by Logan Jacobs
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Chapter One
The early dawn light filtered down through the tops of the large jungle trees as Jemma, Brenna, Theora, and myself made our way up the little path we’d carved over the last few weeks. The path was littered with detritus and vines, and it had been worn smooth by constant foot traffic as we tended to our gardens within the jungle. The trail was thin, and it could be overtaken by the burly jungle plants if we even skipped two days going to the garden, but it was there for now.
I really liked the path, though. Not that I minded wandering through the jungle and making my own way, but I felt like the trail was just another small reminder that, slowly but surely, I was building an empire on this island, with all of my beautiful women. I could feel it in my bones. We were going to be something great one day. I imagined I felt now the way the early kings must have felt back on earth as they looked out over their growing villages full of people.
Of course, those kings didn’t have an unknown number of islands to explore, and a vast number of other cultures to find and pull into their kingdoms, but I did.
This little path was just the beginning. I could already see the huge towns, the enormous buildings, and the immeasurable number of people who would one day call my island their home. I would rule over all of them, have more amazing children, and conquer more islands, but I’d be nothing like the orcs. I’d make sure my people were happy and free, and I’d help them to live better and more fulfilling lives.
Even the thought of the orc monsters made my stomach turn. I detested how they believed it was their right to sail about to different islands, killing the men and raping the women, like they were some sort of gods. It made me even sadder to know most of these islands, the ones I hadn’t managed to get to yet, didn’t even know that life could be different. Just like Nerissa’s and Ainsley’s people had thought before they met me. The women on these other islands were trying to fight a losing battle against an enemy a hundred times stronger than them, and they didn’t even know life could be more than that.
I couldn’t wait to show them they were wrong and prove to them life could be amazing. I’d defeat the orcs and bring all those women home with me, where they’d feel safe and loved once more.
“Ben!” Jemma gasped in excitement, and she drew me from my thoughts as she pointed at a huge, black and orange striped caterpillar that sat on the trunk of a tree. “What is that?”
The auburn-haired woman’s chartreuse eyes lit up, and she stepped closer to the caterpillar as she stared at it curiously. Her head was tilted to the side, and the twisted horns that grew just behind her hairline poked out in front of her, nearly stabbing the poor creature in its puffy middle.
“It’s a caterpillar,” I told her. “Look out, though, it’s poisonous. Make sure you don’t touch it.”
The caterpillar was enormous, about a hundred times the size of any I’d seen back on earth, and I recalled Mira’s warning during my first few weeks on the island. So many things in the jungle were beautiful, but deadly all at the same time.
Even in a foreign land, nature knew how to lure its victims in.
“It looks so soft,” Jemma sighed, but she backed away from the creature all the same, even though she pouted her lips like a disappointed child. “I wish I could keep it.”
“I don’t think that would make a very good pet,” I chuckled. “If we find an island with dogs, I’ll make sure to get you a puppy.”
“A puppy!” Jemma’s eyes opened up wide with delight. “Uh, what is that?”
“They’re these cute, fluffy little creatures that will love you like you’re the most important thing in the world,” I told her. “Plus, they’re a lot of fun to play with. They can do all sorts of tricks.”
“Oooh, I like the sound of that.” Jemma grinned. “Yes, I would like one of those.”
I made a mental note to try and figure out what sort of animal could be a companion to Jemma, and I would keep an eye out as we travelled the islands. I knew from the way she adored George, Nixie, and their dragon children that Jemma wanted a companion of her own. Of course, the water dragons were no pets, but since I doubted any would bond with Jemma, since she wasn’t dragonkin, I’d have to find some other creature for her to love.
“Hey, Ben, I--”
Whatever Brenna had been about to say was swallowed up by a fierce, terrifying roar.
Suddenly, the bushes to the left of the path erupted as an enormous beast leapt from them and right onto the path in front of us. Jemma, Theora, and Brenna stopped short in front of me, and I nearly ran into their backs as I took in the beast.
“Just my luck,” I murmured.
A new monster to contend with. Just when I thought I’d gotten this island all figured out, since it was the first place I’d landed nearly eight months ago, a new creature appeared, almost like the gods wanted to have some fun and drop a new problem in our midst.
This thing was huge, too. It was about eight feet tall, with long legs and a body like a wolf. The face more closely resembled a pug, though, with a squished in nose and wrinkly cheeks.
Of course, most pugs didn’t have four large fangs jutting out of their mouths, ready to rip apart a person’s jugular at a moment’s notice.
“What is that thing?” Theora demanded as the brunette lifted her spear.
The beast prowled from side to side across the path in front of us as it stared us down with glowing red eyes, which matched its silver coat fairly well. I had to at least give the thing credit for looking pretty damn cool.
“Get behind me,” I told them. “I’ll handle this.”
I was just about to draw my sword from its scabbard when Jemma and Brenna shook their heads, and they too lifted their spears into the air in front of them.
“Let us,” Brenna begged. “You taught us all those fighting techniques before the maldungs attacked, and I did not even get a chance to use them.”
Brenna’s emerald green eyes pleaded with me to let her fight off the beast, and since there was no way I could have turned her down when she looked at me so sweetly, I nodded and stepped back.
“Have at it,” I chuckled.
Brenna grinned happily at me, and then she, Jemma, and Theora turned to face the beast as I stepped back to let them have their way with it.
Just in case, though, I drew my sword. On the off chance the women weren’t able to fight off this wolf-dog-vampire looking thing, I wanted to be ready. I’d take that beast down in a blaze of fire before I let it hurt one of my women.
“Ready, ladies!” Jemma called out as she settled into one of the fighting stances I’d taught her.
The beast glanced from one woman to another as the three spread out across the path and raised their spears. It continued to pace back and forth like a caged animal, despite the fact that it was absolutely free to go wherever the hell it wanted to as it stared them down.
Suddenly, Brenna, who was on the far left, made a move to lunge at the creature and stab it with her spear. With an ear splitting, hyena-like shriek, the thing leapt about fifteen feet straight into the air. Then it knocked down leaves and branches from the trees above as it jumped over Brenna’s head and came to land directly behind her. The monster didn’t spare a single second before it lashed out at her with one giant paw, and three sharp, silver claws swiped at Brenna, who hit the deck in a tight somersault to avoid the dangerous attack.
The way the beast moved was stra
nge as it maneuvered around and headed for Theora and Brenna. After I watched it for a second, I was pretty sure I’d figured out why it had decided to pace the path instead of just leaving us the hell alone.
The beast was hunting us.
With a yell, Jemma rolled under its center while Theora distracted it with a jab to its bony shoulder. Her spear sank into its flesh and drew a gush of bright silver blood, which elicited an angry yowl from the wolf monster.
Jemma was right underneath its chest, in the perfect position to sink her spear tip directly into its heart, when the beast’s long, slim tail darted down between its back legs. The appendage smacked Jemma so hard, she flew out from underneath it and landed five feet away with a thump loud enough I was almost certain something was broken.
“Jemma, are you okay?” I growled. I was ready to leap into the fray when the auburn-haired woman stood up, completely unharmed, dusted the dirt off from her cream pants, and nodded furiously at me.
“That was fun!” she laughed before she dashed right back into the fight.
The deer woman had certainly changed since I first saved her from the wolfish warg back on her island, and I couldn’t help but feel a little proud.
Theora and Brenna were both face-to-face with the beast, and the two of them took turns and lunged at it with their spears, but they made sure to keep away from the fangs as it snapped back at them.
“Distract it,” Jemma ordered the two of them.
Then the slender woman leapt into one of the trees on the side of the path, completely unbeknownst to the wolf beast. It was far too focused on Theora and Brenna, and I could tell it was ready to quit playing with its food and finally eat them.
Jemma, though, had a completely different plan.
I glanced surreptitiously into the treetops, where the auburn-haired woman crawled from branch to branch until she was just over the wolf monster’s back. Then I grinned to myself as I caught onto her plan. I really had taught these women well, and it made me even more proud to realize they could mostly fend for themselves now.
With a raucous war cry, Jemma descended onto the beast’s back and jammed her spear straight through the cavity between its shoulder blades and spinal cord. Blood spurted up from the wound and covered her in gooey silver, and I suspected she’d hit the thing straight in the heart.
The wolf stumbled forward in one last attempt to fight for its life and to get its meal before it collapsed onto the ground at the tips of Theora’s and Brenna’s spears.
“Great job, ladies,” I praised with a broad smile.
“Haha!” Theora cried out, and she tossed back her black hair as she danced victoriously around the dead beast. “Take that, you… you… uh, does anyone know just what this beast is?”
Brenna, Jemma, and Theora all looked to me, but I was forced to shrug.
“Remember when I said the jungle is filled with dark and scary things?” I asked, and they all nodded. “Well, that is one of those dark and scary things.”
“How do you feel now, dark and scary thing?” Jemma taunted the dead beast. She pulled her spear from its depths, which unleashed a second torrent of silver blood that spurted up and tangled itself in her hair.
“It is warm!” Brenna gasped as she leapt back, and the horrified expression on her face was almost comical as she wiped the single droplet of blood from her cheek.
Jemma, on the other hand, was absolutely covered in the stuff, but she didn’t even seem to mind.
“I will wear this beast’s blood like a badge of honor,” she announced as a wide grin stretched across her silver splattered face.
“Come on,” I laughed as Brenna continued to stare in disgust at the silver blood on her fingers. “Let’s get this fertilizer to the gardens before the smell causes us all to pass out.”
I picked up the bag of fertilizer and slung it over my shoulder. The stuff was really just water dragon shit mixed with some compost, but it helped the gardens to blossom faster than any of us thought was possible.
Of course, the smell was a completely different story. It stunk like someone had mixed in sulfur with horse crap, and then covered it in skunk odor. Not something I wanted to smell for any longer than was absolutely necessary.
“Alright.” Jemma nodded as she wiped the spearhead on the wolf monster’s fluffy coat, but then she stopped and looked at it for a moment. “It looks so soft.”
I stepped up to the dead beast and ran a hand across its pelt. It was in fact amazingly soft.
“I want to make a blanket out of this,” I murmured with an excited grin. “Okay, new plan. Let’s skin this thing and take it with us.”
The four of us made short work of the beast’s body. There wasn’t much in the way of meat, since it was a pretty lean animal. What was there had a horrible smell to it, though, and I could tell from the grayish coloring that it probably wouldn’t taste very good. So, we just skinned it and washed off the blood with some of our water, then folded the pelt to take along with us. If I was able to make it into a nice blanket, I’d definitely be on the search for more of those things. Fur blankets were one of the few things I missed from Earth.
Ten minutes later, we finally made it to the gardens, and we spread the fertilizer around the vegetables we’d planted. Hali had saved a few seeds from the delicious fruits the gryphons had given us, and those plants were just starting to bloom. It looked like the seeds would grow a tree of some sort, which would then produce fruits for us to pick. They had thin blue trunks, which were only about four feet tall so far, with branches that poked out every few inches and little pink leaves, next to barely formed purple berries.
There were also potatoes and carrots in the ground. Little green shoots marked the row where we’d planted the carrots, and the potatoes were easily identifiable by their low bushes and the mounds of dirt around the stem, so it would be simple to dig them up when it came time to harvest them.
I was sure the harvest would be soon, too. The skills of Ainsley’s people coupled with the water dragon fertilizer poop had led to crops that grew faster than I could even believe. In just a few short weeks, we were almost ready for a harvest, something that would have taken a few months before.
When the women finished with their checks to make sure all of the plants were fed and watered, as well as still getting enough sunlight, we were ready to head back to the palace, which would no doubt be alive with activity as everyone prepared for breakfast.
The four of us were a bit warier as we walked back down the path, with our weapons at the ready in case any more never before seen beasts decided this was the morning they wanted to attack us.
Although, after what Jemma had done to the wolf monster, I knew anything that tried would never stand a chance. These women had gone from being afraid to kill the wargs that were trying to capture them and bring them back to the orcs to fearless fighters in just over a month. I’d worked tirelessly with them, sure, but at the end of the day, it was their sheer determination and will to live that had really turned them into fighters.
And the meat. Most definitely the meat. I thanked Oshun every day they’d let me show them the magical deliciousness that was meat.
Just as I’d suspected, we’d barely stepped foot in the village center before the four of us were forced to leap off the path as two young water dragons and three of my children barreled past us while laughing and yelling.
“Marella, you had a head start!” Oshuna was screeching, and her little high-pitched voice pierced my eardrums as she screamed at her older sister. Knowing my eldest, she’d probably tricked her younger siblings to win whatever game they were playing.
“Did not!” Marella huffed over her shoulder before she caught sight of me. “Hi, Daddy!”
Then the kid rushed past me, at a full sprint, with her two siblings right on her tail.
“Hi, Daddy!” Arrick echoed, and my first-born son even gave me a little wave.
“Daddy, Marella cheated!” Oshuna cried out, but she didn’t stop. O
shuna was about the size of a five-year-old now, albeit a very angry one, while Arrick looked ten, and Marella had just started to turn into a gangly teenager.
“Play fair!” I called out to them, but it was no use. “And where are the twins?”
The trio were already past me, though, and probably well on their way to the beach by that point. I had a feeling mine and Sela’s twins were probably inside, safely out of the fray, since they seemed to take after their mother in that respect.
“You seem to bless your women with very active children,” Theora laughed as she flashed me a smile.
“Don’t I know it,” I sighed. “I’m starting to understand why my mother always described me as a little hellion. Those kids are just like me. Although, Marella has the same tricks my big sister used to have.”
“She is a determined one.” Jemma nodded as we continued our trek back to the palace.
I laid the pelt of the wolf-monster over a clothesline just outside the entrance to the palace so it could dry off before I tried to tan and make use of it, and I followed the three women inside.
Then the sweetest, most enticing aroma drifted out of the kitchen and slipped inside my nostrils.
“Hali’s awake.” I grinned before I dashed into the kitchen to see what magically delicious meal she’d cooked up for us that morning.
I found the red-headed chef bent over a fire, with a clay pan in hand. It sizzled and popped with bacon grease as she laid another row of the meat slices down to fry, and my mouth instantly watered.
“Good morning, Draco Rex, ladies.” Hali smiled at us. “Your breakfast is nearly ready. I have a few buns in the kiln fire, and they will be ready just after this meat is done.”
“It smells delicious,” Jemma sighed happily. “I shall go wash this blood off me before indulging, though.”
“What in the names of the gods happened to you?” Mira demanded as she strode into the kitchen and took in Jemma, who was still covered in the dried silver blood of the monster.
“We were attacked by a creature,” Jemma explained with a sheepish grin. “And I am afraid I did not make the cleanest kill.”
