Monster Girl Islands

by Logan Jacobs

  After a twenty-minute walk, we reached the palace and found it bustling with activity. Many women carried baskets on their heads, and the containers were overflowing with coconuts, seaweed, and fish. There were several stations set up in the palace courtyard for different activities, and I could see a few women in front of a large loom weaving thin strips of seagrass. At first glance, I thought they were making some kind of netting, but then I realized they were making more roof thatching for huts.

  Across from where the women were weaving looked like a blacksmith of sorts, with a lot of hammering and heat pouring out of the shed. I made a mental note to check that out as soon as I could. I also saw basins of dye in various colors in another station, one that appeared to be sorting through the baskets of food the women were carrying, and another seemed to be some sort of botany center. I was going to have to find the time to spend an afternoon exploring this busy courtyard.

  “This is where I take my leave of you,” Talise said as she turned to me. “I must get back to my research and duties. Enjoy your day with the queen, Ben.” Then she made a little head bow and turned to go.

  I couldn’t help myself as I watched her walk away. The healer had the curviest ass I’d ever seen, and it swayed like it knew I was watching. I made no effort to hide my ogling of her body, and I was sure she sensed this when she threw a coy smile over her shoulder.

  “She has always been an incorrigible flirt,” Mira said at my side before she smirked at me. “Come along, Thrilling Combination. The queen awaits.”

  She chuckled at her clever nickname for me, and I was just glad they didn’t catch me on an ‘I Feel So Pretty’ day.

  The queen met us in the doorway to the main part of the palace, and I was totally thrown off again by the beauty of this woman. Her silver hair was piled loosely on top of her head and made a nest for her crown, and a few tendrils escaped and cascaded down her long and perfect neck. Her iridescent scales reflected the aquamarine color of her wrap that was the exact color of her eyes. Her voluptuous breasts strained the top of her wrap, and her hourglass flared hips created the perfect handles to hold on to.

  I got lost in thoughts of how smooth her skin would feel under my hands, how I wanted to taste and touch every inch of her body, and how her voice would sound moaning in my ear.

  “Merry morning, Your Majesty,” Mira greeted as she simultaneously elbowed me in the ribs and bowed her head.

  “You are a beautiful sight this morning, Your Majesty,” I blurted and bowed my head a little deeper than necessary. I was afraid I’d insulted her with my word choice and daydreams. Again.

  “Merry Morning, Mira and Ben,” Nerissa said with a smile. “I am happy to find you both well and rested.”

  I looked up to find a mischievous grin on the queen’s face. Had word of my drunken escapades from last night reached her ears? I could feel a blush reach my cheeks at the thought. It would be no time before she heard about my shower performance.

  “Yes, Your Majesty, umm, rested and well, that’s me,” I fumbled.

  To my right, Mira tried to hide a laugh with an improvised cough and failed miserably. I shot her a harsh look, but it just made her laugh even harder.

  “I request your company for the rest of the day, Ben,” the queen practically purred in the sexiest voice I’d ever heard. “I would like to show you around the island and let you see how things operate around here. Then I would like to hear your suggestions on how we can make things more efficient and safer. You said you would like to prove yourself worthy of our trust. This would be a good start.”

  “It would be an honor and a pleasure to accompany you today, my queen.” I bowed my head again.

  “Excellent. As the head of our defense, I would like Mira to join us. Zarya and Darya, you both may continue with your usual duties.” She nodded to the twins to release me, and I took it as a sign she trusted me a little more than last time, since she was comfortable having just one guard with her in my presence.

  I was making progress.

  “Our island is naturally protected on the western and most of the southern coast by high cliffs,” Nerissa explained as we made our way to the nearby southern coastline. “They are very perilous and rocky, which makes them difficult to traverse. The coastline smooths out along the southern border the further east it goes. This is where we do most of our fishing because the schools are much less disturbed, and the fish are more plentiful.”

  “What do you use to catch the fish?” I asked as I took in my surroundings.

  We had walked away from the cliffs and onto a sandy beach about a hundred yards long that curved out into a sandbar and formed a small and natural gulf in the water. The water was so clear here I could see out for half a mile, and there were four women spread out in waist deep water working on their catch of the day.

  “Some women prefer to use spears and some use small woven baskets,” the queen replied. “When food is scarce, the baskets are ideal because they can catch more and less escape, but the sport in using the spear is still appealing for many of us.”

  I watched as Nerissa picked up a spear and waded out into the water waist deep. She wore a serene smile on her face as she stood patiently, and she didn’t move a single muscle. A few moments later, the spear in her hand moved faster than I thought was possible, and just as quickly, she pulled it out of the water.

  Skewered on the end was a grouper the size of one of my thighs.

  “Damn. Great job!” I cheered from the beach.

  Nerissa laughed at my excitement and made her way over to where Mira and I waited. Then she handed her spear to one of the women catching fish and joined us again.

  “It’s been a long time since I last did that,” the queen said with a grin, and she was obviously delighted with her catch. “I wasn’t sure I still had the touch.”

  “You always were the best with spear fishing,” Mira laughed and gave her sister a one-armed hug. “You are the only one who had the patience for it.”

  “That was an impressive catch, Your Majesty,” I declared.

  “Thank you, Ben,” she answered with a soft smile. “It is not the most efficient way to catch them, but it is fun. That is why we use the basket. How do your people do it?

  “For sport, we use a fishing pole,” I replied. “It is a long stick with a line and a hook attached to it. We put some sort of bait on the hook, and then we wait for the fish to bite the hook and then pull them in. You have to be very patient. Sometimes you can wait all day and not get a single bite.”

  “That does not sound like it would be very productive,” Mira commented with a frown.

  “It really isn’t.” I shrugged. “It is mostly done for sport and fun.”

  “How do you fish to feed your village?” the warrior asked.

  “We use big boats that travel the waters,” I explained. “They are equipped with huge nets they drop into the water to catch all kinds of fish and seafood.”

  “Seafood?” Mira tilted her head.

  “Yes, like shrimp, crab, and lobster, just to name a few,” I said.

  “These are things you eat?” the queen asked. “Are they nutritious and filling?”

  “They are very delicious, healthy, and definitely very filling,” I replied, and my stomach growled in agreement. “One of my favorite things is a seafood stew.”

  Both women laughed at the very audible sounds my empty belly was making.

  “Maybe we should finish up our tour so you can feed that hungry beast.” Nerissa giggled as she started to walk again. She stayed along the water’s edge, though, and let the small waves roll up to hit her ankles and spray her legs as we continued our tour.

  “I’m fine with seeing more of the island first,” I assured her with a smirk.

  “I would like to know more about these nets,” the queen mused as she glanced at me. “Do you think you could show us how to make them?”

  “Most definitely.” I nodded. “Actually, what the women were weaving at the loom ear
lier today looked a lot like a fishing net. It would just require a looser weave so the water would run out and the fish would stay in.”

  “That actually makes a lot of sense,” Mira murmured and tapped her chin.

  “We could find a way to attach the nets to a sturdy pole for one person use, or we could design it for teamwork,” I added as I hoped to score some more points with these women.

  Just as those words left my mouth, the queen stumbled in the shallows. I immediately made my way forward to help her up, but before I could get there, she was already standing.

  “Don’t mind me,” Nerissa laughed as she turned to step toward me, “I have always been a clumsy one,”

  Before I could say anything in response, she slipped again, but this time it looked much less like a stumble and more like someone shoved her.

  “Nerissa?” I made to grab for her, but something suddenly yanked her out of my reach.

  “Gah!” she screamed, and her eyes went wide. “Something has my dress!”

  Mira lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Nerissa in an attempt to pull her out of the water, but it was suddenly a tug-of-war battle between Mira and whatever had a hold on the queen’s dress, and it didn’t look like the warrior woman was going to win.

  I darted around the struggling sisters and saw a shark-like creature fighting for his lunch. It was roughly six feet long and had green leathery skin with patches of black all over it. It was like a tiger shark and a leopard had a love child, but I really didn’t have the time to think too much about that.

  I didn’t have any weapons on me, so I did the next best thing I could think of and punched the son of a bitch right between his bulbous eyes. That stunned him a good bit, and he let go of Nerissa’s dress.

  Mira pulled her sister away from the beast, but he wasn’t giving up easily, and his large jaws snapped after his escaped meal.

  It was at this point I noticed two very distinct things. First, this bastard had some serious teeth on it. I clearly saw three rows of menacingly sharp teeth when he tried to chomp down on the queen. Second, the mother fucker had four nightmare inducing limbs about the length of a large dog’s legs.

  “Run!” I yelled at the women as I ushered them ahead of me.

  Mira and Nerissa stumbled in the sand as they tried to run up the beach, but the shark-creature snagged the hem of Nerissa’s dress once again.

  I hauled my leg back without thinking and kicked the shark square in the side. It made a strange hissing squeal as it let go of the queen’s skirt, and Mira, the queen, and I took off running while it was stunned.

  We’d barely made it several yards, though, when I heard something behind me and turned to see the shark was not giving up on his lost lunch. It snapped its freakish jaw with a clatter of teeth, and then it took off at a sprint.

  The shark-beast was moving faster on those legs than any creature had a right to move, and I knew we weren’t going to be able to outrun this freak of nature if he kept pursuing us. So, I frantically looked around for some kind of makeshift weapon and saw a piece of driftwood. It was about the size of a baseball bat and had a severe point at the end of it.

  It would have to do.

  “Keep running!” I shouted to the women as I scooped up the stick and turned to fight.

  I really hoped I wasn’t about to get eaten by this monstrosity.

  I managed to jump out of the way when the shark lunged at me, and I hauled back my stick and delivered the first blow right behind one of its pectoral fins. This just agitated the beast more, and it let out a snarl and resumed trying to attack.

  That was when I noticed the shark didn’t have a wide range of sight and had to turn its whole body to find me. If I could get behind the bastard, I might just be able to garner enough time to kill it.

  His next attack came a bit faster, but when I stepped back, the sand shifted drastically beneath my feet, and I stumbled to my knees. Then I hauled up the improvised weapon just in time, and the creature chomped down on the driftwood instead of on my leg. I found out just how strong those teeth were when he bit the end off the stick in one snap, but on the plus side, I now had an even sharper weapon to fight with.

  While the shark-thing spat the wood out, I jumped up from the ground and to his side. I needed to keep moving and confuse him.

  I probably looked like a real idiot as I jumped back and forth, but it was working to throw him off. Every few jumps, I would go in for an attack. I managed to get a good blow in, and as I took out his right eye with a stab of my pointy stick, an eruption of blood and slimy eyeball goo spilled onto the golden sand.

  The shark screamed in what sounded like a mix between a gargle and a growl, and it backpedaled as it shook its massive head in agony.

  I finally felt a little confidence that I might actually win this, so I stayed on the beast’s right side as it attempted to turn to see me. The shark was panicked and bleeding a lot, and this caused him to just lash out at anything.

  Then he finally made the mistake I was waiting for and stumbled blindly over some uneven earth. When he did, I jumped on his back.

  The bastard managed to snap at my leg, and his teeth tore my pants and cut into my calf, but it wasn’t much more than a scrape.

  “Take this!” I snarled as I drove the super pointy end of the stick down into the soft spot on his head and right into his brain. I rode out his death throes like a cowboy on a bull at the rodeo until he came to a stop.

  As the shark finally flopped dead to the sand, I sighed and paused for a few seconds to let my racing heart calm down.

  That was fucking crazy. I seriously just battled a damn land shark. And had won.

  After a few moments, I lifted my head and caught sight of Mira and Nerissa a dozen yards away. The warrior was partially standing in front of the queen for protection, but both of their eyes were wide.

  “It’s okay,” I called out to the two women, “you can come back over here.”

  They cautiously made their way over to me, and then they took in the scene before them. They both stood there with looks of shock and awe on their faces.

  “Your Majesty,” I panted heavily, and I wiped some sand and green shark blood from my brow, “are you alright?”

  “Yes,” she breathed, and she sounded just as winded as I was, “I think I am.”

  “Good,” I nodded, “I’m glad. But, and pardon my language here, what the fuck was that thing?”

  “A haeye,” Mira replied as she stared down at the shark carcass with wide, gold eyes, “a really big one. They typically do not attack in the day, and they also do not tend to attack groups. They mainly like to pick off lonely stragglers. How strange.”

  I was comforted by the fact that the one I fought was not the norm for these creatures. I wouldn’t wish encountering one of those on anyone.

  “Can you eat them?” I wondered out loud.

  “Oh, yes,” Nerissa smiled, “they are actually a delicacy we don’t often have because they are quite dangerous to catch. Everyone will be very pleased to see this. Thank you, Ben. You not only saved myself and Mira, but now the tribe will be able to benefit from the fruits of your labor.”

  I smiled at the thought of all the women being surprised by the haeye meal they were in store for tonight.

  “I do have a question, though,” the queen added with a tilt of her head.

  “Ask away,” I replied as I stepped away from the haeye carcass.

  “Why did you not run?” Nerissa inquired.

  “What do you mean?” I asked with a frown. “That thing was fast as shit. If I tried to keep running, it would have caught up to us, eventually.”

  “Precisely,” the queen said as she studied me with those intense aqua eyes of hers. “Your legs are far longer than ours, and you are not encumbered by a dress. You most likely could have outpaced Mira and myself quite easily.”

  I blinked in shock. “Are … are you asking why I didn’t let the shark monster eat you?”

  “Yes,”
Nerissa answered simply, and her eyes never left mine.

  My mouth opened and closed for several moments as I searched for the right words, but I couldn’t find anything eloquent, so I decided to just go with the honest truth.

  “I could never do that, Your Majesty,” I said as I lifted my chin, “it’s just not who I am. Like I told Mira last night, I … I want to help you. That is the honest truth, I swear. I don’t know how I ended up on your island, and I don’t know how, or if, I’ll ever find my way off it. But you and your people … you’ve been relatively kind to me. You could have killed me, you could have dug a ten foot pit, dropped me in it, and left me to die. But you didn’t. You’ve offered me food, shelter, and medicine, and I want to return the goodwill you’ve shown me. Mira told me about your problems with raiders. I can help. I know things about defensive and offensive tactics I could teach you. Who knows? Maybe this is the reason I woke up on your island.”

  “Maybe,” Nerissa murmured as her eyes roved over my face, like she was searching for a lie, but she would find none. “You are a mystery, Ben Whitfield.”

  “But mysteries are kind of fun,” I replied with a smirk.

  Nerissa’s lips twitched in a smile. “That they are.”

  “Should we return to the palace now?” I asked as I motioned back up the beach the way we came.

  “Not yet,” Nerissa shook her head, “I want to show you the rest of the island and see what your ideas for it are.”

  “Yes,” Mira agreed with a grin, “after seeing you in action, I would definitely like to hear your thoughts on the defenses and how we could make improvements.”

  “What about the haeye?” I asked as I gestured to the carcass. “We can’t just leave it here. Scavengers will tear it to shreds before we can come back for it.”

  Nerissa and Mira shared a look, and then the queen gave a barely perceptible nod. Without another word, Mira inclined her head, turned around, and began to sprint back toward the village.

  “Umm…” I stared at the retreating warrior’s back with wide eyes. “Where is she going?”