Chapter 74. Dríade

[Still by Tilty. She seems to be poking her with a stick now.]

That's a better outcome than trying to free her. Having two different creature popsicles would be a hassle.

"Then let's go say hi."

[Master. The potion.]

Ah yes.

Yo land or whatever you are. Want to help me out a little bit with this?

The potion is being changed as we speak. If it were instantaneous I would have told you.

"Working on it now Tarakona. Just have to be patient." I called out getting a Draconic smile in return.

"I'm curious when you got the ability to change potion outcomes." Zeldi piped in as we started to make our way over to Dríade.

"As an I." Voras joined. "You have yet to show any understanding of magic yet now you can change potions."

"Blame the land. It's said it can change the potion and I'm choosing to trust it." I said back with a shrug. "Not like it wasn't worth trying anyway with Tarakona's eggs being all it cost us."

[Worth it for the rest. Even moreso if the potion actually works. I can finally have my mating flight with Master.]

"Ooooow will the potion make you a frost Dragon as well or will you have your own element Master?" Zeldi jumped mid walk in excitement. "And will you be the same size as Tarakona is now or even bigger?"

"You know I can't answer that without trying it right?" I answered back chuckling at her antics.

"I know but you need to at least not be something fire related. I know Tarakona wants to do everything she possibly can with you in Dragon form and that would be hard if you guys couldn't touch." Zeldi followed this up with an exaggerated wink that said what that 'everything' really ment.

[I would definitely prefer that. Then again I wouldn't mind if you were something other than a frost Dragon. Perhaps a wind or even lightning Dragon. It would make it exciting when you have to chase me down and prove you are strong enough to claim me]

"I feel you are going to need to explain this mating flight of yours a bit more Tarakona. I thought it was just going to be us flying together." I would definitely have remembered if that was part of it.

[Mating, breeding, nest making and proving you are a strong male that deserves to have offspring. Our flight will encompass it all, and do not worry I will give you a slight advantage since it isn't your natural form.]

The smile I got told me it wouldn't be much of an advantage.

Okay scratch getting the information from Tarakona. I need another Dragon to explain exactly what I am getting myself into.

"I really need a manual on how each species operates." I whispered under my breath. Thankfully Dríade came into view so I was spared any more of those questions.

Like Tarakona had said she was poking Tilty with a stick. The butterfly woman noticed our arrival but didn't make a move at least until we were close. "I get it now. This one here is not a Livestock. She doesn't even deserve to have your protection."

Voras surprisingly was the first to agree. "That is an understatement. She deserves far worse things yet Clovek is far too nice to actually do them."

I held up my hands. "I left that to Zeldi remember. She was the one Tilty wronged and so it seemed only fair to let her decide what to do."

"Zeldi won't do anything." Tilty herself joined in. She was of course upside-down and bound in silk everywhere but her head.

"Of all the people to say something you should not be it." I advised her as Zeldi tried to form words. She was struggling slightly and I felt bad. That said apart from freezing her in provocative poses and tying her up we hadn't really punished her yet.

[She might not but I will.]

"So I'm guessing these would be your actual Livestock?" Dríade asked dropping her stick and coming over to Voras completely ignoring the drama she had just started.

For her part the spider woman just watched her as she flew around her at a distance.

"I'm surprised you were tamed so quickly Voras. I was expecting you to put up more of a fight." Dríade said coming to a stop and sitting on Voras's abdomen.

"What about you Dríade? Where's your tree?" Voras returned purposely ignoring the question.

That instantly set off alarm bells in my head as neither of them had mentioned names yet.

"My tree is safe and I've been good. I built a life for myself down in the poison swamp, you would not believe the amount of creatures that come looking for a concoction to solve their ails. Even in a place like that." Dríade made a gage at the thought.

"Wait you two know each other?" My surprise was evident. "Was she one of the Livestock you saved in the Underdark?"

"Yes and yes. Sort of." Dríade replied fluttering her wings. "Unlike most Livestock I can hide pretty easily and don't get affected quite as strongly by the pull so Voras didn't really save me. I'm still annoyed you knew I was one so quickly."

"Luckily guess." I shrugged back. "What do you mean by she didn't save you?"

"Nuh ah. Tell me how you knew first." Dríade waggled her finger in my direction.

"She's an alchemist." Voras answered in her stead. "She has a habit of poisoning people she doesn't agree with and coincidentally has a history of removing Deed owners from their Deeds. I had thought she was just as fragile as other Livestock and tried to save her from some unsavory characters only for her to almost kill me in return."

Dríade stuck her tongue out at Voras. "Oh he has you whipped if your just willingly giving him information. What happened? Did he fuck you into submission?"

A line of silk whipped around and caught Dríade around the neck before we could react and sent her face first into the tree that Tilty was tied to. Voras didn't stop there and pounced on the butterfly woman before she could recover, binding her up and sticking her to the tree alongside Tilly.

Unperturbed Dríade just smiled while she hung upside down. "This is more like you Voras. Why does the male walk free though? Did you secretly fall in love?"

"I will close your mouth next if you don't hold your tongue." Voras snapped.

"Kinky. Is the Centaur invited?"

Zeldi squeaked as she was introduced to the conversation.

[I am confused. Are you friends with Voras or do you dislike her?]

"Friends with benefits." Dríade replied before Voras covered her mouth with more silk.

The spider woman then took a breath before looking up at Tarakona. "She's a friend in the sense that we agree with each other but I find her insufferable to be around."

"But she is a livestock?" Zeldi tried to clarify. "And if so what does she produce? And does she want to join us?"

"Yes, fruit and no." Voras answered wrapping another round of silk across Dríade's mouth as she tried to speak through her gag. "Dríade here is probably here to try and kill Clovek. She may look pathetic and incapable of killing but do not be fooled. She has a higher kill count than I do."

Dríade tried her best to bow in her bindings as if that was a compliment.

[If she succeeds and you don't bring him back.]

Tarakona hissed bringing her teeth out with her threat.

"I told you I will. Please believe me there." Voras blushed slightly as she found me but recovered quickly. "The problem with Dríade here is that she's a Dryad."

All the girls gasped while I just stood there like an idiot.

"Okay... I'm missing something." I mumbled hoping someone would help me out.

"Dryad's are Forest spirits." Zeldi came to my rescue.

Unfortunately that didn't tell me much.

[It means her body here is not real, or it is but if we destroy it she can just make another one from her tree, it would not kill her. Without knowing where it is they are hard to deal with especially because they can travel far without consequences. So if she chose to be a nuisance there is very little we can do apart from kill her each time she tries something.]

Ah. That makes sense.

"Well her tree is close at least." I offered only for all of the girls to look at me in confusion. Dríade especially almost looked panicked at the revelation.

What?" I asked. "Ventress specifically mentioned that Dríade here wanted her tree moved past the kobolds blockade, then before she left she mentioned the tree was now gone. It doesn't take a genius to realize that Dríade moved her tree somewhere on the farm."

The dryad in question started to struggle in her silk bindings.

"Interesting." Voras purred her smile dripping with obvious amusement. "Now why would you do that Dríade? You should know having your tree far away from any Deed owner is your best idea. If Clovek here was to find it I can only imagine the horrible things he would do to you."

I opened my mouth to defend myself but Voras brought a finger to her own lips to say to be quiet without Dríade noticing.

"My its almost like you want to be owned by him." Voras continued turning around and removing the silk around her mouth.

"Screw you and your entire family. I'm here because a rumor was going around about a couple of Deed owners in the area. The one across the way has no Livestock so I left him alone but this one has four. I was only going to kill him then move on but I got distracted with this whore." Dríade tried to indicate towards Tilty as best she could. "How the hell did a Livestock become such a bitch?"

Tilty tried to look away.

"Then you came out here with him Voras. I thought you were in the Underdark playing peak a boo with the Drow?"

"I made a grave error in judgment and have been forced to live with the consequences." Voras answered before turning to me. "If her tree really is here she would have found a spot with very fertile soil. Do you know where that would be?"

"Oi don't turn your back on me. Why the hell are you this Humans Livestock?"

We all ignored her as we thought. It didn't take long for both Zeldi and I to come to the same conclusion.

""The other house."" We said together.

[Why would the old house have good fertile soil?]

"Because when I was alone I tried to make a bathroom that would suit my size. It... Didn't turn out right and I didn't know how to fix it. Master promised he would find a solution and he did. Just in the new house." Zeldi gave her answer looking away from the group.

Voras laughed. "Shall we go see it then? It's been a while since I last saw Dríade's tree."

She didn't even look back in the Dryad's direction as she applied another layer of silk over her mouth.