by Logan Jacobs
Sela and Anora were by my side a moment later, Nadir and her racoon women were huddled nearby, and all my warriors took deep, panting breaths. Everyone was safe, so I let out a sigh of relief and turned back to the dragon-alligator fight.
The moment I turned around, I saw George running toward us with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth like a happy puppy, and my heart leapt into my chest.
Get down! he commanded as he barreled toward us.
Suddenly, the sky burst with orange and red light as a plume of flame pummeled into the alligator monster. I didn’t have time to react, and the heat of it hit me in the face and almost knocked me off my feet. I had to squint to see past the brightness, and I swore my eyebrows were singed.
Tirian swooped across my vision as he spewed his fire breath at the beast, and it screeched in pain and writhed beneath the blast. The silver dragon only paused a moment to catch his breath and let out a fierce battle roar before he rained even more hellfire down upon the monstrous creature.
The last time the silver dragon used his fire breath it had been deadly to the orcs, but this plume made his previous one look puny. It was like a river of flame rained down from the sky, and it bathed the monster like a bucket of lava had dropped right onto its head.
The smell of burning flesh assailed my nostrils, and smoke filled the air, but Tirian didn’t let up for several more moments. My heart hammered in my chest, and I held my breath as I waited and watched with raw nerves and my eyes burning from the heat.
Then the flames stopped, and the monster, now even blacker, had also ceased its thrashing. I blinked away the smoke stinging my eyes and stepped forward cautiously, but the smoldering monster on the beach didn’t move.
Tirian fluttered down to land on the beach in front of it, and his sides heaved as he took in deep, steadying breaths.
It is dead. The silver dragon’s voice sounded tired, but satisfied.
“Fuck yes!” I pumped my fist up into the air, and cheers erupted from the women gathered beneath the shelter of the trees.
“That was amazing!” Jemma exclaimed as she rushed forward to wrap her arms around her dragon companion. “Your fire has gotten so big!”
Good job, dear one! George praised with a proud look. You have protected our people.
And I got dinner, Tirian pointed out with a sideways dragon smirk.
“You really think it’s edible?” I asked as I turned a curious eye to the smoking remains of the massive semi aquatic creature.
You like your meat to be roasted, yes? Tirian tilted his head to the side like he was confused.
“What I meant was,” I laughed, “is it poisonous?”
I do not believe it is, George pondered thoughtfully. I will try it first, if you like. I know my stomach is sturdier than yours.
The women had started to filter out of the shade of the trees and return to our beachside campground, and several serpent women poked at the charred remains with their spears like they were checking to make sure it was really dead. The alligator didn’t move, but the spots where the sharp points jabbed into its hide emitted steam and smoke.
Its insides were good and cooked, that was for sure.
I shook my head in awe. If we could get to the meat, there had to be enough there to last us the entire journey home, and we’d still have some left over to share with Hali. I wanted to make sure it was safe, though, so I nodded to George before we both trotted down the shore toward the carcass.
Its leathery scales were hot to the touch, and I could hear the hissing pops of cooking meat from inside its body. Not only was it cooked, but it was still cooking.
“We’ll have to find some way to cool it down a little before we can touch it,” I informed my dragon companion.
Allow me, he said.
George took a deep breath as he summoned magical water from deep within his belly, and then his cheeks puffed out into hilarious balloons before he sprayed the water from his mouth onto the smoldering remains.
Steam hissed and spewed like a sauna, and the hot humid air clung to my skin. George repeated this process a few more times until the blasts of steam subsided, and then I stepped forward and laid a tentative hand against its skin. It was still warm to the touch, but not scalding.
“Perfect.” I nodded to George and put my hands on my hips. “Now, we just have to figure out how to cut it open.”
The skin over the stomach will likely be thinner, George observed.
“So, we need to roll it over,” I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.
With enough teamwork, I am confident we can accomplish the task, the water dragon said, and he leaned his body against me as he let out a low dragon hum. The vibrations were soothing and comforting, and I took in a deep breath.
He was right. With everyone working together, we could get to the meat, and then we could all feast and relax.
So, I turned to round up some helpers. I didn’t have to try very hard because word spread quickly, and a few moments later, everyone was down on the beach lined up along the fifty-foot-long creature.
It laid on its stomach, with its four legs splayed out away from its body and its tail curled toward the water, and even with everyone in the camp lined up along one side, I wasn’t sure if we had enough strength to flip the beast over.
“Draco Rex, I’ve got an idea!” Mira called out as she trotted over to where I stood by the beast’s head.
“Awesome,” I said with a grateful smile. “What are you thinking?”
“We should take off the legs and tail first,” she suggested, and she turned an appraising eye toward the front of the creature. “Maybe the head, too, if we can.”
“That could work,” I mused, so we got to work.
We split into teams since the best thing to use for cutting were the sea glass swords, and we didn’t have enough for everyone. Mira and Sela each took a front leg while their teams pulled the appendage away and worked to cut the meat off the muscles in the limbs. Jemma and Anora led teams on the back legs, and the racoon women took turns hacking the tail off with their stone axes.
I claimed the head because it seemed like the most challenging part to remove.
So, I started at the gills, and I slid my sword between the flaps and sliced upward with a swift jerk. I was surprised at how much easier my blade moved through the creature’s hide, but I reasoned it was probably caused by the dragonfire weakening its armored skin. It still took me a while to saw and hack from one gill, over the top of its head along the base of its skull, and down to the other flap of skin, though.
The sun was high overhead by that time, and hours had passed since my breakfast, but I was determined to keep going until the job was done. Sweat dripped down my face, and my shirt was soaked with perspiration, but I’d only cut through about half of the creature’s neck. My blade was covered in a slimy, brown liquid. It reminded me of bacon grease, and the thought was tantalizing.
My mouth watered at the prospect of alligator monster bacon, so I attacked my task with renewed energy.
Cutting underneath the alligator monster’s massive neck proved to be too big of a task for me alone, however, so I gathered up a few extra hands to push against the head to help me reach the lower half while I sliced apart the thick skin. With the help of ten women, we managed to roll the head up on its side, and with each chunk that I severed, it inched over a little more until I was faced with the two-foot-thick spinal cord.
Which was crazy thick, even for a forty-foot long croc.
But I’d learned to just embrace the crazy of this world.
“We’ll have to do the other side,” I said as I frowned at the obstacle. I wasn’t sure if my sea glass sword could cut through bone as thick as this, and I was hesitant to try for fear of breaking my weapon. It had withstood a lot of damage, but I wanted to figure out an easier way.
So, we switched sides and made good progress on the bottom section of the neck, and when only a sliver of thick hide remained, the women pulled
against the creature’s charred snout to hold it taut. Then I raised my sword over my head and swung down one powerful strike, and my blade severed the meat like it was butter.
The women fell backward as the tension was released, and the head swayed and bobbed from the bone still keeping it attached to the body. I wiped the sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand and took a few deep breaths as I thought over my next move.
“The legs and tail are off,” Mira reported as she trotted up to me. “There’s so much, Ben. I hope it’s good.”
“George said he would try it first,” I said with a grin. “But back home people ate alligator meat all the time, and this is basically a leveled-up version of one of them.”
“Have you eaten this alligator meat before?” Mira asked.
“One time when I was in Florida.” I shrugged. “They said it was from the tail, but it tasted like pork, or wild boar.”
“I love wild boar,” the jade haired warrior murmured, and she turned hungry eyes to the massive beast before us.
“Once I get the head off, we’ll give George a chance to try it out,” I suggested, and I bumped my shoulder against hers. “If he says it’s okay, you can eat your little heart out.”
Suddenly, I heard the sound of gnashing teeth and tiny, but ferocious growls, and I turned around to find out what was happening. Lezan, Nadir, and Jira were chewing through the alligator monster’s spinal cord. Bone fragments sprayed out from their mouths like shrapnel, and the chittering, grinding sound made all the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
It seemed to be an efficient method, though, and I remembered how they used their sharp teeth and nails to carve out the inside of their tree village. Bone had to be fairly similar, if not easier, for the industrious racoon women to gnaw through, and I watched with pride as they bit further and further through the monster’s spine.
The scene reminded me of beavers felling trees to make their dams, but way more savage, and extraordinarily sexier.
Meanwhile, everyone had ceased their individual tasks to watch with rapt fascination while the three women chewed away at the monster’s neck. The sun crept toward the western horizon, but there were still several hours before sunset. After a moment, the three racoon women had to slide down into the hole between the head and body, but the buzzing, munching sound let me know they were still hard at work.
Then the head fell forward and rolled to the side, with the slack jaws of the alligator monster hanging open and its black, sightless eyes staring up into the clear, blue sky. The three women stepped forward amid cheers from the watching crowd, and they glistened from the slick grease that coated their skin.
The three raccoon women looked triumphant, and fucking delicious, and all I wanted to do was rush forward and lick the grease from their skin. The shiny grease on their bodies gave the appearance of being covered in massage oil, and my fingers itched to explore every slippery inch of them.
“I think cooked meat is not all bad,” Jira observed as she licked her lips.
“The fat near the bone is extra tasty,” Lezan added with a satisfied purr.
“There is enough food here to have a big feast,” Nadir announced with a proud gleam in her gray eyes. “We must celebrate our victory against the beast!”
Loud cheers and calls of approval echoed across the beach as everyone whooped and danced with joy. The tension and fear of the battle against the monster, and then the arduous task of removing its appendages had given way to relief and excitement.
There was still some work to be done, though, and even though the racoon women had given their approval of the meat, I still wanted to err on the side of caution, so I carved out a chunk of meat from the exposed neck cavity and brought it over to George.
The water dragon bit into the chunk of white, juicy meat and chewed thoughtfully for a moment before he swallowed and gave me a delighted grin.
It is delicious! he proclaimed. I believe it is safe for everyone.
That was all I needed to hear, and I gave the command to start harvesting the meat. With the head removed, the neck cavity was big enough for three people to stand in, so we just dug out the meat from wherever we could reach it. A couple hours passed as we all worked together to stash the cooked alligator meat in baskets, and when we had mounds of food piled up around the bonfire, I called a stop to the workers still digging away at the beast’s insides.
We could work on it more in the morning, but the day had progressed while we cut into the carcass, and we only had a small amount of daylight remaining.
The women made torches out of sticks and rubbed it in some of the oil dripping from the alligator monster, and they stuck the poles into the sand in a circle formation around the carcass. The light would ward off potential scavengers and give us a clear line of sight to fend off any beasts brave enough to wander into the circle of flames.
Meanwhile, a group of women finished our original task of taking the chickens to the ship, and they cut down armfuls of the tall prairie grasses and hauled it onto the ship to lay down in the makeshift stall. Water would be more of a challenge, but we had enough left in our barrels to last the birds for the night. I was sure they’d experienced quite a shock between their capture and the time they spent in packs, so I breathed a little easier once I knew they were comfortably situated.
Then we all dug into the alligator meat with ravenous appetites. I watched everyone enjoying their meal for a moment before I turned my attention to my own food, and I took a deep inhale of the smoky, dragon fire roasted meat before I took my first bite.
It was juicy and tangy, and the smoky flavor reminded me of barbeque sauce. The grease squelched out with each bite, and my chin was quickly coated in the oils, but I didn’t care. It was the best damn dinner I could have ever imagined after the fight we’d had with the beast.
All around me were happy and safe women, and everyone ate greedily until they were full. A short while later, my stomach couldn’t handle another bite, and I pushed aside the flat rock that served as a plate with a satisfied sigh.
Overall it had been a good day. I would need to do a lot of training with the berserker racoon women to get them to work as a cohesive team with the rest of my warriors, but I would cross that bridge another day. Besides, I wasn’t even sure yet how many, if any, were returning home with me.
I decided it was time to find out, so I stood up and crossed the distance to where Nadir and the rest of the racoon women rested after their meals. The black-haired leader didn’t move when I sat down beside her, but her tail twitched in an approving manner.
“Have you thought over my offer?” I asked in a calm, neutral tone.
“I have.” Nadir gave me a sideways smile, and her gray eyes were warm.
“And?” I held my breath.
Nadir cleared her throat and turned around to get the attention of her people. Their curious eyes blinked back at us in hues of amber, orange, yellow, gray, and black, and the plethora of fuzzy tails waving in the air behind them was almost hypnotic.
“It is time to give Ben our decision,” the leader announced in a loud, clear voice. “Who wishes to travel with him to his home island?”
Hands shot up into the air, but not all of them. A few women cast nervous glances around at their companions, but they kept their arms at their sides.
“No voting.” Lezan stepped forward and leveled her black eyes on the hesitant ones. “We must all go.”
“This is our home,” someone argued.
“Our home is no longer safe,” the black-and-white-haired woman replied. “We can’t keep running and hiding, and our weapons are not strong enough to defeat the orcs, let alone the fire breathing monster! Ben has ways of making stronger weapons, and he has many people to fight together.”
“Do you not want our people to survive this war?” Nadir added as she stood shoulder to shoulder with the black-and-white-haired beauty. “Ben is our only chance to have a safe home to raise his children in. I agree with Lezan.
We must all go, no one can be left behind.”
I was surprised at the sudden teamwork between the two women, but I wasn’t going to complain if the end result was them coming home with me.
Silence followed the leader’s words, and for a second I thought maybe it hadn’t worked, but then Lezan took a half a step forward and spread her hands imploringly.
“We have lost so much to the orcs, and then we lost our treasure… Even though we will never get the special shiny back, we have a new treasure: Ben. He will show us how to fight better, build stronger homes, and give everyone very clever and beautiful babies. I know this is true because he has already started to give me his seed so I may carry his child in my belly.”
A gasp went through the crowd, and suddenly every single racoon woman rushed toward me with eager, outstretched hands.
“I want a baby!”
“Please, Ben, give me a baby!”
They grabbed at my shirt and pulled on my arms, and I swam in a sea of beautiful, emotion filled eyes while their warm, voluptuous bodies pressed up against me. My body was already responding to their presence and desire to have my children, but this was not the time or place.
“Okay, okay, hold on!” I shouted as I pushed them off as gently, but firmly, as I could. “I am more than willing to do everything Lezan has said, but I am only one man, and you need to be patient and wait your turn.”
Reluctant sighs and words of assent echoed among the racoon women, and they all took a few steps backward to give me a bubble of air in the middle of their group.
“First things first,” I said as I put my hands on my hips and grinned from ear to ear. “I am really happy you guys want to come with me. I’ll feel a lot better once you’re safe in my village behind the wall.”
Excited murmurs shot through the women, and the word ‘wall’ was repeated over and over again.
“When do we leave?” Nadir asked with a pleased look in her gray eyes.
“In two sunrises,” I said with a firm nod. “Tomorrow we harvest lumber and finish getting what we can from the alligator thing, and then we will set sail the day after that.”