Tales of the Wastelander Ch. 23 - Teaser (Patreon)

“Or simply destroyed because its value was more sentimental over anything else,” Bellona told them.

“Fucking slavers! Bunch of destructive pricks, aren’t they?” Byrgyt commented idly as she picked up several scraps of discarded clothing.

“Like pirates, but on the land,” Ben agreed.

“Pirates? What are pirates?” Lawrie questioned.

“People who are bandits, but stick to boats to do their banditry from. The sail on up, hop on aboard, rob you blind, do whatever they feel like doing and then leave you behind dead,” Ben told them as he helped Lawrie with bringing a dresser up from the ground.

“An apt analogy,” Rayne stated as she helped with clearing away the mess.

“Well, at least not everything is a total loss. Some of this furniture is still usable, so it can be spared from the burning pile,” Gertrude said out loud. Before long, the house and the outbuilding were cleaned up, with anything that was wrecked beyond use, placed in a pile to be burned. With the walkways in the house clear, Gertrude set about to finding the secret cubbies that held their valuables.

“If you’ve got everything here, Grams, I’m going to head out to the woods and get that cache we left out there,” Bellona told her grandmother.

“All right. Just be careful out there, OK?” Gertrude warned her granddaughter.

“You won’t need to worry about anything. Mellany, Tasya and I will go with her,” Lawrie stated, hefting his whomping stick as he turned to follow Bellona.

Gertrude cocked an eyebrow at Bellona, who just winked, letting the woman know that all would be well. She then went back to ferreting out the hiding spots with Ylva, Byanka, and Rayne helping her, while Ben and Dohlrak kept an eye on things outside. Byrgyt helped in this, along with Zandyr, watching the woods for anything that could come out of the trees.

As the group moved along through the woods, Tasya began to feel some strange sensations in her head. It was almost like she was drunk, yet at the same time, not. She started remembering a few things, things she thought she had forgotten. Her mind whirled, a total mess, as she followed Bellona deeper into the woods. It wasn’t until she heard the next line from the woman that things began to change.

“Come along now! We’re almost there!” Bellona told them excitedly.

In an instant, Tasya could remember the exact time and place she had heard those words. It was when she was escaping the brutal slaver who was using her and another woman as his playthings. Her mind reeled as her memories came back to her unbidden, feeling more than a little overwhelmed by the deluge. She fell to her knees, clutching her head as she struggled to keep with the old memories flooding back to her mind.

“Tasya? Honey, are you all right?” Lawrie questioned, rushing to his wife’s side.

“I… will be. Just… need a moment,” she replied.

“Sweetie, what’s wrong? You’ve had this odd look on your face since we walked into the forest and you look… disturbed,” Mellany stated.

“I was just… remembering,” Tasya replied.

“Remembering? Remembering what?” Lawrie asked his wife.

“Everything,” she said, looking over to Bellona, who stood close by with concern on her face.

“What do you remember?” Bellona wondered, curious about the sudden change in the woman.

‘I remember the conversations we used to have, when were both slaves to the old bastard. How we often could talk and laugh, without any of those idiots knowing that we could talk to each other like this,’ Tasya thought at her, making Bellona yelp in surprise.