Monster Empire

by Michael-Scott Earle

  A small alligator came scampering out of the water, but I jumped back before it had cleared the river. The creature sat there with a many-toothed grin as we stared each other down, and I could see Nika slowly stalking around to get behind it. For half a moment, I thought about telling her to move away so she wouldn’t get bit, but Nika’s face showed no fear.

  Just hunger.

  Then the beautiful goblin woman dove on the alligator’s back, clamped down hard on its jaws, and pinned it down. I sprang into action, pulled my buck knife, angled the blade between the creature’s eyes, and then thrust the point into its head.

  The reptile made a gasp, squirmed, and then died a few moments later.

  As soon as the animal stopped thrashing, Nika looked at me wide-eyed, and we both erupted with laughter.

  “That was a dangerous thing to do,” I warned.

  She offered me a dubious glance. “This baby croc is nothing compared to an underdark basilisk. Some of them grow to fifty feet long.”

  “Did you do a lot of hunting in the underdark?” I asked.

  “Oh yes,” she said as she dragged the dead croc up onto the shore and turned it over. “I used to go off by myself and hunt lizards, this creature is very similar. I think it will be nice and tender, and I can make you something nice out of the hide.”

  We caught three more fish, and Nika’s second fish was a whopping thirteen inches, but a few minutes later I angled a fifteen inch beauty out of the river and we both laughed as we wrestled it on the shore. I glanced at the second sun as we headed back toward our fire, and I guessed that we had perhaps one or two hours left until dark.

  I had been watching the suns closely, and I determined that two hours here was equal to one hour on earth. Twilight lasted nearly as long as full daylight due to the lagging second sun. I assumed as well that dawn, the time when only one sun had risen, would last about the same length of time. It was a good thing when the length of a day was considered. But it also meant that nighttime would last upwards of twelve hours.

  And who knew what came out at night in a place like this?

  I forgot my worries and cleaned the fish. I had never butchered a crocodile, but Nika said that she had skinned plenty of lizards, and soon she was showing me how it was done.

  “This hide will make for good armor,” she said as she placed the last piece over the makeshift hanging rack.

  “You should fashion something for yourself,” I told her. “I can’t have my wife running around in my t-shirt all the time.”

  She nodded. “I will make myself something beautiful for you, Ken Jewell. You are such a wonderful man. Thank you again for saving me, loving me, and taking me as your wife. I must be the luckiest and happiest goblin girl in the whole world.”

  “Uhhh, yeah. I’m lucky, too.” I chuckled as I felt my heart flutter a bit. I knew my way around women, but there was something amazing about Nika. Her smile was so joyful and endearing, and every time she looked at me, I could clearly see the adoration in her eyes. I’d never been around a woman that was this happy to be around me, and the feeling was all kinds of great.

  And I knew I was falling in love with her.

  It was crazy, since it had only been a few hours, but Nika was wonderful, and I wanted to treat her as great as she made me feel.

  She stared at the fish crackling on the sticks over the fire, and I turned my attention to the setting second sun. A wild dog howled in the distance, and I watched Nika’s reaction out of the corner of my eye. She didn’t seem to have noticed, but my mind turned back to thoughts about protecting us as we slept.

  “I better get to work on our tent,” I said as I moved toward the pack that I had left leaning up against a tree. “Tell me when the fish is done?”

  “Yes, Ken Jewell,” she said as she smiled at me.

  I took out my tarp and positioned it about three feet from the fire. Next I tied off another branch that I had procured for this very purpose and laid it like a cross against the tall oak. Once the branch was secure, I tied off one end of the tarp to the cross and secured it with makeshift tent poles to the ground. The result was a wide lean-to with one end facing the river, and the other facing the hillside.

  Nika approached me with a big grin on her face, and she hugged me when I emerged from the tent. “The food is ready, my love.”

  “Good,” I said. “I’m starved.”

  We ate by the fire, and although we had no butter, salt, or pepper, it was the best damn fish I had ever tasted. Nika seemed to be enjoying it too, and she let out plenty of cute moans with each bite.

  “Ken Jewell, are you going to eat the fish heads?” she asked when she had finished her share.

  “Uhhh, no. I--”

  “But why not? The heads of creatures have all the bones, brains, and eyeballs. They are the most nutritious parts! As your wife, I think you should eat them.”

  “Umm, if you want them, go for it.”

  “Oh, Ken Jewell,” she said as she picked up one of the fish skeletons. “You are such a loving and caring husband. Giving me your fish heads to eat is one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me, other than save my life, of course. I am so lucky! Thank you!”

  When the second sun set in a marvelous display of streaking reds, oranges, violets and indigos, the stars claimed dominance over the night, and a fat red moon grew in the eastern sky. I beheld the behemoth with a mystified reverence as we lay on the grass next to each other.

  Back on earth we occasionally had what we called the blue moon, and it was supposed to be one of the most magnificent displays of celestial beauty to behold, but compared to the crimson moon rising in the east, earth’s blue moon was a speck.

  The red moon grew bigger and brighter while Nika and I watched. It took up the area of four of my Earth moons, but its red hue did nothing to obscure the shimmering stars that were brighter than any I had ever seen. New constellations and distant galaxies opened before me, and I wondered where in the night sky my home world was.

  Eventually we grew tired of being out in the open and moved inside our lean-to. Once inside, we snuggled up under the blanket that came with my molle pack and poked our heads out beyond the tarp.

  “You see those two bright stars next to each other?” said Nika as she pointed straight up.

  “Yeah, I see them. They are beautiful.”

  She nodded. “They are you and me. The two shining jewels. May they forever be known as Ken and Nika, patriarch and matriarch of Clan Jewell.”

  If I hadn’t been so choked up by the statement, I might have replied. Nika’s belief in me struck a chord that had never been played by any other woman. I had had girlfriends, sure. But I had never felt what I felt with Nika for any other woman. The realization shocked me, and I thought back on my relationships. I filed through them, mentally reciting everything that had happened, and why in the end it hadn’t worked out.

  It really came down to my job.

  None of the women I had ever been with could take the months apart, the long tours, or waking up to their boyfriend’s nightmares. I didn’t know if Nika could handle time apart, but I guessed that she would fight her way to me if need be, and she had already proven herself a kind and understanding soul when it came to my dreams.

  Of course, I had only recently met her, and the long road was the long road. Sure, feelings for someone new were intense, and only time would tell. But in this strange new world full of strange new creatures, the woman beside me had become the familiar comfort that I realized that I’d always needed.

  We fell asleep in each other’s arms that night beneath the stars, and if night took twelve hours on this world, then it was twelve hours that I slept. When I awoke to the sound of birdsong and the rays of the first sun, I glanced over at Nika, but she wasn’t there.

  Then I heard her retching somewhere in the distance, and I sprang from the tent to see what was wrong. I assumed that the new food had made her sick, but there were two more fish grilling over the fire. I sco
ured the camp, but there was no Nika in sight.

  “Nika?” I called.

  “I’ll be right there, Ken Jewell,” came her voice from down the riverbank.

  She emerged from behind a bush a moment later and walked back to camp with a huge smile on her face.

  “What’s wrong, Nika. What is it?” I asked.

  “Nothing is wrong,” she said as her smile grew even wider. “Everything is perfect, Ken Jewell. I’m pregnant!”

  Chapter 5

  “What? You’re pregnant? How did that happen?” Both my brain and my stomach were spinning in opposite directions, and I had to force myself to breathe slowly.

  Nika grinned and rubbed her stomach happily. “We had sex, silly. That’s how babies are made. Does it work differently on your Earth?”

  “No, it works the same, it just takes a lot longer to, you know. Uhhh…” My voice trailed off when I remembered that she’d been a virgin when we had first made love. I had been about to ask her if it was my baby. “Are you sure you are pregnant? It’s just that we only had sex yesterday and--”

  “Oh, I am sure, Ken Jewell!” She clapped her hands and then gave me a wonderful smile. “Goblins know really soon if we are pregnant. I am so excited. I’ve never had a child before, and I am so glad it is with someone as wonderful as you. You are going to be a father!”

  I didn’t know what to say to that, so I paced outside the tent and tried to wrap my mind around the idea of having a baby. Not only that, but a half goblin baby.

  Nika walked over to me and blocked my way as I paced.

  “What is wrong? Don’t you want me to have children? Don’t you want to have a family with me?”

  Her sad face melted my heart, so I touched her face gently and forced a smile. “Of course I want you, and I want a family, but I’ve barely wrapped my mind around being on a different world, let alone having children to worry about.”

  “You won’t have to worry about them,” she promised with her infectious smile. “I told you I would give you strong sons and daughters, and that is what I will do.”

  “I can’t imagine having a child in such a wild world,” I said to her.

  “Everything will be fine. You will see. There are dangers, but you are a strong warrior, and you will build us a strong warren.”

  “A warren? What’s that?”

  “It is somewhere warm and dry, with shelter, and a bed, and happiness,” she explained.

  “Oh, you mean a house,” I realized.

  “Yes, Ken Jewell,” she said with an agreeable nod. “You will make us a house for our new family.”

  It was hard enough to keep myself out of danger in this world, and I had just gotten used to the idea of fending for Nika as well. Now there was a baby on the way?

  Holy shit. I was going to be a dad.

  I imagined what the baby would look like, and if it would be normal, and how the hell I had gotten her pregnant in the first place. She wasn’t human, and I wondered if there were other cross-breeds out there. I knew one thing for certain, the villagers from Hamstead would think the child was a freak, and if they discovered that I had brought Nika up to the surface, they would try their utmost to kill us all.

  Nika was right, I needed to build a house, and not just any house, but one that could be easily defended. I knew it was only a matter of time before we ran into trouble with the locals.

  I thought back on my old life and realized that aside from my parents and siblings, I wouldn’t really be missed. I had been a busy man back on Earth, always moving, always working. My dedication to the military had left me with no real friends and had ruined all my past romantic relationships. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I didn’t really miss Earth at all.

  My plan had been to find a way home somehow, but I figured that even if it was possible, I couldn’t leave Nika and the baby behind. I entertained the idea of bringing them back with me, but I knew that there was absolutely no way that they could live in a world with only humans.

  No, I needed to stay.

  I was falling deeper in love with Nika the more time I spent around her, but I was still somewhat nervous to be a father. When I first arrived in this strange new world I had thought myself cursed, but now I was beginning to believe that it was indeed a blessing. I had a real opportunity to have a good life here with an even better woman. With my engineering skills and other knowledge that I gained back on Earth, I would be able to build an awesome house, one that would be able to withstand just about anything the humans of this world and creatures of the underdark could throw at it.

  “Alright, Nika,” I said. “I will build a warren for our new family, and it will be the best goddamned warren you have ever seen.”

  “Oh, Ken Jewell!” She sprang toward me and wrapped me up in a loving embrace. “You make me so happy. Everything will be alright. You will see.”

  We ate our grilled fish, but Nika was still hungry, so she fished in the river while I broke down our camp. She was becoming pretty good at it and had caught a dozen big fat trout by the time I had stuffed everything back into my molle pack. There were still glowing coals in the firepit, and I was about to suggest that we smoke the fish before we headed out, but when Nika began eating one of the fish raw, I realized that they wouldn’t last very long.

  “You hungry?” I asked sarcastically as I watched her stuff her face with trout.

  “Like a basilisk!” she said with her mouth full. “But these fish will do for now. Do you want one?”

  “No, you go ahead. I’m not hungry,” I told her as I scoured the surrounding landscape. Our little camp was in a nice spot, but it was too close to the cave where we had emerged from the underdark, so I decided to search for a more suitable location.

  I led Nika downriver for a half of an hour in search of an ideal place to set up camp. To the north, the ridgeline continued to dip and swell, and the river widened as we moved farther west with the current. I had no idea which direction the ocean or the village of Hamstead was, but I knew that both were no farther than ten miles away. Nika and I had traveled through the underdark for about two hours, and the going had been tedious and slow.

  “Come on,” I said. “Let’s climb that tall hill and see if we can get a lay of the land.”

  “Lead the way,” she said as she happily licked her fingers.

  “Holy shit!” I said when I noticed that all the fish were gone. “Did you really just eat twelve trout?”

  “Yup,” she said as she contently rubbed her belly. “The baby is so hungry. He is going to be big and strong, you wait and see.”

  “He?”

  “Oh yes. We will need a boy to help with work, so I will give you a boy first.”

  “First?” I laughed. “Just how many babies are you planning on having?”

  “As many as I can, silly.”

  I laughed nervously. “Do you think it’s a good idea to have more children than we can manage?” I asked.

  “Ken Jewell, why do you feel that children will be a burden? I've told you that our children will be very strong and helpful. The more we have, the better our warren will be. Trust me.”

  I wasn’t sure that I agreed with her yet, but that was still in the future, and for the time being I had more pressing matters to deal with.

  The hill was steep but manageable, and when we reached the summit, I moved in a slow circle to get my bearings. The ridge that I stood on slowly descended to the north, and a wide field of grass with sparse trees continued down to a distant valley. I thought I could make out civilization far across the valley, and I guessed the village to be Hamstead. It was about ten miles away, and there were no roads that I could see leading in this direction. With any luck, we might be able to find some peace, but I still intended on adding heavy fortifications to the house once we found a good spot. There were other things to worry about besides humans and wild animals. We had left the cave a few miles behind us, but if a monster raiding party came out of there some night, we mig
ht be in trouble.

  “I found something!” Nika hollered from farther down the ridge.

  I rushed over to her, not knowing if she meant she had found a creature. But it wasn’t a creature, it was the remains of a long abandoned human house.

  “Did I do good?” she asked, her voice laced with hope.

  “You did great,” I said as I surveyed the ruins. The stone foundation was flat, and a half wall about three-feet tall sat in varying degrees of disrepair around the perimeter of the foundation, but it would be an easy enough job to fix it. There was also a wide fireplace and a chimney that appeared to be functional. To the west, between the ridge and the river, there were three terraced fields that had once upon a time been used for growing crops. The fields had gone fallow, but with some TLC, I had no doubt that they would become bountiful once more. The homestead also had a foundation outline of what I guessed had once been a barn, and I walked around it before I returned to the house.

  The spot sat on the south side of the ridge, about twenty feet from the peak, and that would keep it hidden from the people of distant Hamstead. I climbed again to the top of the ridge and spied the distant village to the north once more. Far out on the western horizon I thought I saw the ocean. To the south was the river and forest beyond, but no houses, villages, or towns. To the east was more forest, and also the cave where we had emerged from the underdark.

  “This is perfect,” I told Nika. “We have to make sure that there are no holes leading to the underdark nearby.”

  “I can search for them,” she offered.

  As Nika set out to explore the area around the old homestead, I started to set up our temporary shelter. I cleaned out the fireplace, made sure that the chimney was unobstructed, and then started a small fire. Next I set about fixing the broken parts of the walls. The entire foundation was fifteen by twenty feet, and I figured that was more than enough room for our purposes at the moment. I unearthed a hole carved out of the stone that I quickly realized had supported the structure’s center beam. There were also anchoring spots on each corner, and four more dug into the middle of each of the four walls. It was a good start, but I had my work cut out for me.