by Logan Jacobs
With that, though, came the need for a better bow. So, when Mira and I retired to our tent early, I started to play around with a few possible new designs.
I’d brought some of the wood up from the forest floor and used my sea glass blade to cut it into the curved, almost S shape of a recurve bow.
This wood was also much lighter than the bamboo when cut up, which almost seemed impossible given its different density, but, at this point, I figured I couldn’t discount anything as impossible. After all, I’d seen serpent women and water dragons, talking monsters and flying dinosaurs, and had even been turned into a dragon-kin badass myself.
I spent hours on that bow and worked late into the night. Mira was fast asleep and deep into her dreams by the time I’d strung a thin fiber from the vine along the bow. Then I tested the different weights in my hand, with my bow in the right and the new bow in the left.
It was just about half the weight, so I’d need to have Ainsley test it in the morning and make sure it worked and was light enough for her to carry. If it did, I’d fashion one for every woman in the village, or at least show them how to make the weapon themselves so they could all have one.
When morning came, I woke up well before anyone else. Actually, I woke up with the sun. Its yellow rays peeked in through the flap in the tent and blinded me through my eyelids.
I’d slept maybe a few hours, but I didn’t feel tired. Instead, I was pumped to test out the bows and check the traps for more unfortunate wargs.
So, I slowly disentangled myself from Mira and rolled off the pad, since I didn’t want to wake the jade-haired warrior. She looked so calm and peaceful as she laid there, and I gently pressed a kiss against her brow before I pulled away. Then I grabbed my own bow and the new one I’d made, plus a quiver full of arrows, and wandered out of the tent.
I was met with absolute silence and the bright light of the morning sun. It was blissful outside, and I could even hear the chirp of a few birds. I couldn’t spot any, though, so I had no way to know whether or not they’d be good for a meal.
I heard a rustling sound from the tent to my right, where Ainsley slept, so I glanced over as the slender woman emerged and stretched, with her face tilted up to the sky and her eyes closed. She just soaked up the morning for a few seconds, and I couldn’t help but stare at every inch of her. The long, slender neck that was completely exposed, her slim torso, and the perfect, almost elfin features of her face.
I could see where her muscles had grown, too. It wasn’t much, and she certainly wasn’t about to knock out any wargs or lift a hundred pounds, but her arms now had the slightest definition to them.
Gods, she was breathtaking.
Ainsley finished her stretch and turned her head to the side, where she spotted me. Almost instantly, she grinned a set of perfect white teeth, and then made her way across the bridge over to me.
“Good morning,” she murmured, so as not to wake anyone.
“Morning,” I said.
“What is that?” she asked, and her blue eyes glinted curiously as she pointed at the new bow I’d made the night before.
“Oh, it’s for you,” I replied with a smile. “I wanted to see if I could find a way to make something a bit easier for you to handle. I don’t like the idea of a super heavy bow if the wargs attack again. It’s too unpredictable.”
“Here, let me see.” She held her hands out for the bow, and I passed it over to her.
This time, she was able to raise it up in front of her with minimal effort.
“Is it lighter?” I asked.
“Oh, Ben, I like this one so much better!” she squealed, but then she clapped a hand over her mouth to try and contain the excited noises. When she’d composed herself, she shot me a sheepish smile. “I should like to try it out. May I go on the hunt with you?”
“Of course.” I nodded. “I was hoping to track down one of the tarrels that live here. Where I’m from, we have something similar called a deer. They always have great meat.”
“Then let us go.” Ainsley grinned, and I could tell she was excited now for the hunt.
We went down to the forest floor, where we stepped around the traps we’d set up. Ainsley peered down into them curiously.
“Thank you, Ben.” The deer woman met my eyes, and her pale cheeks flushed a rosy pink. “Without you, we would have all met the same terrible fate.”
“Don’t worry,” I promised with a wink. “I’m not going to ever let that happen.”
Ainsley smiled but shyly averted her eyes, and then we paused to re-cover the traps in case any other wargs came around. We didn’t want anything that could tip them off to the deathly stakes hidden below the ground.
When we were done, we wandered through the forest for a few minutes headed back in the direction where I’d seen the tarrel the first time.
The entire time, I kept my eyes trained on the ground as I searched for prints, and I saw a few that belonged to the wargs. They were big, with long toes and sharp claws that poked tiny holes in the earth wherever they stepped.
There were a few other prints, some from the bestial rabbits, and others that looked like the padded foot of some sort of large cat.
I shuddered as I thought about the tree-climbing jungle cats back home. I definitely didn’t want to encounter anything of that kind here.
Before long, I found the tracks I wanted. A hoof print, with an even seam down the middle, spread just a little bit apart. The prints were a little larger than a traditional deer’s, and the back part of the hoof was a bit thinner, but I’d recognize that kind of track anywhere.
“This way,” I murmured to Ainsley, and we began to follow the trail through the forest.
“What are you looking for?” the woman murmured, and her light blue eyes shone curiously.
“See here?” I asked and pointed down at one of the tracks. “This is a print from a tarrel. And you can tell which way it's going by the way it’s pointed. See how this part is thinner, and this part is fatter?”
I pointed toward the front, and then the back of the hoof.
“Yes.” Ainsley nodded. “I suppose it must be going in that direction, then?”
She pointed in front of us, the same direction the tracks led.
“Yep.” I grinned. “How did you tell?”
“Because the thinner end is the front of their hoof.” She shrugged, but I saw a small, proud smile tug at her lips.
“Good job,” I chuckled. “I’ll make an expert hunter out of you yet.”
We followed the tracks for another five minutes or so before I froze.
Our path of deer tracks had been clean before, but now the tracks were followed by something else.
Four large, cat-like paw prints followed the deer tracks, and they were headed in the same direction.
Right before I could turn around and say anything to Ainsley, a high pitched, cat-like screech sliced through the air.
Chapter Six
The sound was that of a huge jungle cat, like a panther or a cheetah, and I spun around at the same time Ainsley screamed and ducked.
Then I saw an enormous cat pounce toward her.
The thing looked like a cougar. It was about the same size, only instead of the golden fur I associated with cougars, it had dark green fur the color of an emerald, and a long, lion-like tail.
Ainsley was quick, though, and she rolled away from the cat so it missed her and smacked into a tree.
The creature recovered quickly and twisted around to pace the ground in front of us. It flicked that long tail and licked its lips hungrily, ready for its next meal.
I took in the amber, pupil-less eyes, the saber teeth, and the tiny little devil horns that grew out of the tops of its head. Muscles rippled through its body, the kind that screamed “top predator,” the way a lion’s did.
“What, the tarrel wasn’t enough for you?” I demanded.
I nocked an arrow and aimed, but the beast leapt faster than I could let my arrow fly, and it lande
d above us in the branches of the tree.
“Shit,” I swore as I pulled my shot and swung it around to aim again.
But I wasn’t fast enough. Ainsley had already let an arrow fly, and it landed right in the cougar’s huge chest, between its shoulders, to pierce its heart.
The creature’s dark eyes went wide before it tilted and fell from the tree it was perched in. A moment later, its body smacked into the ground with a loud thud, and then all was still.
“Nice shot!” I grinned as I turned to look at the deer woman.
Ainsley, though, looked like she might be sick. Her mouth was parted in a wide, trembling ‘O’ shape, and her pale skin had gone impossibly paler as she stared at the massive creature that now laid dead before us.
“I-I have never seen a fycan so close to the beach before,” she murmured before she collapsed onto her knees.
“Hey, it’s okay,” I said and rushed over to her side. “Sometimes animals will wander outside of their normal areas. It happens.”
“No, you do not understand.” She shook her head and shuddered. “Their home is on the mountain. They are the symbol of the Goddess. And I have killed one.”
Ah. So, this was like the cow thing in India. Got it.
“I’m sure the Goddess would forgive you,” I reassured the woman. “It wasn’t like you had much of a choice. I mean, kill or be killed, you know?”
Ainsley sucked in a deep breath and looked up at me.
“You are right, Ben,” she whispered, but there were tears in her pale blue eyes. “A leader must do these things and be strong. But may I at least pray?”
“Of course.” I nodded.
Ainsley clasped her hands together and bent her head over the carcass to mutter a short, sweet prayer. The gorgeous woman said it whenever an animal died, by her hand or another’s.
After her prayer, Ainsley took a beat before she stood up and turned to me, and her face had settled back into an expression of calm.
“We may go,” she said, and her voice was strong.
I glanced back at the dead fycan. For a moment, I thought about just how much meat that thing would get us, but then I remembered how sacred the cats were to the women. We may have had to kill one to save ourselves, but I had a feeling eating one would be more than they could stomach.
So, we continued to follow the tarrel trail until we came upon a clearing with a stream in the middle.
And then I realized we’d just fucking lucked out.
The stream seemed to be a watering hole for the tarrels. There were about eight of them, and three young looking ones, that all drank from the stream. Their long legs, disproportionate to the rest of their bodies the same way the women’s were, bent and stretched as they moved closer to the streams. One of the tarrels glanced up with its huge brown eyes, and for a moment, I thought it had seen us, but then it looked right back at the stream of clear water, and I knew we were safe.
Ainsley and I hid back in the bushes as we watched the deer-like creatures drink from the clean water.
“Don’t kill the young ones,” I instructed her. “We need to give them a chance at life first. But I think if we get two of the adults, that should be plenty to feed the whole village.”
“Okay.” Ainsley nodded and brought her bow up.
I did the same, and each of us focused on a target.
The tarrels were blissfully unaware as they continued to drink from the stream.
I chose the biggest one I could find, and I assumed it was a male because a stumpy little pair of horns grew out of its head, just above those giant eyes.
“Three … two … one,” I whispered.
On “one” each of us let our arrows fly, and they whizzed through the air before they each pierced the hearts of one of the creatures. Instantly, the two tarrels fell, and the rest of them snapped their heads up to search for the danger before they took off running away from us.
That was okay, though. We’d gotten our two kills, and now we knew where their drinking grounds were. Which meant we could stake out this spot and have some easy hunting.
“Good shot!” I praised Ainsley as I looked over her kill.
It was perfect. She looked like she’d been doing this for years, not days. The arrow had gone straight through and lodged itself right in the heart. The animal hadn’t suffered, and none of the meat had been ruined.
“Thank you.” The strawberry blonde smiled and knelt down to pray over the lost lives.
When she was done, I showed her how to skin and gut the tarrel, but we did that away from the stream so we didn’t tip any of the others off that the stream was now a bad place to be. Then I made sure we buried all the innards, since I definitely didn’t want to give those giant cats any incentive to come down from the mountain ever again.
When all of that was done, I packed the meat away in a cloth I’d brought and then slung most of it over my back. I gave Ainsley a small amount to carry, but I made sure her load was pretty light, since I knew she didn’t have the upper body strength to carry it very far.
“Thank you for this day, Ben.” She grinned and wrapped my arm in hers as we walked. “It was very educational.”
“I hope it was a little fun, too,” I chuckled.
“Being with you is always fun,” she shot back.
“Right back at you,” I laughed and winked.
We walked arm in arm all the way back to the camp, and I loved the way she felt up against me. Her body was thin and fragile, but there was something about her that also made it seem strong. Maybe it was just because she was powerful in a different way. Ainsley might not have had the physical strength of the dragon women back home, but she certainly had strength of will and mind, unlike most women I’d seen back on Earth.
These island women were something else. It was almost like whatever gods were out there knew I’d needed to come to these islands to find true love.
When we made it back to the village, it was alive with the excitement of the morning and the upcoming feast. Women danced and laughed as they carried vegetables and chunks of meat to the cooking tent. Others leapt gracefully from one tent to another with clay plates and wildflowers in their hands.
Every single woman had a smile on her face, and that was something I hadn’t seen once since I’d gotten there.
“Ben and Ainsley have brought meat!” someone shouted in excitement the moment we ascended to the platform.
Our packs were quickly taken from us and hurried off to the cooking tent, where the meat would be roasted and vegetables would be cooked up into a wonderful, delicious meal for the night.
I was so goddamn excited to try the taste of the tarrel. If it was anything like deer meat, I’d scarf down the meal in no time.
For the first time in days, I had a few hours free, so I decided to use it to relax on one of the platforms and just enjoy the company of the beautiful deer-girls. Mira had decided to take the time to learn some of the cooking techniques from these women, since she wanted to bring new ideas back to Hali.
I loved the way the warrior always thought of everyone else.
Theora and Jemma joined me not long after, and we were all stretched out on the platform, with the hot sun beating down through the trees to warm our skin.
“You know, I’ve been thinking,” I said to them after a while. “How much do you guys know about this island and what lives here?”
“Not much,” Theora responded, and her brunette hair tickled my shoulder as she shifted. “It was dangerous for us to venture too far from the village beforehand.”
“Well, it’s not anymore.” I grinned and rolled over to face them. “What do you guys think of an exploratory mission? So, we can try and get to know the island a little better, maybe find some more food sources?”
Theora and Jemma deliberated over my offer for a moment before both women nodded.
“I think that’s a fantastic idea, Ben.” Jemma grinned. “My brother used to want to explore the island, too. I feel as if it would
honor his memory, a little bit, for me to look around with you.”
“I just want to see what is out there.” Theora shrugged with a smile. “We have been afraid for far too long, and now that you have shown us how to defend ourselves, I feel as if all I want to do is explore.”
“It’s settled, then.” I nodded. “We can do that tomorrow.”
The thought of exploration excited me. It was in my blood and my bones. Plus, that had been part of the goal when Mira and I came here. We wanted to know what else was out there, and what kind of places we could find.
The feast started when Ainsley gave an excited yell that echoed throughout the village. It was a primal sort of scream that reminded me a bit of the way the Lost Boys yelled in Peter Pan.
Everyone immediately rushed out of their tents and toward the platform in front of the cooking tent in a swell of excitement.
“We haven’t had a feast since before the invaders,” Jemma squealed. “This is exciting!”
Mira came out of the cooking tent just as I stepped onto the platform, and she had a wide grin plastered on her face.
“Ben, I have so much to share with Hali!” she exclaimed, and her gold eyes glinted in the late afternoon light. “They cover their vegetables in the soot, to imbue them with the smoky flavor. I’ve already tried it, and it’s delicious.”
“I’m sure everyone at home will be excited.” I smiled as I thought about the response to new ways of cooking. Hali would probably lock herself in the kitchen immediately and work on perfecting this new technique.
The deer women, it became clear, feasted in a circle on the platform, and it reminded me a lot of the way people ate traditional meals in Japan. There were small, circular mats set up in an oblong shape, one for each of us, and in front of each pad was an empty clay plate and a leaf full of water. The food was in the middle, piled up high, and there were platters of meat and vegetables as well as plates of different kinds of fruits.
I was sure Mira had already taken a mental image of the new fruits to find before we left this island.
Mira and I sat down toward the head of the circle, next to Ainsley and Theora. Jemma wasn’t too far off, and neither were Netta or her sister.
