Monster Girl Islands

by Logan Jacobs

  “She is bringing people to cart the haeye back to the village,” the queen explained simply.

  “So … we’re just going to wait here?” I asked and glanced at the beautiful woman beside me. “Alone?”

  Nerissa smiled as she met my eyes. “Do you plan to spirit me away?”

  “N-No!” I said quickly and shook my head.

  “Then I think we shall be fine,” the queen laughed melodically, and I grinned dopily at the sound.

  It looked like saving the queen from a murderous nightmare shark had won me a little trust. I’d take it.

  Nerissa and I stood there on the beach in comfortable silence, and barely a minute later, Mira returned with four women in tow.

  Huh. They must be fast sprinters.

  The four women gasped at the sight of the haeye carcass, and they spoke quickly to each other in their peculiar clicking language. At one point, they all stared at me with wide eyes, and Mira said something that made their jaws drop.

  Then the queen clapped her hands together and gave what sounded like an order, and the four women bowed before they quickly stooped down and picked up the carcass between them. A moment later, they were jogging back toward the village, and a line of green blood trailed in the sand in their wake.

  “Shall we?” Nerissa asked as she turned back to me and nodded in the opposite direction down the beach.

  “As long as you are sure,” I replied, “I know you just had a good scare.”

  Nerissa looked at me with an honest and sincere expression on her face.

  “Thank you for your concern, but I am hardier than I look.” Then her lips turned down into a frown. “This is why we don’t allow any of our people to fish alone. There are too many dangers in the sea, and there aren’t enough water dragons left to provide protection. On top of that, the ones left are very agitated and have become aggressive.”

  “Wait … did you just say water dragons?” I exclaimed with wide eyes.

  “Yes, water dragons,” Nerissa repeated before she cocked her head to the side. “Do you not have them near your island?”

  “Um, no,” I chuckled nervously as we began to walk down the sand. “We don’t have any sort of dragons where I am from. They are mythological creatures only found in stories.”

  “Water dragons are a carnivorous creature that live mostly in water, but nest on land,” the queen explained in a sad tone. “They are beautiful and sleek, faster than any water dweller, and have a mouth full of very sharp teeth.”

  “Why does this sadden you, Your Majesty?” I asked, but I was afraid I was going to find out what had happened to the men of this village.

  She sighed and turned to me with tears in her beautiful eyes.

  “There was a time where our people bonded with the water dragons and lived in harmony with them,” she almost whispered. “We provided them with food and safety, and they gave us protection and sea glass in return. We also shared companionship with them.”

  She grew silent, and I didn’t press her to continue. This was obviously a sensitive subject, although I was dying to ask a million questions. My brain successfully overruled my mouth, though, and I stayed quiet. I wanted to reach out to her, but didn’t want to overstep. This was the queen, for fuck’s sake.

  Then Nerissa took a deep breath to bolster herself and continued to walk. When she spoke next, she was much more in control of her emotions.

  “The breed is dying out,” she told me. “We don’t know why, but we think it has a lot to do with the loss of so many of our own. Our two species were so intertwined, as nature intended, we believe our demise is killing them, too. They have become increasingly hostile to us, and we have lost the knowledge of how to tame them. Now, we must keep our distance and hope that one day, we will rediscover this knowledge. We search fervently for answers.”

  “That sounds … very difficult, I’m sorry,” I said with a frown.

  “In truth, I am not giving the whole thing justice,” the queen lamented. “When a dragon bonds with one of us, it essentially chooses to leave its family and weave its life into ours. When one of the bonded pair dies, the surviving one carries the soul and essence of the departed one within themselves for the rest of its life.”

  “Wait,” I wondered, “how does that happen?”

  “I really don’t know,” she whispered. “My brother and the king both bonded with dragons, but their dragons died in battle when they did. I have never seen neither dragon nor man survive without its bonded companion.”

  “Do only men bond with dragons?” I asked

  “No,” she smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes, “but there must be a dragon king, or Dragun Ri, alive for bonds to happen.”

  I just nodded my head in fake understanding and let the topic of the dragons slip away. It seemed like a touchy one, and I didn’t want to ruin the bit of fellowship I had developed with her.

  We continued to walk along the shore, and I noticed we’d avoided the center of the island. I was about to ask why when we arrived at the eastern shore. There I saw attempts at securing the island, but they likely weren’t very effective. The pikes in the sand were too far apart and at the wrong angle to work as they should. There were also no lookout towers or stands to see an oncoming threat and no type of signal in place.

  “This is our most vulnerable shore and where most of the attacks come from,” Mira said as she gestured to the beach. “Not many make it through the jungles from the north because it is full of predators and sinkholes. This is where we need your help, Ben. We are working on replacing the stakes, but there has to be some more effective measures we can take. We have dug pits between the beach and the barrier, those come in handy, but still we need more. We are sure to be plagued by more raiders and pirates, soon. It has been peaceful for too long.”

  “I can think of several things we could do to make instant improvements while we work on long-term defenses,” I informed the women as my mind immediately started churning through ideas. “We can get started when we get back to the village. I would like to bring a few more of your warriors in to get their opinions. With all of us working together, we can make this shore much safer.”

  I walked along the dilapidated barricade and looked for strong points we wouldn’t have to replace. The less hard labor we had to put into it, the faster it would go up, so finding solid structures was imperative. As I was inspecting a rather sturdy column burrowed deep into the ground, something shiny in the tall grass beyond the barrier caught my attention.

  I reached down and picked up what appeared to be a large glass arrowhead attached to an ornamental staff made out of some sort of wood. The staff itself was broken off, leaving the end a jagged point, but the arrow was still brutally sharp and fully imbedded into the rod. Where they met, braids of thin silver rope or threads were wrapped tightly around the space, not just for decoration, but also to strengthen it.

  I stood up with the spear in my hand.

  “What did you find, Ben?” Mira asked over my shoulder.

  “Some sort of weapon,” I replied

  I turned around to show her what I held, and all the color drained out of her face. Then she gently took the broken spear from me and showed it to the queen.

  “My goddess, is that…” Nerissa whispered with wide eyes.

  “Yes, look at the markings and tie,” Mira murmured in a tight voice.

  The scales on Nerissa’s face rippled as she warred with several emotions at once.

  “This is all just too much today, I must return to the palace,” the queen said as she embraced the spear to her chest like it was a beloved child.

  Mira put her forehead to her sister’s for a moment before they turned back to the village and walked away.

  I stood there speechless as I watched them walk away, and I had no idea what was going on. Why was this weapon so special? Did it belong to Arrick or someone else? I also wondered if it was made from the seaglass I’d heard briefly about and what the silver bindings were. I had
so many questions, and the people who could give me the answers were quickly leaving me behind.

  So, I did the only thing I knew to do and followed these two women back without a word.

  Man, what a day.

  Chapter Five

  We arrived back at the palace maybe half an hour later. Nobody had said a single word on the return trip, and I didn’t dare interrupt the silence with all my questions. It didn’t feel as though they were exactly keeping secrets from me, but more like they could hardly bring themselves to talk about what had happened. Hell, it was possibly a combination of both. I could understand on both accounts, but it didn’t stop my curiosity, and it didn’t stop my desire to help them in any way I possibly could.

  I hung back at the entrance while Mira and Nerissa said their goodbyes. After a brief, and forced, smile in my direction, the queen disappeared into the building still clutching the broken spear. I contemplated whether I should follow her and try to comfort her in some sort of fashion, but I still didn’t know her that well, and then I saw Mira approach with a forlorn look on her face.

  “Come with me, Ben,” Mira whispered.

  She took me by the hand and led me through the main foyer of the palace and to a hallway on the eastern side of the building. We passed a few women going about their daily work. They smiled and greeted us, and Mira plastered on a fake smile and greeted them in return.

  I did my best to do the same and was met with whispers and giggles from the women.

  “Do I have something stuck between my teeth?” I asked Mira in a low voice.

  “Don’t mind the young ones,” she replied. “They were very small the last time a man was around here, and they don’t know how to behave.”

  “Gotcha,” I muttered.

  “But, yes, you do have something in your teeth,” she added with a grin. Then she stopped in front of a doorway a few yards into the hallway and turned to face me.

  I was preoccupied with getting whatever was stuck in my teeth out and almost ran into her.

  She looked at me, rolled her eyes, and laughed.

  “I was jesting,” she admitted. “You are fun to tease. So serious all the time.”

  I started to reply with my own comeback, but she cut me off.

  “This is the room chosen and prepared for you, and I understand if you are exhausted and would just like to retire for the evening,” she said seriously. “If you aren’t, I would like to invite you to the home Talise and I share. We have much to discuss, and some of it is unpleasant, so it is a conversation that can wait if you are not in the mood tonight.”

  I studied her body language for a minute and wondered what she wanted me to say. The fire-light from the sconces on each side of the doorway lit up her face, but gave me no definitive answer. There was such a mixture of emotions there, so I couldn’t tell if she wanted me to accept or decline.

  “To be honest, Mira, I doubt I will get much rest tonight without at least some of my questions answered,” I said hesitantly. “If it’s not going to cause too much trouble, I would be honored to accompany you to your home.”

  She let out a breath she seemed to have been holding and nodded her head in response. Then she reached past me and turned a large seashell that embellished the door to my room upside down.

  “This will let the palace know you are out for the night and won’t need accommodations,” she informed me. “This might be a long night, so you can sleep in our hut.”

  “Thank you for your kindness, Mira,” I said to the beautiful warrior.

  “Don’t thank me just yet,” she grumbled. “You may wish you had never met me after you hear what I say. Now, come along. It isn’t far, and I sent word ahead to Talise that you might be joining us.”

  I wrapped one arm around this courageous woman and hugged her to me. I didn’t know what else to do. She briefly leaned into the hug and then pulled away with a small smile she managed just for me.

  “I thought you would be housed in the palace, honestly,” I told the warrior woman. “You and Talise both, considering she is the main healer and you are head of the defenses.”

  “Of course, we could stay there if we wished, but all the warriors have housing on the eastern side of the island, and I feel like that is where I belong,” Mira told me as we made our way back through the palace and out the front doors. “All of our attackers seem to come from the eastern shores, so we are the first line of defense between the enemy and the palace. There is no way I would let my fellow warriors be at the front of the lines while I am safe in the palace.”

  The sun was close to setting, and the pink lights of twilight gave the whole village a rose colored hue. It made the whole place ethereal and fairytale-like. It was super romantic, and I wanted nothing more than to reach over, grab Mira, pull her into an earth-shattering kiss, bury one hand in her short hair, and with the other grab a handful of her perfect ass. If I wasn’t positive I would receive a few broken bones for the effort, I would have done it right then and there. Instead, I forced myself to talk shop with her and save my fantasy for another time.

  “That is very smart and well thought out, I should have known there was a very valid reason why you chose a hut over the palace,” I said. “Do you keep an armory nearby?”

  “We all keep weapons in our homes,” she said, “but, yes, there are stashes of spears and swords kept throughout the village, just in case they are needed. We hide them in plain sight, so to speak.”

  “I will see if I can spot them while we walk,” I challenged, and I was happy to have something to take my mind off her pert breasts that lightly bounced as she walked.

  “Good luck, male,” she grinned, “I hid most of them myself.”

  “What about archers?” I asked. “Do you have stands or any elevated surfaces for them to get to quickly?”

  “Archers?” Mira asked with a look of puzzlement on her face.

  “That’s a name for someone who uses a bow and arrow as their weapon,” I told her.

  She stopped and looked at me like I had just sprouted another head.

  “I don’t think your words are translating correctly,” she pondered. “I don’t understand this bow and arrow weapon you speak of.”

  “A bow is a weapon you can use to fire arrows, like miniature spears, at an enemy from a distance,” I explained as I mimed shooting one for her to help her understand.

  “You mean we wouldn’t have to get into close range to attack?” she asked, and her eyes lit up. “We could hurt them from a distance?”

  “Yes, that’s exactly what you can do,” I said with a smile. “You won’t stop all of them, but you can stop a bunch of them.”

  “Will you show me how to make this bow and arrow?” she asked as her eyes opened wide with excitement. “Will you teach me how to fire it?”

  “Of course I will,” I said. “It’s really going to help with your defenses.”

  “You have made me very happy, Ben.” She grinned, reached out, and then grabbed my hand.

  “Just wait until you hear about catapults,” I told her with a grin.

  “Catapults?” she whispered as her eyes lit up with possibilities.

  Just then, Talise opened the door of the hut about twenty feet away from us.

  “I thought I heard the two of you,” she greeted us with the warmth only a woman could possess. “You couldn’t sneak up on a dead man!”

  “We weren’t exactly trying to be stealthy, Talise,” Mira shot back with a grin.

  “Come inside, both of you,” the voluptuous healer laughed. “Our evening meal is almost ready, and I am sure you are both in need of respite.”

  We entered the house, and the delicious smell of herbs, woodsmoke, honey, and the floral smell that clung to Talise’s skin hit me, and I was instantly comforted.

  Next to the door was a small table covered in various materials that were obviously used to make and reinforce weapons. There was a basket full of large, roughly shaped spear heads. Beside the basket were about a hal
f dozen long tree branches that had been sanded and smoothed, ready to be made into handles. There was also one slab of black stone about three inches in width and about two feet in length. It had been ground down thin on each of the longer sides and to a point on the end, and there was a porous stone next to it that was most likely being used as a whetstone to sharpen the rock.

  “Is this the start of a sword?” I asked Mira, and I was fascinated by the rustic weapon.

  “Yes,” she said, and by her grin I could tell she was excited to explain. “The process goes much faster at the armory where their purpose is to turn them out quickly, but I wanted to take my time and reinforce this weapon. The ones from the armory serve their purpose, but are flawed. I collected this stone myself and have been taking my time to sharpen it and find all the right parts for it. It has become quite the project.”

  “This is amazing, Mira.” I had never seen a sword made from stone, but I couldn’t think of any obvious sources of metal on the island a person could access without some kind of excavation tools, and I was really impressed with the cleverness and ingeniousness of the design. It might shatter when she hit someone with it, but the blade looked surprisingly stout.

  “Thank you, Ben,” she replied as her smile softened.

  “Come sit, you two,” Talise told us. “Our meal is ready. You can fawn over weapons as we eat.”

  Mira and I walked to the back of the hut where the dining table was located next to the fireplace. The walls were covered in dried herbs and various plants and flowers. There were clay containers of all sizes nestled into shelves lining the wall, some with flat lids and some without. There were also spools of cloth I imagined were used as bandages, three different sized mortars and pestles, sharp instruments I assumed were used as scalpels of sorts, and a stack of flat rocks that I had no idea what were used for.

  This was definitely Talise’s work area.

  I pulled out the stool to sit down just as Talise lifted the lid off the pot over the fire. The aromatic smell of the sea and earth hit my nose and made my stomach growl loudly.

  “I guess it’s a good thing you are feeding me,” I chuckled. “I seem to have forgotten to eat much today.”