattering to the floor.

  “This is going nowhere,” he said darkly. “I’ve sat here for more days than I can count right now and listened to you idiots scream at each other.

  “This isn’t a meeting or a peace talk. It’s just you two looking for an excuse to yell.

  “I’m done. I don’t think five more days here is going to fix this, so I’m leaving.

  “Figure it the fuck out yourselves.”

  Both men now seemed panicked, looking to Vince as if he were about to remove their heads from their necks.

  Which he had considered doing many times, but so far had not done.

  “Wait… please,” said the Portland man.

  “Yes, I’m sure we can find a better way to discuss this,” said the Washingtonian.

  “Don’t care. Fuck off,” Vince said as he turned on his heel. He snatched his weapon up from the guard at the door and left the conference room.

  “Is that really wise?” Mouth asked, keeping pace with him on his left side. “I would almost think it might not be good for us to leave.”

  Vince snorted at that, glancing to the Dryad. Her dark green eyes were locked on him, her brown curls cut short, just below the line of her jaw.

  It’d been years since he’d first met her, and if anything, she’d only grown in her appeal as time had gone on.

  Her hourglass figure and full curves never failed to draw every man’s eye.

  “They’ve been at war for nearly six years now. As if it would change with this.

  “Until they either kill each other or get tired of bleeding their countries dry, this’ll continue.”

  Mouth pursed her lips at that, then shrugged her shoulders.

  “You’re more than likely right, husband. It still doesn’t seem wise though.”

  Moving quickly to his tent, Vince didn’t bother with anyone or anything.

  He’d come to play the part of mediator at their request. With only a small number of his closest people, and his personal guard.

  Which he’d done right after a meeting with his vassals that had been held in Denver this year.

  And before that, we were on a damn royal tour.

  When I get back, I’m going to have Elysia tell everyone to fuck off and die. I’ve been away too long.

  As soon as he got closer to his tent, a young High Elf with a ledger smiled at him. She immediately moved over to him with a pencil in hand.

  She was the most recent replacement for Felicity.

  The Dark Elf woman had despaired two years ago, after Vince continued to reject her from joining his personal harem as a wife.

  Fes had tried to increase the number of wives, including Felicity, he’d had since marrying Yaris, but to no actual success.

  Amongst his personal wives, only Blue, Green, and Mouth had been inducted successfully.

  They had more or less already been so to begin with, however.

  He simply didn’t want to increase his numbers anymore. It felt like too much of a chore.

  Not that he had any real motivation to have more either, though.

  Really, it was just that he already had far too many Dryads to please each month, let alone wives.

  There were now so many Dryads that he had to take three days out of every month to simply bed each and every Dryad in his grove.

  Of course, they’d all given him a number of children as well. He was literally drowning in children now.

  The vast majority of them being Dryad girls. Though apparently each and every Dryad had at least one human child.

  Meliae said it was to form the Dryad council that kept all the Dryad affairs in order.

  Of course, nothing stopped Berenga from continuing to try to gain him new wives. She brought in new women of talent and skill that she found useful.

  Constantly.

  Felicity had accepted his denial gracefully, but stated she couldn’t work around him any longer. She now worked tirelessly
for him from the Wooden Heart duchy.

  The last report he’d gotten from Mila was that the Dark Elf remained single, dedicated to her work, and was quite happy.

  “No news,” Vince said to the young Elf. “Though I think we might be done. I tire of this, and I want to go home.”

  “Of course, sire,” said the woman, writing something into her ledger. “I’d like to say thank you for this opportunity, by the way. I know I’ll be cycled out to another duty once we return, and you’ll have a new assistant, but I appreciated the opportunity greatly.”

  “Uh huh. Glad to have had you,” Vince said, dismissing her.

  Elysia had gotten it in her head to keep rotating women through till he found one he kept, or asked to keep on.

  Stepping through the tent flap, Vince moved to his camp chair and fell into it.

  Leila was sitting in a lazy position nearby. Floating in midair on a disc of air, reading a book she had propped up in her lap.

  Her large purple eyes moved from the book to him, and she gave him a warm smile. She reached up and ran a small hand through her long dirty-blond hair.

  Despite being a Gnome, she was unmistakably a woman.

  Sam, the Fae, slept loudly in the canopy of his bed. Sprawled out as if in a drunken stupor.

  Looking like a giant Fairy, she remained unchanged otherwise all these years.

  Looking around, he didn’t see Ramona or Red immediately.

  Maybe they’re hunting? They don’t tend to do well when we’ve settled for a while.

  A pair of bright red eyes came to life from his bed. He could see her outline and her form even though she was in shadow.

  “Bringer is back already?” Red asked, stretching her back and hips out like an animal would. “Red hadn’t expected you so soon. Feed Red? Red wouldn’t mind another meal.”

  Watching the way her lithe body moved, Vince couldn’t help but want to do far more than just feed her his seed.

  “Red, we said we w-would keep it to two feedings a day, remember? We’re so close to lessening the curse,” Leila said.

  “Red understands, yes. But Red loves being fed, and it makes Bringer feel better. Mouth doesn’t mind either, do you?”