Monster Girl Islands

by Logan Jacobs

  I couldn’t stop staring at her.

  “Did you get some food?” Talise asked and broke the awkward silence.

  “Yes, though I feel quite guilty about it,” Mira replied. “I was ravenous once I started eating, and Hali fed me everything I could hold. Then I found out it is the last of the bread and that stubborn woman kept feeding it to me!”

  I looked down at the tray Talise had given me and realized I’d managed to finish everything on it, including the bread, while she’d been pacing and thinking.

  “Hali has always had a soft spot for you ever since you saved her from a wild boar,” Talise chuckled.

  “Still, there is no reason to feed me all that bread when it is almost gone.” Mira frowned. “It will take months to replenish the grain those evil douchebags burnt to the ground!”

  I started laughing and choking at the same time. I couldn’t believe I just heard her say “douchebag.” I guess I was rubbing off on her, in some ways better than others, apparently.

  “I learned that word from you,” Mira interrupted as she pointed her finger at me and narrowed her gold eyes, “and I don’t even know what it means, you scoundrel!

  This made me laugh even harder, and my shoulder surprisingly didn’t put up much of a fuss. Still, I couldn’t help it, regardless of how much it might have hurt me. After a minute, I looked up to see an amused Talise and a perplexed Mira, and it took everything I had not to start laughing again at the look on the warrior’s face. I didn’t know why everything was so funny to me all of a sudden, but I was having a great time.

  “Mira, Ben has a solution to the loss of our grain,” Talise placated. “He knows how to make flour, milk, and oil from coconuts that takes very little time and effort. He says he will tell us all about it tomorrow, and then we can get started. There is no need to feel guilty about eating your fill of bread. You needed the sustenance and the strength that came with it.”

  “Yes, Talise, you are right, as you usually are,” Mira sighed as her face relaxed.

  “Second,” Talise went on, “I put ganjika and bromelain in Ben’s soup, so he will be pain free for the rest of the evening and able to sleep when he is ready.”

  There was a sudden snorting laugh from Mira while my brain tried to process what the beautiful lady said. Bromelain and ganjika? What the hell were those? I thought hard about it. I’d heard of bromelain before. I thought it came from pineapples, so it made sense they would have access to it on the island. Ganjika, though? That seemed familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it. My thoughts were moving slow for some reason, and I rolled the word over in my brain for a few minutes.

  Then it hit me.

  “Wait … ganjika?” I yelled louder than I meant to. “Ganja? Did you put weed in my soup?”

  Both women stopped their conversation mid-sentence and turned to look at me like I sprouted another head.

  “Ben, why would I put weeds in your soup?” Talise asked with a furrowed brow, and she was obviously offended by my accusation. “That is a cruel thing to do to a man who is healing!”

  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Where I come from, ‘weed’ is another word for ganja, ganjika. Tell me, does the plant have leaves on it that are separated into like six or seven zig-zaggy shapes?”

  I tried to draw a marijuana leaf in the air with my right hand, but it ended up coming off more like loops and random swirls.

  Once again, that mysterious head must have sprouted next to my other one, because these women were giving me some really weird looks. Finally, Talise turned away, rummaged a bit on her table, and came back with something in her hand.

  “Like this?” she asked, and she was still looking at me funny.

  Sure enough, she held out a marijuana leaf for my inspection. Holy shit. These beautiful women had roofied me with the Devil’s lettuce.

  I wanted to explain to them you don’t just give people marijuana without warning them first, but I couldn’t seem to find the words. Instead, another bubble of laughter escaped me. I hadn’t felt this good since my senior year of high school.

  “Maybe you gave him too much,” Mira stated matter-of-factly.

  “It would appear you are right,” Talise giggled. Then she turned and busied herself at the table while my own giggles started to die down a bit.

  I was having the best time ever.

  The healer returned just a few minutes later with a cup full of a clear beverage.

  “Oh, no way, pretty lady!” I yelled. “I am not drinking your witch’s brew!”

  Mira rolled her eyes and looked so much like her usual self, I had to start giggling again.

  “Ben, listen to me, this will clear your head some without taking the pain relief effects of the medicine away, please trust me,” Talise begged.

  I couldn’t fight her wily ways. She had bewitched me with her porcelain skin and curvy body. I would do whatever she wanted me to do.

  “As you wish,” I said as I quoted one of my favorite movies. Then I took the cup from her and shot the liquid back fast before I could think about it too much. It tasted like a slightly salty fruit punch, so it wasn’t too hard to take.

  I handed the cup back to the healer, and she smiled at me approvingly.

  Damn her wickedness.

  I reclined my head back against the pillows I was propped up on while the women continued to discuss harvesting coconuts the next morning. It was all work and no play with those two. At least they were too busy to drug me while they were talking business, so that was a plus, and a small giggle escaped my mouth as my mind drifted off to sleep.

  I woke up a few hours later to see Mira sitting next to my bed working on the sword she was making. She held a small whetstone in her hand and methodically ran it down the length of the hard rock she’d chosen for her weapon. She seemed lost in the motions, and I was mesmerized by her movements. Her actions were so fluid, so graceful, it was almost like watching a ballet performed on stage.

  “You seem to have rested well,” she said without looking up.

  “You are beautiful,” I said in response.

  She laughed out loud at me and shook her head at me.

  “You are still light in the head, Ben.”

  “No, Mira, my head is clear, you are breathtaking,” I insisted softly as I reached out to touch her.

  She didn’t say anything, but she set everything she was working on off to the side so she could take my hand in return. I was still amazed at how incredible she looked in the green wrap. Everything about her seemed like a dream.

  “I have never seen you wear anything other than the warrior’s clothes,” I murmured to break the silence.

  “Yes, well, the queen insisted I take a few days away from my duties to recover, and you don’t disobey my sister when she gets this certain look on her face,” Mira replied fondly.

  “Help me lie down, if you would,” I requested, “then come to my other side and lay with me. I would like to hear about everything that has happened since I have been stuck in here.”

  “I don’t want to hurt you,” she started to argue as she pulled her hand from mine.

  “Mira, you won’t hurt me,” I argued back, “I am not fragile, and I want to feel you next to me. You bring me great comfort.”

  The warrior gave me a long look before giving into my request. “Okay, but only because you look pitiful with that look on your face.”

  “Uh-huh, sure,” I said with a smile. “Whatever you say.”

  Mira rolled her golden eyes but came over, moved the blanket, and gently started moving the pillows out from behind me to make room for me to lie back down. It was insane how slow she was going so she didn’t jostle me. I wanted to say something, but despite what I said the warrior, my brain was still kinda fuzzy, so, I let her move as slow as she wanted and just tolerated it all.

  “I notice I have clean bandages,” I said once she got my pillows adjusted. “Did Talise take advantage of me being unconscious to do that?”

  “Yes, I helped her
change your bandages and wash you the best we could, all while you snored like a beast,” Mira said with a laugh.

  “Well, thank you for taking advantage of my deep sleep and keeping me clean and comfortable. I owe you and Talise so much for taking care of me and for putting up with me. That is no easy thing to do.”

  “Yeah, well,” Mira shrugged, “it is a debt we must repay. If you hadn’t been here, there is no telling what would have happened to us. The raiders could have potentially taken the palace. I know my sister. She might have caved to those bastards’ demands to save even just a few of our lives.”

  I looked at this woman who now had a fire in her eyes. “Come here, Mira,” I said softly as I tapped the right side of the bed.

  She didn’t move for a minute, and I began to think she was going to put up a fuss again, but she gave in and crawled into bed with me. I turned toward her, and the pillow behind me slid down to land perfectly behind me and support my shoulder.

  Mira got comfortable under the blanket and snuggled up to me, and she laid her hand and head on my chest, while she propped her leg across mine like she’d done every time we shared a bed. Once she was comfortable, she let out a heavy sigh against my skin that I didn’t even think she was aware of.

  We laid there in silence for quite a while and just enjoyed one another’s presence and peace. My curiosity got the best of me, though, and I had to ask a question I wasn’t sure I wanted the answer to.

  “I have to know, Mira, what happened to Isla?” I whispered.

  “She is alive, but still recovering from a head injury, and has lost an eye.” the warrior replied quietly. “Talise got there just in time to stop that ogre from raping her. Things could have been so much worse, Ben. Things have been so much worse. The last time they came, we lost four women brutally on the island, and they took four more with them.”

  “Never again, Mira, not as long as I am alive,” I reassured her.

  “With your help, we beat them off, Ben. We really beat them off good and hard!”

  “Wait--we what?” I blurted as laughter bubbled up in my throat.

  “We won, you barnacle!” she laughed along with me.

  My inner twelve-year-old self couldn’t contain the giggles that erupted from hearing Mira say that. I didn’t have the heart to tell her what it meant in my world, so I just let her think it was my joy in winning the battle that had me cracking up like I was.

  Once the laughter finally settled down, I found I was extremely tired once again. My feelings were echoed by Mira when she yawned really loudly against my shoulder.

  “Let’s sleep now, my warrior,” I murmured. “We will talk more tomorrow.”

  “Yes, we both need our rest, especially you, considering what the queen has planned,” she said ominously. “She is going to make an announcement tomorrow.”

  “What announcement?” I questioned with a furrowed brow.

  “I have been expressly forbidden to tell you until the queen discusses it with you first,” Mira said with a laugh, “and I can’t disobey my queen.”

  I sighed deeply and let it go. There was no sense in pushing it. Then I pulled Mira tight to me and in just a few moments, I heard her breathing deepen as she fell right asleep.

  I kissed the top of her head and closed my eyes as I slipped into a deep slumber right behind her.

  Chapter Seven

  The next morning, I woke up to find myself alone in my hospital bed. I’d slept all night without once waking up and hadn’t even noticed Mira get up and leave. The urge to piss started frantically pounding on my bladder, and I couldn’t ignore it any longer. So, I sat up and stretched a bit to see if my shoulder was going to be a pain in the ass. It was slightly sore and stiff, but not really painful, and I once again had to admire the talents Talise possessed.

  My groaning and movement brought a young woman I’d never seen before into my room. Her light pink hair was cut in a short pixie hairdo, with cute little ears poking out. She was a tiny thing, barely over five feet tall, and her skin was the soft beige color of coffee with a little extra cream in it. She had huge amber eyes that reminded me of a fawn, a heart-shaped face, and her rose-colored lips were in the shape of a perfect bow. Her scales were also a burgundy color, and they complemented the shade of her lips perfectly. She wore one of the wraps in a deep purple color, and it was all enough to distract me momentarily from the fact that my bladder was on the verge of bursting.

  “Good morning, Ben, my name is Careen,” she said in a very soft voice. “I am going to help you get up and going. I imagine the first thing you would like to do is relieve yourself.”

  She was probably one of the younger women on the island, but she also seemed to be mature beyond her years.

  I guess living the way these women had been living would make you grow up fast.

  “Yes, thank you,” I replied.

  Careen handed me a pot with a lid on it and excused herself from the room. I took care of business and slid the pot under the bed like I’d seen Talise do before. I wanted to stand up, but thought I’d better wait for Careen to get back before I tried. I didn’t want her to walk in and find me face down on the floor, so I sat there and stretched all my different muscles to see if they were going to work for me. I was satisfied to find the only thing that really hurt was my shoulder, and it wasn’t an unbearable pain.

  Careen returned a few minutes later with a tray of breakfast for me. There was a bowl of sliced bananas and pineapple, along with several chunks of flaky white fish, and an herbal tea that smelled amazing.

  “Would you like to stay in bed to eat?” she asked. “Or possibly try sitting at the table?”

  “If you could make sure I don’t fall on my face, I would like to see if I can get over to the table,” I answered. “Me and my ass are really tired of being in bed.”

  Careen giggled, and it honest to goodness sounded like those handbells you see and hear people playing at the mall during Christmas.

  Then she set the tray down and came to help me get out of the bed. She bent down at the knees, nestled her shoulder into my right armpit, and put her arm around my waist.

  “When you’re ready, stand, and I will support you,” she said.

  She obviously had done this a time or two, so I took a deep breath and stood up. I used her as a little support, but I mostly tried to do it myself. I couldn’t stay dependent on anyone and get the things that needed my attention done on the island.

  Thankfully, I managed to make it up and over to the table with very little help from Careen. I was definitely glad for that.

  “You are healing very well and have recovered quite a bit of strength, Ben,” the tiny woman said. “Talise has once again outdone herself. She is the best healer this village has seen in many years.”

  “You’re a healer, too, aren’t you?” I asked as I poured a little honey-sweetened coconut milk into my tea.

  “I am still in training, but I am happy to be learning from the best,” Careen replied proudly.

  “Talise has certainly amazed me several times since I have been here,” I agreed as I started to take a drink of my tea, but I paused, looked into the cup, and wondered if I was about to get bamboozled again.

  Then I heard that beautiful laugh and looked up to see Careen watching me.

  “There is only bromelain in there today, it just reduces inflammation and doesn’t have any mind-altering effects,” she said and eased my concern. “Talise told me you would likely object to anymore ganjika and that you probably didn’t need it anyway.”

  “Thank you, I definitely don’t need any more of the ganjika, not after last night,” I said with a laugh.

  “I am going to prepare your bath water while you eat, but please don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything,” she informed me. “Also, please don’t try to get up without me here to assist you.”

  “I promise to stay put,” I told her with a smile.

  Careen returned my smile before she walked out the door and ac
ross the hallway. I could see her moving about in the room and knew she would hear me immediately if I needed help, or gods help me, started choking or something.

  So, I dug into my breakfast, since I knew I needed the energy it would give me, but frankly, I was tired of fish and fruit, and I hadn’t even been here that long. My mind wandered to the thought of wild boars that overran the inland jungle and the birds I heard squawking in the trees at all hours of the day. Both of those animals meant a new variety of meat and eggs, plus feathers for the arrows and so many other potential things to gather in the jungle. As soon as I was healed enough, hunting was going to the top of the list. There was also the need to strengthen defenses on the eastern shoreline, bows and arrows to make, huts and storage buildings to fix or repair, coconuts to harvest, nets to make to help with fishing and increasing the variety and amount of seafood caught, plus whatever this announcement the queen was going to make.

  Careen returned to my room just as I finished up my tea, and she smiled approvingly. I’d eaten everything on my plate while my mind was organizing everything that needed to be done and how to go about doing it.

  “I am glad you have your appetite back,” the cute pixie serpent-girl said. “That will go a long way to help in the healing process, though I must say, you are moving far better at this point than I thought you would be.”

  “I feel pretty good considering what I went through,” I admitted.

  “Let’s get you bathed and change those bandages,” she encouraged, “I would like to see with my own eyes how much you have healed.”

  She helped me stand up and just stayed close by while we made our way across the hall. I had more strength than I could believe and once again chalked it up to Talise and her magic medicine. I would kiss her again if she was standing in front of me.