Wild Wastes Omnibus

by Randi Darren

  “Any rock, or anything like that?”

  “No. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t any below the surface. I am not an earth dragon, though,” Taylor said, settling back down to all fours.

  “And what is a black Dragon’s specialty?”

  “Killing.”

  Nodding at that, Vince walked further away from the beach.

  Behind him, he could hear the whump and thump of Warden rifles.

  Looking over his shoulder, he saw balls of plasma fizzling through the air out into the ocean.

  “Seems like they decided they want to come take a look at what we’re up to,” Vince said.

  Chapter 24

  Vince dropped the large and bloody carcass of the boar onto the dirt.

  “Today and tomorrow’s meal, I suppose,” he said, rolling his shoulders.

  It’d been a while since he’d had to hunt down his own food. He’d been living off rations and the fruits of other people’s labor. He’d forgotten how much he missed simply doing what he wanted for himself without a worry.

  Blue sighed with her hands on her hips.

  “Darling, if you don’t mind, would you mind butchering it for me?

  “You’re better at it than I am,” she said, giving him a wide smile.

  Vince looked down at the boar and pulled out his hunting knife.

  He didn’t respond to compliments very well. Never had.

  Never would.

  Squatting down, he started to work on the body.

  “Anything else out there you’ve seen?” Blue asked.

  “Not a thing,” Vince said.

  “It’s been a week and a half—shouldn’t we be expecting something by now?” Blue asked.

  Vince paused in his knife work and let out a shaky breath.

  She could have died. She’s never gone so long without a meal.

  Not really sure what to expect.

  “I’m sure she’s fine, darling,” Blue said, leaning over his shoulder and wrapping her arms around him. “You said she told you she can feed on hearts, right?

  “She can survive in the wild without assistance. There’s no need to worry for her.”

  Vince nodded once, unsure if he could respond.

  Ramona is missing, Petra is missing, and now Red is missing.

  Shuddering mentally from thinking about the Dryads, Vince went back to work at gutting their dinner.

  “Vince, I think that’s a Centaur.”

  Looking up, Vince began to scan the horizon before his eyes locked on what indeed looked like a Centaur.

  “Yup,” Vince said, then went back to the pig. “He’s letting us see him as a courtesy. If he comes over, he wants to chat.

  “If he talks first, he wants something.”

  “He’s running over here,” Blue said after a second.

  “What?”

  Vince held his hunting knife tightly and stood up, getting into a defensive stance.

  The Centaur was practically sprinting towards them.

  It didn’t mean anything good.

  Gods damn Clydesdale Centaur.

  Feeling rather naked without his blade, Vince didn’t think he could get over to it and back before the very large male Centaur made it over to him.

  It was a bare-skinned centaur with black fur and hair, and a big two-handed club over his shoulder.

  Standing there, Vince didn’t have much he could do.

  Then the Centaur was on him, coming to a sliding stop in front of him and Blue.

  They eyed each other for a second, Vince warily watching the Centaur’s weapon.

  “Ho there. I wish to—”

  From behind Vince came a gigantic stomp that literally shook the ground.

  The Centaur’s entire face clouded in fear and his legs actually began to quiver.

  Glancing over himself, Vince found the bottom of Taylor’s big, black Dragon head two feet above him.

  Reaching up with his left hand, he began to gently stroke Taylor’s jaw.

  “What can I do for you, Centaur?” Vince asked, continuing to pet Taylor.

  This is my pet. Say what you want so long as you value your life.

  “I… I wish to… wish to treat with you. My name is Chet and I’m the chief of my people,” said the Centaur.

  “Vince, of Yosemite,” Vince said.

  Chet blinked several times, then lightly pranced in place.

  “You said your name is Vince?”

  “Indeed.”

  “Of Yosemite.”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you… the Vince? Lord of Yosemite.”

  “Yes, I am.”

  Vince continued to stroke Taylor the entire time. He could feel the tension in her as she loomed over him.

  Chet bent his front legs and then bowed at the waist to Vince.

  “Lord Vince, I wish to offer my services however I may,” Chet said.

  “Fine. I accept. I need your craftsmen and your soldiers,” Vince said.

  Getting up to all fours with a clop, Chet nodded his head vigorously.

  “Of course, Lord Vince. Of course. Though, I—”

  “Yes, I’m sure you have a price. I know I would. What’s yours?”

  “My tribe isn’t from this area. We’re from an area to the east of the duchy of Denver. We were nomadic to a degree and wandered.

  “But we were driven out by another tribe. I would ask you to intercede and send them away.

  “Those are our homelands, and I want them returned to us.”

  “Were you part of Yosemite? Did the envoys find you and bring you in? And how long ago did you get chased out?”

  “No. We were just outside the boundaries that were set at the time. And we’ve been gone a single set of seasons,” Chet said.

  Vince frowned, looking down and to one side.

  He didn’t like the idea of chasing people out of a land that was arguably theirs for the sake of another.

  Especially if the only difference between the two was that one had the luck to meet him when he was in need of a favor.

  Except that’s the way it is. I really do need their help.

  And they get to reap the benefits.

  “Fine. I’ll work out something with them on the side and you’ll get your homeland back.

  “I need wagons and people to pull them. Other than that, I need soldiers to defend as we get everything in those crates loaded over,” Vince said, pointing at the rows upon rows of crated gold stacked up.

  It’d taken a bit longer to repair the crates and get everything covered and contained, but it would help in the long run, he assumed.

  If only to keep prying eyes off the contents.

  “Defend?” Chet asked.

  Vince smiled grimly.

  “I’m sure you’ve noticed the boats in the harbor. There used to be three times as many of them.

  “I imagine they went to go pick up some troops to ferry back here. Sooner than I’d like, I think we’ll have company.

  “Sure you want to make this deal in the end, Chet?”

  Chet was staring out toward the water.

  “Wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to back out. It’s not going to be pretty, I think,” Vince said.

  Chet’s black eyes moved back to Vince.

  “I accept, on behalf of my people. We look forward to being formally part of Yosemite.”

  Vince gave Taylor’s jaw a firm pat and smiled at Chet.

  “Great. Let’s see how fast we can get back to Yosemite.”

  ***

  Standing atop the pilot house of the beached ship, Vince looked out to the east.

  It’d only been a few days since Chet had showed up, and they’d made remarkable progress.

  But they weren’t done.

  They weren’t done, and the Tri-lliance boats had returned and were gathering for a landing en masse.

  Everything was coming down to this, and Vince wasn’t really sure five hundred Centaur warriors would be enough to turn the tide.

&
nbsp; From what he could see of the boats, they’d loaded up a good portion of an army in the east.

  He couldn’t get a firm count, but he was betting on them at least outnumbering his forces two or three to one.

  Flattering, considering they only saw the Wardens shooting at them previously.

  They thought they’d need that much just to take on the Wardens.

  “Julia, Steve, I need you and the Wardens to cover a side practically by yourselves.

  “Is that doable?” Vince asked, turning his head to the side and looking at the two of them.

  “Should be doable,” Julia said. It’ll be a bit of a press, but… honestly, I can’t think of anything they could do to actually break our armor open. Even in a straight-up knockdown fight, they’d be more likely to drag us to the ground by virtue of body weight than actually hurt us.

  “Especially since we prepped the entire southern beach as a death funnel.

  “Never would have thought you pouring magic into a rock would make a land mine.”

  “Neither did I,” Vince said. “I was looking at those rocks on the hull of the boat and tried dumping my magic into a stone.

  “It exploded when I dropped it.”

  Stones filled with his magic became rather touchy and would detonate violently as soon as they made contact with something.

  Vince had been spending his days and nights endlessly filling an entire field with explosive rocks.

  All for the sake of trying to funnel enemies into the Warden’s sights.

  Assuming the Tri-lliance followed what they’d done up to this point, which was dividing their own forces and hitting from two sides.

  Which of course they had done, gratifying Vince for once.

  Plans like this had a habit of failing for him. Ending up in a lot of wasted time and little else.

  “Taylor and I will act as a flanking force for the east. With any luck we can pressure them rather heavily.”

  “Providing they didn’t bring any artillery or heavy weapons,” Steve interjected.

  “I’m betting they didn’t, but yeah, it’s a risk.”

  “Why not?” Julia asked.

  “Not enough time,” Vince said simply. “They probably grabbed whatever forces were nearby, supplied enough for movement, and wouldn’t impact what was going on in the east.

  “This is entirely what they could scrape up quickly.

  “I bet half of those troops are support functions.”

  “What… like… clerks?”

  “Farriers, fletcher, blacksmith, cooks. The like,” Vince clarified. “They weren’t expecting the Centaurs. Just us and the Wardens.”

  “Oh. Yeah, that makes sense, I guess,” Steve said.

  Nodding at that, Vince watched as huge and hollow chunks of ice were magicked into existence and troops began boarding the ice-shaped landing craft.

  “Well, that explains that. Kinda creative of them,” Vince said. “Best of luck to you. Don’t die. I’d hate to explain that to my brother.”

  “Eh, just cut my head off and bring it with you. He’ll take care of the rest,” Julia said. “Not the first time I’ve died. Or the tenth.”

  Raising his eyebrows at that, Vince turned to Julia.

  “He can only raise those who are slaves or employees to him and have signed contracts before dying.

  “Doesn’t work any other way,” Julia immediately explained.

  Having his hopes dashed just as quickly, Vince turned and dropped down from the pilot house.

  “Way to go, idiot,” Steve muttered quietly. Vince heard it, of course, with his exceptional hearing.

  “I didn’t think about it. I’m sorry. Forgive me?” Julia asked.

  “We’ll see. After this we need to go on a vacation. Wanna go where we went on our honeymoon?” Steve asked her.

  “That’d be nice. We could—”

  Vince ignored the conversation and jumped off the boat to the sand below.

  Didn’t realize they were married. Cute.

  They don’t act like a married couple.

  I don’t think I’ve even heard them having sex.

  Strange.

  Taylor was waiting for him, floating upside down on her back in the water in her human form.

  Naked as the day she was born.

  “Are you all done?” she asked.

  “Yeah. Enjoying yourself?”

  “Yes. I am. It is not often I get to simply… float… in the water. I couldn’t leave my roost for very long, you realize. And there weren’t many large bodies of water nearby.

  “Let alone salt water. I seem to float quite well in it.”

  Taylor shifted over, got her feet down, and walked over to him.

  “Fair. Alright, you ready? Plan is the same.”

  “Yes. Though I still think it would be better if you’d let me do this alone.”

  “Don’t make me beat you nearly to death again,” Vince said.

  Taylor grinned at that, flashing bright white teeth at him.

  “I wouldn’t mind fighting again. It was… terrifying, and enjoyable.”

  “You sound like Ramona,” Vince said, walking down the beach toward their starting position.

  “She is your Dragonnewt? Not entirely unexpected behavior of her kind. She is of course a Dragon’s offspring, and has a Dragon of her own. Just not in the same way,” Taylor said.

  Vince didn’t respond. He didn’t want to think about Ramona, and had brought her up without thinking.

  And before he could stop himself, his mind fast-tracked to Petra.

  Then the Dryads.

  ***

  “They look formidable,” Taylor said, her black-horned head facing the Centaurs.

  “I’ve only ever dealt with them one on one in combat. Unsure how they’ll do in an army setting,” Vince replied. “Might make the perfect cavalry unit, obviously, but I have no other thoughts.

  “Petra… Petra would know more.”

  “You speak her name, and Ramona’s, bitterly. Why?”

  “They’re missing.”

  “Ah. You fear them among the dead. Yes, that is logical.”

  Sighing, Vince pulled his blade from its sheath.

  Twice in one day.

  Maybe it’s because we’re almost home.

  Almost home… and we fear news.

  Or confirmation.

  “It’s time, nest-mate,” Taylor said, her wings flapping once and then lying flat on her back.

  “Nest-mate, hm?” Vince asked, giving his blade an idle swish and flick.

  The enemy line had begun closing in on the Centaur warriors.

  Vince had wanted to hit them before they closed. Make their army split in fear of being flanked by another force entirely.

  “Are we not? We are bound together in a cause,” Taylor said, her scaled body flexing.

  “I’ve been called worse.”

  Taylor took in a deep breath, then raced forward straight into the enemy ranks in front of them.

  Moving at a light trot, Vince followed along behind her.

  She would wreck a path and start flinging herself around. He couldn’t imagine any force that would want to stand against a black Dragon spoiling for a fight.

  Then she was on them like a mountainside coming down. She spilled over them, breathing fire as she went.

  Her claws, head, and tail all swung wildly as she bit, clawed, and swiped her way through them.

  Keeping himself at the pace he’d set, Vince felt his temples start to pound. His vision was starting to bleed over into red. The rage began to boil up from the depths of his soul.

  He could taste it. Taste their deaths.

  Taste his release.

  He finally caught up a full minute later to where Taylor had exploded through.

  Not hesitating, he dove into the channel she’d made. Using his sword like a cleaver more than anything, Vince hacked and chopped at everyone around him.

  He activated the Warden shield and then let go of himself.


  There wasn’t anyone nearby who was an ally. Everyone who stood here could die.

  Every single one of them was a target, and Vince had nothing to hold him back.

  Blood flew all around him as Vince worked himself into a killing frenzy, for the most part letting his control.

  He kept only a small fraction of it, so he wouldn’t risk himself.

  But that was it.

  Roaring, letting loose with bursts of undirected magic, and flinging his sword around wildly, Vince was a killing machine.

  It was stupid.

  Wading into an army as a single person.

  But Vince had the utmost confidence in himself.

  He also had confidence in Taylor getting him out when it was time to go.

  Lashing out with his blade, the soldier screamed as the tip speared through her armor and skewered her heart.

  Yanking it free and slashing to the side in the same movement, he decapitated the man next to her.

  Even as those two died, Vince launched himself at the third in line. Then the fourth.

  Time flowed on and he knew only blood and battle.

  There wasn’t a coherent thought in his head.

  At least until Taylor showed up, grabbed him in one clawed hand, and carried him off like a dog with a prize.

  He wasn’t sure when the most recent shield had failed, but he’d forgotten to activate another one.

  Or is there none left?

  “We need to pull back; they’re regrouping,” Taylor said as she exploded out of their ranks. “You’re already isolated. But if you follow them backward, even I won’t be able to get in there to get you back out.”

  Vince felt the life go out of him a heartbeat later, and he slumped in her claw. He laid his head against her thumb and closed his eyes.

  “Ok. Did we win?”

  “No. We very nearly lost. The only saving grace is your Dryad wife is actually a decently skilled magician and kept throwing up barriers in whatever hole was created.”

  “Losses?”

  “Maybe forty dead Centaurs, thrice as many wounded.

  “At least, that’s what they told me when I stopped by to help plug a hole,” Taylor said.

  They were bounding across the fields toward the Centaur line.

  Corpses littered the field. Human, Elf, Lizardman, and Centaur alike.

  Bits of wood and vegetation were entangled in some of the more deeply corpse-filled areas.