by Randi Darren
“You… are?”
“Yes. It’s why I think my Dryads would have a complaint to lodge with you if you tried anything. But again, you’re welcome to try.”
Vince was doing his best to distract himself from the fact that Red was trying to be Dragon bait.
If something happened to her… he wasn’t sure what he’d do. Other than kill every single Dragon he could.
Except for Heint.
Red stood up straight in the middle of the field. Her tail swished behind her as her head and ears swiveled in different directions.
Nothing happened.
Red lifted her arms above her head and let out a shout.
Several minutes passed before Red turned back towards where Vince was, shrugged her shoulders and lifted her hands.
“I suppose that’s our answer,” Betty said.
Standing up, the Dryad trooped into the field, heading for Red.
Not having another plan, Vince stood up and followed along behind her.
There really wasn’t much they could do.
Moving at a measured pace, Vince caught up to Red and kept moving for the gate.
Quite a few soldiers had spotted them from the walls, and he imagined there were runners heading for the mansion to fetch Meliae and anyone else they felt would be useful.
Pausing at the main gate, Vince smiled to the Dryads and lifted a hand for a second.
“If I could have your attention… Everyone, please remain here for a moment while we start working to process your citizenship as a second grove. We’ll obviously need to relocate you as quickly as possible for the health of your grove,” Vince said.
There was some grumbling in the Dryad ranks.
Not that Vince could blame them. He wouldn’t want to remain out here either at the foot of a wall.
Red sank low and her eyes glowed brightly.
All complaints and noise fell off swiftly at her display.
Nodding at the Dryads, Red stood up and then turned to enter the gate.
“Others should learn that Vince is Red’s, and they should listen,” Red said.
Smirking to himself, Vince kept his mouth shut. It wouldn’t do to poke at her newfound determination and pride right now.
“Sweetling!” said Meliae, wrapping her arms around him and pressing in close.
“We were all so scared,” she said, smothering his face in kisses. “You were so far away we couldn’t even tell if you were ok. The connection to the grove was dim.”
Elysia, Caroline, Mouth, Leila, and Eva were all watching. Each one clearly looked relieved.
“Where are the Dragons? We didn’t see them,” Vince asked. Mouth had joined Meliae and was now smothering him in affection as well.
“My Liege, you’ll be happy to know my sisters and I drove them off with some well-worked magic,” Elysia said, pointing at Eva and Caroline.
“Ah, I should have figured you’d drag her in as soon as possible,” Vince said, his grin interrupted by Meliae kissing him aggressively.
“Of course, Master,” Eva said. “We’ve already been discussing who to adopt in from the Snow tribe as well.
“And the Dragons are indeed gone. We… haven’t heard or seen Ramona, though.”
Vince checked a sigh and frowned, looking to the side.
The mood all around him was dour.
If she hadn’t returned, and the Dragons were gone, the likelihood of her coming back was lessened considerably.
“I’m heading south,” Vince said suddenly. “I need to get back to the front. Solve things.
“And there’s a rather large number of Dryads outside. They want to form their own grove. They’re rather martial. I told them we’d allow it, and they offered for us to pick their central male.”
Meliae raised her eyebrows and peeked around him toward the gate.
“I see…” she said in a strange, neutral tone.
Chapter 10
Vince sighed as he wandered back into the southern camp.
He’d only been gone a short while, but it felt as if it’d been years.
Where the camp and walls had been fresh and maintained before, they looked rather worn and lived in now.
Not to mention the fact that there were many people with bandages moving around.
If they’re not bothering to treat small things, that means the Dryads and Magicians are hard-pressed.
Red and Leila were the only ones with him now.
Mouth had stayed with Meliae to work through the massive numbers of Dryads outside Yosemite.
The sooner they could get everyone behind the safety of the walls, the better everyone would feel.
“Our little group gets smaller and smaller,” Leila said, floating along beside Vince. “I didn’t… expect it to be like this.”
“I don’t think anyone did,” Vince said. Up ahead was Petra’s command structure, a squat stone-topped building that had replaced her tent. A good bit of the construction had turned the thing into a dugout rather than above ground.
Stopping suddenly, Vince looked around himself. Nearby, a log had been dragged next to the remains of what looked like a campfire in front of several tents.
Moving over to the log, Vince sat himself down. Laying his hands on his knees, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“Are you alright?” Leila asked, cutting her spell off and dropping down onto the log next to him.
She laid a delicate hand on his back, leaning into his side.
“I’m… tired. I’m not cut out to be a leader like this. I’m just a Ranger,” Vince said, staring into the cold fire. “It’s why I take so many of the political missions Elysia throws at me. I get to travel. Explore. Adventure. Just… do what I want.”
Sighing, Vince shook his head. He looked around and saw Red standing some ways away.
He imagined she was keeping people away, having somehow inferred that he needed a minute to himself.
“Except it takes me away from my wives and my children. So I want to return and spend time with them, only to get forced into things the king, emperor, lord—whatever I am—of Yosemite has to do.
“And then I immediately go looking for a mission to escape it. I repeat the cycle. Endlessly.”
“Yes… it’s something everyone close to you has noticed. We’re just not… sure how to solve it,” Leila said, her hand moving up and down Vince’s back.
“What if I… what if I stepped down?” Vince asked, voicing the strange selfish thought that’d been echoing through his mind for years.
“Stepped down?” Leila asked, her fingers gliding over his shoulder blades. “As in, no longer the formal ruler of Yosemite?”
“Yeah… where I just give control to someone else.”
“Who would you give it to?”
“I don’t know. Yaris, maybe? She seems like a very valid pick now. She’d hold the Elves in thrall, have a royal personage, and be able to move amongst all the groups.”
“Possible. I don’t think she has enough public support yet, though. It might be possible later.”
Vince blinked, then nodded once.
Leila was right. Give it another year and Yaris probably could take over without too much concern.
“Would you accept a suggestion from me?” Leila asked.
Smiling, Vince turned his head to look down into his Warlock’s upturned face.
Leaning down, he kissed her tenderly, then rested his forehead against hers.
“Of course. Though I do plan on stealing you away tonight into my bed, so if that’s your suggestion, I’m way ahead of you,” he said.
“V-Vince,” Leila said, smiling at him. “Stop it. And how could you steal me if I was already in your bed waiting for you?
“No, my suggestion is simpler.”
Leila used her free hand and pushed Vince’s head back a little.
“Hard to talk when you’re so close. You make me feel dizzy,” Leila said, apologizing. “My suggestion. Why not step up, instead of down?<
br />
“Rather than giving it away, why not assign a reagent and remove yourself from non-direction-changing needs?”
“Up?” Vince asked, having not thought of it that way.
“Yes. Give the reigns to Yaris, step up and out. Leave it to her and enjoy your retirement.”
Thinking on that, Vince couldn’t deny it sounded rather nice. Yaris had a knack for keeping everyone in a neutral and supportive space.
“Maybe go on a special trip with your favorite Warlock for some private time for a week or two?” Leila added.
Chuckling, Vince moved in on her again and kissed her, his right arm snaking around her waist and pulling her close.
Leila made a single noise of complaint but kissed him back eagerly. Then she gently thumped his shoulder with her palm, pulling back.
“Stop. Not in public. I’m not like your Dryads. It makes me feel awkward,” Leila said, turning her face away from him. “Now go talk to your general.”
Vince released her, then got up with a sigh.
“Yes, you’re right of course. I guess I’m just… complaining.”
“You are, but everyone has their complaints. It really just comes down to what you do with them,” Leila said, immediately moving back onto a disc of air.
Vince gave Red a pat on the hip as he passed her, then stepped down into the alley that led into Petra’s dugout.
Stepping past the guards and into the building, he looked around.
Much like everything Petra controlled, everything was clean, laid out, and planned. A region map on the wall, a table with another smaller map of what was immediately around them, and a cabinet—that was all the furniture here.
Petra stood in front of the table, one hand on her chin and her other arm across her abdomen.
Her antennae flicked towards Vince.
Grinning, he walked straight towards the ant soldier.
Petra’s head turned to face him and then she scurried forward, catching him up in a crushing hug between her two human arms and two ant legs.
“This one greets her husband and master with great joy. There were reports of Dragons flying high over us, and we thought they were on their way to Yosemite or to the east where you were,” Petra said, trying to crush Vince into her chest.
“They were. Three Dragons, in fact. I killed one, and the other two were driven off,” Vince said, letting Petra manhandle him. She was one of the few people that could do so. “Ramona… fought one off for a time. She fled with the Dragon in pursuit. No one has seen her since.”
Petra nodded her head slowly, holding tightly to Vince.
“She performed her duty. This one can only hope she meets her end in a similar way.
“Now, why are you here?”
Petra set him down, then lowered herself to get to eye level with him.
Unsurprising. Petra would view it as the end goal for any soldier.
“This feels like where I should be. Where the worst of it is. The Eastern army has been stalled out, last I heard, and is falling into skirmishes only,” Vince explained.
“This one is glad you are here, as Yaris will be when she realizes. Although, that is the extent of the good news.”
Petra turned to the larger map on the wall and held up a hand.
“There is word of other armies,” Petra said.
“Yeah, there’s another force here,” Vince said, then pointed to the area he’d encountered the army in the far southwest. “Not as big as this force, though almost as large. It seems it’s a reserve force.”
Petra sighed, then picked up a green pin from the side and put it into the map.
“That means there are six armies from the Tri-lliance operating,” she said.
Vince was floored at the news. Looking at the map, he quickly picked out the six green pins.
Two were here in Yosemite’s territory.
There was the third that Vince knew of in the southwest that seemed more of a reserve force.
There was another pin in the west that looked as if it were diving in towards the emperor himself.
In the east, past the Mississippi river, there were two more pins heading into the heart of the eastern kingdoms.
“Holy shit,” Vince said, his heart lurching in his chest. “It’s an invasion.”
“A storm from the south,” Petra said, touching the map. “We… are hard-pressed to maintain our lands. Should the emperor fail, that army will turn on us, as will that third army.
“Should the east fall, the same.
“All we can hope for, pray for, and what this one wishes for, is that everyone will hold their own long enough for one to win.
“Even if they provided no help to the others, it would be enough pressure that they’d have to redistribute forces.”
Vince fought against the despair he felt. This was the Tri-lliance making a play for everything in North America.
Everything.
And he could only solve one problem at a time.
“As this one said, she is… so happy to see you. Because it is a very dark time for all of us,” Petra said, laying her head down on Vince’s shoulder. “This one will do all she can to save our lands, but she is sure of defeat unless everyone can hold.
“Or we somehow gain another ally.”
Vince laid his cheek to the side of Petra’s head, staring at the map.
A southern storm. The Tri-lliance is making their play to bring everyone into the fold.
It isn’t just Yosemite they’re after.
***
Leila poked at Red’s middle with a fingertip.
“It changed,” said the Warlock, looking up.
“Red changed?”
“No, your curse. It changed. What’d you do differently?” Leila asked, walking along the table.
Red was flat on her back on top of a dining table.
They’d retreated to the building Petra had designated as Vince’s. Especially since it had been buried into the ground and reinforced several times.
The Dragons had frightened Petra more than she’d admit. She seemed to be reverting to wanting to dig out an ant colony.
Leila paused near Red’s head.
“Red… Red has been fed directly by Vince… repeatedly. Red’s meal isn’t being retrieved by someone else.”
“Oh? That’s interesting. I wonder if there was some dilution in the power of Vince’s seed after passing from one woman to another,” Leila mused. Squatting down, she laid her hand to Red’s brow. With her other hand, she poked at the space above Red’s throat.
“Red isn’t sure, but… is the change… good?”
“Yes, actually. This makes much more sense. Your curse is… easier to read at the moment. I can’t tell you why you have the curse, of course, but I can tell you it’s centered on emotion. Jealousy and anger,” Leila said.
Leaning over Red’s face, she pulled gently at Red’s lower eyelid and peered into her eye.
“Hm. Alright. Well, I think Vince should continue to feed you by hand. Maybe in a week we can try having him feed you a bit of blood instead and see how your curse reacts.”
“Can you… can you weaken it tonight?” Red asked.
“Indeed. In fact…” Leila looked over her shoulder and smiled at Vince, her large eyes glittering. “Could you come over and ever so gently fill me up? I want to see if I can’t fracture some of this off her.”
Vince stood out of his chair and joined the two women.
“Sure, I can do that.”
Laying a hand on Leila’s shoulder, he opened up his flow and started to channel it to her.
“Perfect, leave it like that. I won’t need all of it,” Leila said.
Turning back to Red, the Warlock laid her hands on each side of Red’s face and smiled at her.
“Be strong, this’ll hurt like last time.”
Red nodded and pressed her arms to her stomach.
Vince didn’t see anything change, other than Red becoming as stiff as a board.
He
r eyes closed tight and she started to breathe in short gasps.
Several minutes passed before Leila let go of her.
“And there we are. Much less than previously. How do you feel?”
Red opened her eyes and stared up at Leila.
“Red… I… don’t know,” said the Beastkin. “More memories are there… I can feel them… but Red doesn’t know if she wants them.”
Red stopped talking and sat up slowly. Giving her head a violent shake, she then pressed her hands to her temple.
Her way of speaking is shifting. Maybe it isn’t a good idea to break her curse?
“Yes, we did talk about that. That if we break the curse it’d be likely that you’d remember who you were,” Leila said, laying a comforting hand on Red’s back.
“Yes, I remember. Red does. I… Red.” Closing her eyes tightly, Red looked pained.
“Red isn’t sure she wants to go any further. Red begins to worry that she wasn’t a good person in her previous life.
“Red will sleep outside tonight… Red… I… need some time.”
Red got off the table and slunk away, vanishing out the door and disappearing into the night.
Leila sighed and turned around to look at Vince.
“I think her curse is magical rebound. Whiplash.
“I think she cursed someone she loved, or wanted to love, and it backfired after it failed.
“Her current personality is… formed and fabricated from her time wandering the Wastes and with you.”
Vince couldn’t help but agree with her assessment. Red had more than likely come from a Beastkin tribe, which more often than not were rather primal.
Moving toward his bed, Vince dropped into it with a thud, then flopped onto his back.
“All things considered, I’m not sure she needs to worry too much about her curse. With everything I saw today in the command building, I worry we might not have much time.
“If everything goes their way, this could be all over in as little as six months,” Vince said, staring up at the top of his canopied bed.
Vince felt a pair of hands working at his belt buckle. Looking down, he saw Leila pulling the tongue of his belt out of the loop and working his fly open.
“Don’t stare,” she said, catching his eyes with her own. She was lying down on her disc of air, floating just above his hips. “This’ll be hard enough for me as it is.”
