by Logan Jacobs
“To what purpose are you on my island?” she inquired.
“I was knocked off my boat during a bad storm and washed up on it. It wasn’t intentional. I have no idea wh--”
“Are you alone?” she interrupted. “Will others like you follow?”
“I am alone.” I nodded. “Nobody else knows where I am. I just want to get home.”
The queen studied me with her aquamarine eyes for a long moment.
“Walk with me,” she said suddenly and left no room for questioning.
Then she walked to the door and signaled me to follow, and Sela fell in behind me and the twins took their places, one on each side of me. Queen Nerissa remained quiet for a long time, and I didn’t want to say something that would make me look disrespectful, so I just took in my surroundings instead.
There were dozens of huts built much like the one I was being held in. Some of them were of newer builds with a shine still left to them, and some were in total disarray and desperately needed repairs. I could see a much larger building up on a hill about half a mile away, and I assumed it was what served as a palace for the queen or possibly barracks for the warriors.
The silence built to the point where I couldn’t take it anymore. I rehearsed lines in my head so I wouldn’t sound disrespectful, but I had questions that needed answers.
“Please pardon me, Your Majesty, but where are we?” I asked. “Who are you and your people?”
My questions were answered with silence, so I glanced around at the other women walking behind us, but none of them would make eye contact with me. We continued to walk in silence until I worked up enough nerve to speak again.
“I beg your pardon again, Your Majesty, please understand I mean no disrespect,” I said. “I have been lost at sea, and as I said, I am all alone. No one was with me or followed me. I really just want to figure out what happened to me and what to do next so I can get home. I promise you, I mean no harm to you or your people.”
Queen Nerissa met my eyes with her own mesmerizing ones. Then she sighed softly after a few moments of intense staring and finally spoke.
“We are the Insulam Draconum clan and have been on this island for a thousand years,” she explained. “We were breathed to life here by our Yoruba god and goddess Olokun and Oshun, and we pledge our fealty to them.”
“How did you learn English?” I asked. “Is that your native language?”
“We have a native language that is not your English, but we were given the gift to speak thousands of tongues so we can communicate with any being who trespasses into our home,” Nerissa continued as she gave me a scrutinizing look. “We live humbly and simply, as our religion requires. All of us have a job assigned to us. We have warriors, builders, educators, physicians, hunters, and gatherers. Our food consists mostly of fish, berries, and nuts foraged here on the island.”
“Wait … you eat fish? Isn’t that cannibalism?” my mouth said, against my brain’s vehement protests.
“We are not fish or any sort of amphibian,” Nerissa corrected and turned to face me. “We are mammals like you. We give live birth, and we nurse our children. We just happen to have some serpent-like elements. It is a gift from our god and goddess.”
“I apologize. I didn’t mean to insult you.”
“No insult taken,” she replied with a regal wave of her hand. “You are curious. There is no harm in that.”
I was grateful I’d managed not to offend anyone, but the reality of this whole situation was finally sinking into my thick skull.
“Holy shit,” I mumbled under my breath. “I’m really walking through a village with the queen of the serpent people, and it’s not a dream.”
I heard a chuckle come from my left and saw Queen Nerissa smiling.
“It most definitely isn’t a dream, Ben,” she said kindly. “I believe you were brought here for a reason.”
I was relieved I wasn’t going to lose my head for insulting the queen, and my curiosity was satiated for the moment, so I relaxed a good bit as we continued our walk.
Queen Nerissa had gone quiet again, so I started to occupy my attention with the people I saw walking through the village. They were all gawking at me, and it was hard not to notice their stares. One thing I noticed was they all seemed to be women and young girls in their teens. I’d not seen a male the entire time. Nor any small children.
“Queen Nerissa, may I ask a question?” I inquired.
“Yes,” she replied as she cast a sidelong glance at me, “but I may not answer.”
“Fair enough,” I chuckled before I gestured around the village. “I was wondering where all the males are? I have not seen a man or boy anywhere.”
Once again, she stopped walking and turned to look at me.
I couldn’t exactly figure out the expression on her otherworldly face, but I thought it looked profoundly sad.
“They are all lost,” the queen murmured after a long moment.
“Lost?” I repeated with a frown. “How did they get lost? Can I help you find them?”
“Where they have gone, they cannot be found,” she whispered, but then she abruptly turned to continue our walk. It was a sure sign this was a sensitive matter, and I was smart enough not to press it.
“Tell me about your world,” Queen Nerissa said several minutes later.
I suspected the silence had started to bother her as much as it had me.
“I live in the United States,” I replied easily. “It is part of North America. It is packed with over three hundred million people who spend most of their time working jobs so they can buy stuff for themselves that they want and need.”
“Why would they do such a thing?” she asked with a look of concern on her face. “Do they not have families? Mates? Friends? Is that not reason enough to work hard and enjoy life?”
“For some it is, but everyone is different,” I told her as I noticed we’d made our way back to my hut. “Many of us value our families over possessions, but not everyone does.”
“And this is the place you want help returning to, Ben?” she asked with a tilt of her head.
“Yeah,” I said after a moment’s hesitation, “I suppose it is.”
It was my home. I had to go home. Right? Of course, of course I had to go home … but why did I hesitate?
Nerissa studied me again with her aqua eyes, and I had to stifle the urge to fidget under her scrutiny.
“You must prove yourself trustworthy to earn our help,” she finally said.
“Okay,” I nodded, “just tell me what you want me to do, and I’ll--”
“This is where I leave you,” she cut me off with a half-smile. “Rest and eat. We will speak again tomorrow.”
I watched as she walked away with Sela, and both their heads were bent together in a whisper. Then my twin guards ushered me back inside my hut where there was a tray of fresh fruit, fish, and coconuts. I ate everything except the coconut and pondered how I was going to prove myself trustworthy to this queen.
“The first step should be to develop a filter between my brain and mouth,” I sighed as I rifled my hair. “Something tells me I’m only one mistake away from getting myself killed.”
Chapter Four
I laid on the cot and watched the moon rise through the barred window. I hadn’t been able to fall asleep, even though my body was still worn out from everything it had been through. I’d tried counting sheep, meditating, and several sleeping positions, but to no avail.
Over the last five or so days, the women had decided to make me useful. The first few days, I was just stuck in my hut, and the women brought me meager meals twice a day. Then, two days ago, my lead captor, Sela, declared that if I was going to eat their food, I had to earn my keep. So, I worked on patching roofs of various huts under the watchful eye of Sela. It was hard work since the women lacked a lot of basic tools and equipment, and also because Sela attached rope shackles to my ankles to make sure I didn’t run.
As for the tools, I had to use
a rock as a hammer for pegs I’d to carve out of wood myself. The stuff they used as concrete was so smelly and sticky, I didn’t even want to know what was in it, and my first attempt at building a ladder with nothing but sticks and rope backfired big time when I was ascending it.
Though, it might have been due to the ropes around my legs.
“Fuck!” I screamed as I fell to the ground.
I landed hard on my back, and the air was knocked out of me. I also knew the wound on the back of my head opened back up. I laid there for a moment and tried to convince air to go back into my lungs and to get my head to stop spinning. Then I saw Sela approach and thought she might actually help me out a bit.
I was quite wrong.
“Get up!” she ordered.
I wasn’t one to defy orders, but I couldn’t exactly get up at the moment.
“I said get up!” she repeated, and she accompanied this order with a poke from her spear.
I turned away from the poke and rolled to my knees, where I managed to get a breath to go in and out. I thought this was when my jailer finally saw the blood coming from my head and realized I wasn’t just lying around for the fun of it.
Sela turned to a group of women and said something in their native clicking language. Then two of the women came over and gently helped me up and back to my hut. They got me comfy on my cot, and soon sweet Talise came in to bandage up my head and take care of me.
“I am never going to get through to Sela, am I?” I asked the healer.
“Give her time,” Talise replied with a gentle smile. “She has always been stubborn and slow to warm. It will happen.”
I sighed and just decided to try to be a little more patient.
I felt like I was making a little leeway with all the women, except for Sela. She wasn’t even remotely interested in getting to know me or trust me. I’d been successful in making the other ones around me laugh and relax, but Sela never said a word to me and just stared at me the whole time she was on guard. She also seemed to be the one on guard most of the time. She occasionally traded off with one of the twins, but they usually had the night shift.
My twin guards, who I learned were named Zarya and Darya, had been replaced by one lone guard tonight. This woman was equally fierce looking, but she wasn’t as standoffish as the twins.
Mira was her name, and she was as beautiful as the rest, but had a sort of punk-gothic look going on. Her hair was a deep jade green and shorter than any of the other women’s hair, cut just below her chin and shaved on one side, which fully exposed her fin-like ear. The exposed ear-wing bore several piercings and was adorned with hoops made from tiny seashells. Her skin was a buttery yellow, and her scales were a rich gold color that screamed to be touched while I gazed into her golden colored eyes. She wasn’t as full in the chest as most of the other women I’d seen, she was more pear shaped, but still intoxicating. Her legs went on for days, and her ass was perky and plump. I knew she could crush me easily with her muscular thighs, but I was more than willing to confirm my suspicions. The thought did nothing for my already restless state, though.
“It’s late,” said the sultry voice in the doorway. “Can you not sleep?”
I looked up to see those shining orbs staring holes through me, and my heart hammered in my chest.
I always had a weakness for goth girls, but I’d definitely felt way hornier since I’d ended up at this place. Maybe it was because these strange monster-alien women were hitting a fantasy I hadn’t even known I had.
I obviously wasn’t dreaming, so maybe I’d died and gone to heaven?
“I can’t seem to relax,” I replied. “My mind and body won’t shut off.”
“Ah, I know that feeling,” Mira said with a nod. Then she cocked her head to the side, narrowed her eyes, and cast me a considering look. “Stay put. I think I have something that will help.”
Before I could say a word, she spun on her heels and strode from the hut.
“Is this a test?” I murmured to no one.
It most likely was, so I stayed exactly where I was until she returned two short minutes later with a large clay jug and two matching cups.
Mira gave me a slight smile when she saw I hadn’t moved an inch while she was gone. Then she set the jug and cups on the table next to the water basin, put two more logs on the fire, and motioned for me to sit on the wooden stool opposite of her.
“I doubt you have ever had a drink like this before,” Mira said with a mischievous smile. “Go slow, you don’t want to fall off your stool and add another bump to your head.”
“You are looking at the Tequila Slammer Champ for three consecutive years and counting,” I bragged with a grin. “I think I can handle a little island juice.”
“I don’t know what tequila is, but I like your confidence,” she laughed as she poured us both a glass and then handed one to me.
Inside the cup was a slightly pink, milky concoction that smelled like fruit salad. It had a consistency somewhere between heavy cream and a milkshake, and I could also see little black specks that reminded me of vanilla beans.
“Are you going to study it or drink it?” Mira smirked.
I gave her a mocking glare before I tipped the cup back for a little taste. I’d expected something overly sweet and heavy, but I was surprised at what hit my tongue. It was light and refreshing, almost like lemonade on a hot day. It had a citrus note to it and seemed almost bubbly on my tongue. I knew the surprise was evident on my face when I heard Mira chuckle.
“It’s not as innocent of an ale as it seems,” she warned. “I still suggest you take it slow.”
“I think I can handle this just fine,” I replied with a smirk. Then I decided to take a chance. “Why are you doing this?”
“What?” the warrior asked with a furrowed brow which made the scales on her face ripple in interesting patterns.
“This.” I gestured to the cups and then to us sitting beside the fire. “I’m not complaining by any means, but I’m … curious. Several days ago, I was taken captive and dragged through the jungle, and no offense, but Sela still doesn’t seem to like me very much.”
“That’s just Sela,” Mira replied with a sharp grin.
“Okay,” I chuckled, “but that doesn’t explain you. Why are you here having drinks with a prisoner? Is this some kind of test? Did you put some kind of truth serum in my drink?”
I squinted at the cup in my hands, and the warrior before me snorted.
“Olofi’s Nectar may loosen tongues, but it does not force the truth out of you,” she chuckled. Then the warrior tilted her head and considered me before she smirked. “To answer your first question, perhaps I am curious, too. It is not every day a man washes up from the sea.”
“And when one does, your first instinct is to drink with him?” I asked with a cocked eyebrow.
“Like I said, Olofi’s Nectar loosens tongues,” Mira said with a mischievous look in her golden eyes. Then she smiled and held up her cup. “To new friends.”
“To new friends,” I agreed, and then I tapped her cup with mine and took another big swallow of the citrusy ale. I felt the warmth of the alcohol bloom in my stomach and move throughout my body, and it relaxed me instantly.
Mira was right, this is exactly what I’d needed.
“Tell me, Mira, what is day-to-day life like for you here on the island?” I asked, since I wanted to learn as much as I could. I was deeply intrigued by this woman, and her people, and I wanted to know what she knew. I was still enamored by her ass and legs, but her easy-going attitude and sense of humor was different from the other women of her species.
“It is rather routine stuff, when we don’t have a handsome stranger interrupting our life,” she said with another teasing grin. “I was appointed by my sister many years ago as head of our defenses, and I spend most of my time training for that.”
“Your sister?” I balked. “You mean you are Queen Nerissa’s sister?”
“Yes, I am, but don’t be so worri
ed about it,” she said with a casual shrug. “I was never fit for the life of royalty. I always felt better with a sword or spear in my hand and my feet on the ground. My sister recognized that in me and planned accordingly. She is a very insightful and fair leader.”
“What kind of training do you do?” I asked curiously. “What kind of defenses do you need? This seems to be a pretty peaceful place and not in need of much in the way of a military presence.”
Mira narrowed her eyes and took a swig of her drink. At first, I thought she was suspicious, but then I realized the fire in her gaze was anger.
“I wish you were right, but unfortunately, we face many obstacles and foes,” the warrior growled and clenched her fists. “Our island is surrounded by others with … umm … inhabitants who wish to control our land and our people. We often must fight to keep these raiders from taking everything away from us, including our people. They come here, and they burn our crops, rape any woman they can overpower, and kill any who won’t bend to their wishes. Many of our enemies wish to enslave us for their personal use, to turn us into concubines for their harems.”
“That’s fucking awful,” I growled. I was absolutely dumbfounded by this new knowledge. It was obvious the island was primitive, but I thought that was mostly due to their devotion to their religion and the requirements that they live simply and humbly, as the queen had said. The idea that they continually had to fight for their freedom to keep from becoming some wanna-be pirate’s whore infuriated me.
“Such is our life,” Mira muttered as she sipped her drink and watched me carefully.
I downed the last of the ale in my cup and poured myself some more. I needed something to calm me down so I could think straight again. I was somewhat surprised at how quick I was to anger at the idea of these women being treated like chattel. I’d been raised by strong and fierce women and held nothing but respect for the fairer sex. To think some men still wanted to keep them underfoot lit a fire deep in me.
Not on my watch.
Then an idea struck me.
The queen had said I needed to prove myself trustworthy. So, I was going to help these women in any way I could to build the strongest defenses possible. The Coast Guard might not have been a badass combat unit like the Marines, but I knew some survival and offensive tactics. With my help, not one of these women was going to become Long John Silver’s bitch, not while I was still standing.
