by Logan Jacobs
“What are you going to do?” Talise asked, even though her tone told me she already knew.
“I’m going to make our daughter’s vision come true,” I explained. “Lezan and I are going to take one of those rowboats out and see what’s going on. If there’s another island of women they’re going after, somebody has to stop them.”
“You’re going to go with just two other warriors?” Talise questioned with a raised eyebrow.
“It’s a stealth mission,” I explained. “If I take our main ship, the orcs will see us coming from a mile away. And if that happens, I don’t think we can win a five-on-one naval battle.”
Talise looked like she wanted to protest more, but she bit her lip and nodded.
“Just… come back to me, okay?” she whimpered.
I kissed the healer passionately, which drew a loud “yuck” from Marella. Then I pulled away, kissed my lover’s forehead, and ran my fingers through her dark hair.
“I’ll come back,” I promised. “We’re going to take Tirian and George with us, so we’ll have some heavy-hitting backup if things go south.”
“Be careful, Daddy,” Marella warned. “I saw all of you on the island, but I didn’t see anything after that…”
“I’ll be fine, Marella,” I assured my daughter as I wiped away a small tear from her deep purple eyes. “I’ve got two of the most fearsome warriors on my side, plus two dragons? Those orcs won’t know what hit them.”
“Still,” Talise sighed, “please try to avoid combat if possible. If there really are five ships, gods know how many soldiers they actually have on this mission.”
I gave Talise one final kiss before I turned around and headed a few paces upshore.
There, buried underneath a bunch of seashells, sand, and rocks, we had a small fleet of rowboats. They had mostly been stolen from the orcs who had foolishly tried to invade our home, so we kept them hidden just in case the ugly green bastards wanted them back.
My friends and I dug up one of the rowboats and promptly brushed off the dirt and grime. Then we positioned it in the water and prepared for the mission ahead.
“You caught all that, right guys?” I asked my three friends who were connected to me telepathically.
You want us to go with you to this island, Jemma repeated. Me, you, Lezan, and our two dragons. Is that about right?
“That’s exactly right,” I chuckled. “As long as there aren’t any objections.”
You know I will follow you wherever you go, dear one, George announced as he and Nixie came out of the water, and both of the dragons shook their bodies like a wet dog to dry off before they let out a sad, longing chuff.
I will watch the little ones, Nixie promised her mate. And all of the people. Good luck, my love.
The two dragons twisted their necks around each other to say their goodbyes, and then Nixie sauntered up the beach and onto the path.
“What about us, Ben?” Nadir demanded as she and the Coonag women gathered around. “We could come along and help. Maybe even sabotage the orcs’ boats while you’re out chasing them down?”
“Negative.” I shook my head. “We don’t have that many rowboats. Plus, I need every soldier available to be here, just in case the other orc ships decide to attack. Lezan? You heard my daughter. You come with me, and the rest of you hang tight until we get back.”
The dark-eyed, black-and-white-haired woman bounced up and down excitedly, and my eyes couldn’t help but wander down to look at her jiggling cleavage. My pants tightened instantly as I thought back to the way I’d filled her with my love this morning, and for a moment, I wondered if my seed had claimed one of her eggs and was growing in her womb yet.
Do you want us down on the boat, as well? Jemma’s voice knocked me out of my trance.
“No,” I explained to the dragon-rider. “You and Tirian need to stay airborne so we can keep an eye on what those ships are doing.”
Won’t that mean they’ll see us? Tirian gulped. I don’t wanna deal with any of those mean, ugly brutes again.
“The clouds can act as your cover,” I replied as I threw my leg over the side of the boat and hoisted myself in. “Unless they’ve got some sort of new magic device that lets them see through the mist, that should give you the shelter you’ll need.”
Lezan climbed into the boat behind me, and George lumbered over to its side and waded out into the water. The blue water dragon then took the bow of the rowboat in his maw, gave it a gentle pull, and floated the vessel away from the shore, and Lezan and I watched the disappointed Coonag women as they stood on the shore and saw us off.
“They really wanted to come along,” Lezan noted, but then she flashed me a sharp-toothed grin. “I’m just happy you picked me to join you. Is it because of this morning?
“Yes,” I admitted, but then felt my face quickly turn beet red. “Plus my daughter’s vision, but not only because of that. I’m talking about how you helped me kill that gargamor, and how you assisted with cleaning the boars we captured. As great as I think the rest of the Coonag are, you’re the only one so far who could help me clean an animal if we have to stay there overnight. Also, you went one-on-one with a freaking Gargamor. That gives you brownie points all over the fucking place.”
“It was nothing, really,” Lezan giggled. “Even if I don’t know what a ‘brownie’ is.”
Once we were into the deeper waters, I wrapped a rope around the bow of the boat and George’s neck, and the water dragon began to tow us more easily. Lezan and I also both took a pair of oars and tried to speed the vessel long. The sea was a bit rougher that usual, and we had to fight against both the wind and the waves that crashed against the hull of our ship and prevented us from making progress. However, we persisted, and soon we were out in the open water.
“Tirian? Jemma?” I called up to our aerial spies. “What are they doing now?”
Just sitting there, Tirian responded.
Hold on… Jemma interjected. One of them is moving! They’re headed straight toward an island to the west.
“An island to the west?” I frowned as I mentally pictured the map I’d seen of the region. “There wasn’t an island to the west on the map. Not one so close. Your island, Jemma, was supposed to be the closest.”
Well, I do not know what to tell you, the long-legged deer woman said. I can see this island with my own eyes, and the orcs can see it too because they are headed there.
A mysterious island not on the map? My intrigue was definitely piqued now.
“What about the rest of the boats?” I questioned curiously.
They’re steady, the auburn-haired deer woman responded. They’re not even floating right now. I think… I think they may have dropped anchor.
Dropped anchor? In the middle of the ocean?
What the hell was going on here? You don’t bring out a bunch of literal warships only to have them sit there and do nothing.
Unless… Unless there was something on that island they intended to bring back. A lot of somethings, if they needed five whole ships.
“I don’t think those are war ships,” I announced to my friends. “I think they’re using them as cargo ships.”
“Cargo?” Lezan questioned. “Why would they need these many ships for cargo?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But whatever it is they intend to bring back from that island, they’re planning to bring back a lot.”
“All the more reason to get there first,” the Coonag woman noted with a sly grin. “Then we can take the spoils of war before they get their grubby hands on it.”
I’d seen that look before. It was pure Coonag excitement, powered by their primal urge to collect treasure. Whatever was on that island, Lezan was now laser-focused on getting it for ourselves.
The ship is only about half a mile out from the shore, Jemma gasped. What are we going to do, Ben?
I didn’t even need to think this one over. Marella had seen us tailing the orc ship and then stalking their party onto the
island, and that was exactly what we were going to do.
Dear one? George asked. We are now approximately halfway between our home island and the one the orcs are sailing to. Do you want to turn back, or keep going?
Without another moment’s hesitation, I nodded, pointed in the direction of the new island, and smiled.
“Full speed ahead,” I called out, and then my friends and I ventured into the unknown.
Chapter Nine
This was crazy. Maybe the craziest thing I’ve done since I came to this world.
There were only three of us, and gods only know how many orcs. Even though we were trying to avoid a direct confrontation with the massive warships, all it would take was one slip up to have the entire fleet on our backs.
And then, even with the aid of our two dragon friends, it would be a massacre.
I was confident in my friends’ fighting abilities, but there was simply no way we could take on an entire orc army on our own.
Still, it was too late to turn back now. We’d already gone past the halfway point between our home island and the mysterious island off to the east, the one these orcs seemed so enamored with. So, we needed to keep venturing forward, no matter how great the risks.
Besides, if this island was anything like the other ones we’d been to, it would be full of beautiful women who were being terrorized by these brutish bastards. Beautiful women who were just waiting for a hero to come to their rescue, who they would then reward with all sorts of carnal activities.
That alone made risking life and limb worth it.
I began to whistle the tune to Holding Out for a Hero as Lezan and I continued to row, even though I knew nobody would get the reference.
Even with my enhanced strength, the muscles in my rotator cuff soon started to ache and burn like they’d just been held up to a hot iron. Lezan seemed to be growing tired, too, but we couldn’t let up. If we did, the rough waves of the ocean would knock us off course, and we ran the risk of being lost at sea in a ship with no supplies whatsoever.
We’re almost there! Tirian exclaimed as he read my tired mind. Don’t give up, you guys.
I glanced back over my shoulder and saw our silver friend was right. The shore of the island was almost upon us, though from our sightline it was hard to tell if it was a mile away, or ten. I trusted Tirian, even though I wondered how much a juvenile dragon knew about calculating travel distances.
It’s part of our instincts, dear one, George spoke up telepathically. When we water dragons are born, we automatically know about how long it will take us to get from one point to another. It’s just sort of… there. Tirian’s probably got the same instinct. Though it’s kind of funny to watch how full of energy the young one is… I remember those days quite well.
“That’s because they were only a couple moon cycles ago!” I snorted over the sound of my pounding heart.
Lezan and I continued to row with all of our might. As we got closer to the shore, the waves became more choppy and brash, and I swallowed what had to be almost a gallon of seawater. Finally, though, I felt the bottom of the boat hit ground, and I let out a sigh of relief.
I quickly turned around, hopped out into the shallows with a splash, and then started to beach our vessel. Lezan and George helped, and within a few seconds the boat was up on the sandy shores of this new, mysterious island.
Tirian and Jemma landed almost instantly, and they looked around like they were spooked out of their minds.
“What’s up?” I questioned as my eyes scanned the landscape for threats.
“The orc ship is right up around that bend, where the sandbar curves to the left,” Jemma explained in a hushed tone.
“You don’t think they saw us, do you?” I gulped, but the auburn-haired deer woman just shook her head.
“I don’t think so,” she noted. “Tirian and I had the coverage of the clouds.”
I was like a shadow in the mist! The silver dragon puffed out his chest proudly.
“And I don’t think they saw you,” Jemma continued. “If they had, they surely would have sent out a vessel to try and attack, right?”
“Unless they were waiting to ambush you on foot,” Lezan suggested, and I saw her tail become bushy with anger at the thought.
“Doubtful.” I shook my head. “They would have had us dead to rights if they attacked us while we were still on the boat. A rowboat versus an actual warship? They could have blown us out of the water with a single cannonball and called it a day. I think Jemma’s right, and they still don’t know they were followed. And I want to keep it that way… We need to hide our boat and then see if we can find our little green friends.”
Around us was nothing but grayish sand and a strange, dark black porous rock that made up the shore underneath the water. Off in the near distance was a row of ashy white trees with black leaves and giant trunks that had to be as wide as a blue whale. Most peculiar of all, however, was the fact the trees’ branches were growing downward.
They sprouted out of the top of the massive trunk at their base before they curled around and cascaded down to the ground like oversized, albino snakes. The dark black leaves poked out of each branch to create an angular pattern, almost like each appendage had its own staircase.
These things reminded me of the banyan trees I’d seen when we were stationed in Hawaii, only a lot more macabre-looking.
Maybe those could be our solace.
“We need to get the boat to the tree line.” I pointed to the cascade of branches. “If we put it inside that natural barrier over there, the orcs won’t really be able to see it unless they’re actively looking for it. Give me a hand…”
George pressed his snout up against the side of the vessel and gave it a little push so it was flipped upside down. Then Lezan, Jemma, and I all took a section of the rowboat, hoisted it up above our heads, and headed up the beach as fast as we possibly could.
With our four strengths combined, it only took us a few minutes to reach the first white tree. George pushed aside a cluster of branches with his head, and they moved out of the way as if they were made of crepe paper. Finally, we shoved the boat inside the makeshift cage of white wood, stepped back, and let George push the branches back into place.
“What kind of a tree is this?” Lezan puzzled as she studied the foliage closely. “I didn’t even know they could grow to this size…”
“Honestly, I have no freaking clue,” I admitted. “I’ve seen something like this back in my world, but the only real similarities they have are the giant trunks.”
“But why is the bark white?” Jemma asked as she ran her slender fingers over the wood. “And why does it leave such a strange residue when you touch it?”
The deer woman held up her hand to us, which was now covered completely by a thin layer of chalky white powder.
That’s when it hit me.
The porous black rock… The white sand… The trees whose bark seemed to be covered with ash…
“This is a volcanic island,” I muttered. “Of course! These things pop up all over the ocean.”
“They just… appear?” Lezan asked, and her tone was full of skepticism.
“Is it a gift from the gods?” Jemma implored.
“Not quite,” I chuckled. “These sort of islands form over thousands of years, when underwater volcanoes release their magma. The cool water turns the lava into stone almost instantly, and then over time it builds upon itself until there’s a whole new land mass. Once that happens, you start getting all the regular island stuff like sand, flora, fauna, and sometimes even people.”
Still, all of my travel mates looked confused.
“What is ‘lava?’” Jemma scratched her chin. “Is that a type of delicacy from where you’re from?”
“Noooooooo.” I shook my head vigorously. “Anyone stupid enough to eat lava is going to end up with a literal hole burned through their stomach.”
“What is it, then?” Lezan interjected. “Does it come from the same magic
al place as Tirian’s fire breath?”
I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. Both of these women had lived in secluded villages all their lives, in the middle of sprawling, lush forests. They knew nothing about magma or volcanoes or the sort because they never once had to deal with it themselves.
So, I was going to make it my goal to teach them. After we got on the way, of course.
“I’ll explain, but let’s get moving first,” I said as I motioned for my friends to follow. “Stay close to the tree line, and be prepared to jump into it if it looks like the orcs will see us.”
The five of us began our journey along the coast as we tried to sneak up on the orc vessel and the search party we were sure was being sent out. As we walked, I did my best to explain everything I could remember about volcanoes and plate tectonics that I’d learned way back in middle school. The women all seemed to marvel at the thought of the earth spewing deadly red liquid, but none of them quite seemed to get the “how” behind it.
“So, the earth is… floating?” Jemma tried to wrap her head around it all. “Like, we’re floating right now, even though we’re not on water?”
“That’s right,” I confirmed. “It’s just so calm, and on such a massive scale, so we don’t even feel it.”
“Should we be worried about these ‘volcanoes’ appearing on our island?” Lezan added as she narrowed her black eyes. “They sound pretty devastating.”
Fear not, Lezan, George said. If any of these liquid death spewers appear on our home, I will put them out with my water breath.
“I don’t think we need to worry about that at all.” I mused. “Unless we all intend to live for thousands of years, there won’t be any sudden volcanoes sprouting up in our lifetimes.”
What about here? Tirian asked, and his body trembled with fear. You said this island is made of that stuff. Is it gonna explode and burn us all to death?
“Probably not,” I reassured the dragon. “I mean, yeah, if there is an active volcano underneath here, it could go off… But there’s no way to tell when that’ll happen. It could be now, it could be three weeks from now, or it might even be two-hundred years away. You just have to play it by ear and hope it all works out for the best.”