Shifters, Beasts, and Monsters

by Aya Fukunishi, Linda Barlow, Elixa Everett, Virginia Wade, Savannah Reardon, Skye Eagleday, Giselle Renarde, Jessi Bond, Natalie Deschain, Audrey Grace, Francis Ashe, J. E.

  I walked towards the sound, figuring if it was a nosy coyote brought by the smell of the food inside, I’d frighten it off. I heard a sort of scraping sound, like rocks being disturbed. That didn’t sound very coyote like. Bears had never been seen in this area. It might be an owl feeding. Blessed Yei--that would be even worse of an omen than a coyote. Owls are the messengers of Death.

  I froze, questioning if ignorance was better than knowledge. I took a deep breath and told myself ignorance was never better than knowledge. Even if this was something I didn’t want to know—that Death was coming—I would deal with it. I would always deal with it. This is the true role of a woman.

  The sound came again, this time closer. I cautiously slowed, now better able to locate the direction of whatever was out there. Oh, Yei, what if it were Bidziil? The Chief Medicine Man would kill us all if he discovered what we were doing. It was a fear we all lived with every time we gathered beneath the Moon. We protected ourselves by telling the men we were away because our blood was flowing for the Moon, and no male could be around us because we were too sacred.

  But in my heart of hearts, I always felt if any man would suspect us, it would be the hateful Bidziil. I had watched him stray more than once from the Beauty Way, but none would question him because of his position. Then the other men would follow his example, and our precious world would go even more out of balance. It was why what we did was so vital.

  Without thinking, my hand touched the sharp Bowie knife tied to the fringe of my belt. I had paid dearly for it at the Trading Post, but it sliced meat better than anything I had known before. I prayed to the Yei I would not be slicing the neck of Bidziil in the next few moments.

  Nayee

  This place seemed familiar. I tasted the air and remembered a time long ago, even for me. I had known what the breeze brought me—the plants, the dry soil itself. Not far away a fire was roasting some sort of meat. But even closer to me was the faint smell of—yes—it was a human. A female human.

  Every now and then a human would summon us. Sometimes it was deliberate and they specifically sought us. Most often it was accidental. The stars were aligned in the right way. The time was right. Their minds and hearts pulled us because what they prayed to was close enough to claim us.

  I pulled myself forward with my forepods. This world had a lighter gravity and I slid in the direction of the human faster than I had intended, knocking away rocks as I moved.

  I accepted this must be an accidental summoning. In the human world, a formal Call would be from a wizard, shaman, or witch and they would be surrounded by all their meaningless and confusing objects, waiting for me with hungry eyes and demands. The fact I had appeared alone in the darkness meant whoever was out there didn’t know what they were doing.

  That would make it very easy for me. It always had before.

  I continued forward, remembering the last time I had been in their world.

  Shakyo

  I could see something swaying in the distance. My first thought was it was the branches of a tree, but there was not enough wind. There wasn’t a tree nearby. Again I stopped, trying to make sense of what I was watching. It seemed a tangle of vines. I again thought of a tree, but this was like nothing I had known.

  It came closer. A very faint gleam began to spread across it. Dear Yei! It appeared to be what my carefully spun yarn ended up like the time my baby brother had gotten into it. But this was living yarn? No—it was so large—the size of a bull, if the bull had thick spiraling vines instead of legs. It looked at me. I could see nothing that I would recognize as eyes, but that sense of looking was unmistakable. It moved again in my direction.

  The gleam increased to a glow. Colors played across those swaying vines. They were like stripes—they were rainbow stripes. Sweet Yei? Had I really called one of the Rainbow Men? In the sand paintings, they were not always as human looking as some of the other Yei. Some of the Stories say rainbows were sometimes rope. Coyote had lassoed the Water Monster’s children with a rope of rainbows.

  Could this be what the storytellers were trying to describe to those of us who had never seen what was before me? Was a Rainbow Man made of living ropes? Two of the vine ropes seemed to wave at me. I lifted my hand and waved back. I sank to my knees because truly I was in the presence of the Sacred.

  Nayee

  She was young for a human. But I could smell she was ripe. It was the destiny of our people to share ourselves with humans and all of the other beings across the dimensions that could summon us. Except the Bah-tai. My two primary matingpods curled tight in protection at the very thought of the Bah-tai. Only once had I been Called to them.

  I forced my matingpods to relax, shaking them to force them to calm. To my surprise, the human mimicked my movement. Then she knelt down, inviting me to share myself.

  My slight earlier arousal at her fresh smell had sent a shiver of color across my matingpods. I was now growing more excited and my very being intensified. In a moment I would be bright enough to cast shadows in her dark world.

  I slid closer.

  Shakyo

  I nearly fainted from my excitement. We had so many Stories of the Yei blessing Human People with their presence. I began to quietly sing the Rainbow Song again. This Rainbow Man must have heard the Prayer Songs of our ceremony. Yes—this was the way it should be—the Hozoji—we had asked for nothing, and in our simple thankfulness of what the Earth Mother and Creation provided, we are provided yet more.

  My Rainbow Man pulled Himself forward on His front rope ends. As He did, He became brighter. It was as if He had swallowed the Moon Herself. Such beauty! Colors danced across Him and I held my breath while my heartbeat boomed in my ears louder than my drum. I memorized the moment so I could weave the Rainbow Man’s true shape into a blanket. I sighed because not even the White Man dyes I could barely afford at the Trading Post could give me anything like the living hues of my Rainbow Man.

  As He neared me, I could smell what reminded me of the air after lightning strikes. In the Stories the Yei will often travel on a rainbow. Perhaps a Rainbow Man would travel on lightning? I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye and realized it was the wavering shadow of my outstretched hand. My Rainbow Man was now casting light so bright He had brought shadows into the dark of the Moon. Such Power!

  Nayee

  I did not recognize the clothes of this one. It seemed as if each time I entered the human dimension the ones I found there were always clad in something different. Sometimes it was animal skins and sometimes they would wear elaborately embroidered robes. Only once had the ones who gathered around me been nude. That had been very convenient.

  I touched her with one of my probepods, its sensitive tip sliding across the smoothness of her face. I brushed the silkiness of her hair. It was bound tightly into roundness at the back of her neck with a woven strip of cloth. I teased at it until her dark hair spilled out, surprising me at its sleek length. It fell below her waist.

  She shook her head and her freed hair danced across her shoulders. My matingpods began to engorge and their colors took on their true form. My other three extended and began to explore her clothing, seeking out how to remove them. There—some sort of tie. This should be easy.

  Shakyo

  My Rainbow Man touched my face with one of His living ropes—this one thinner than the ones He used to move. It felt like the smooth coolness of a snake. I suppose that made sense. His ropes moved somewhat like snakes. The rope reached behind me and tugged at the tskloh that held my hair. The tskloh came loose and my hair fell out, still holding its braid. If this is what he wanted? I shook my hair slowly back and forth, feeling the braid come undone until my hair spread out.

  Oh! Perhaps this was like my Puberty Ceremony? The morning after I was first tied to the Moon, I was ritually bathed and dressed. I was told to lie down and Tibah’s beautiful older sister had come in to symbolically mold my body. Then she braided my hair and bound it with my first true tskloh. Did my Rainbow
Man intend to perform another initiation ceremony? Would I become even more of a woman with His divine touch?

  With this in mind, I watched him extend more of his thinner ropes and they patted my body, just as Tibah’s sister had done! His ropes flexed around me and I felt them untie my dress. He gently pulled my clothing away so the pieces joined the fallen tskloh and the air kissed my nude warm body. I lay down facing Him, just as I had been taught to do for my Puberty Ceremony, although I had been fully clothed for that. Perhaps a divine ceremony would be the reversal? He would remove my clothes and then I would be ritually bathed?

  I continued to sing the Rainbow Song, and felt any tension in my body relax as I felt his smooth ropes gently caress me.

  Nayee

  Never before have I known one like this! It as if she has been trained to be mine since her childhood. She willingly allowed me to disrobe her as I felt her inner peace. Her attempt at music was oddly pleasant. Normally I didn’t like the human voice. Then when I had her clothes off, she lay prone before me, in open invitation. I wasn’t quite sure why she did not expose her birthing slit to me, but I would find it soon enough. I would honor her and use what was offered first.

  I extended my primary probepod and felt around one of her earholes. Within I could feel the smallest of hairs resound to my touch. I circled it and her heartbeat sped up. Humans were so predictable.

  Shakyo

  Oh, Sweet Yei—He began to twist his smallest rope within my ear! In our language, the word for orgasm and digging within one’s ear is the same and finally I understood why this was so! A shiver of ecstasy shot through my body. Another one of his thinner ropes slid across my hips.

  Nayee

  Never have I felt more desire for an entity than I have for this human—and she was just a human—nothing like the Joyskinners of Piltalga. Once more I probed her ear hole and got the same increase of her heartbeat. Waves of desire spilled from her.

  I probed her lower hole as she lay face down. I knew from my past experiences this orifice would be useless for mating, but for some of the humans, they found it stimulating. Since she had offered herself to me in this way, I accepted this is what she wanted first.

  I slid my probepod easily into her, and felt her jerk in response.

  Shakyo

  Oh, Yei! What was He doing? He pushed into me! He pushed me there! What was He doing? I cried out and tried to drag myself away from him!

  Nayee

  What is this? The human seemed to be hurt—she pulled away from me and made a sound that hurt me. I seized her with my probepods and extended my matingpods to their full length. I had been with reluctant humans before—but until now, this one had seemed so willing.

  My probepods caressed her face since the human seemed to respond well to this. But this time she simply cried out and the sound made me withdraw into myself automatically.

  But my matingpods were engorged. I flipped her over and exposed her birth slit. Expecting her to be tight, since she smelled so young, I pushed just the tip of one of my pods in, spiraling down, touching her soft folds. She cried out in a way I recognized as pleasure rather than fear. Encouraged, I extended two more of my matingpods. One dove deeper into the hole she had offered me when we had started. This orifice was very tight, and I forced entry as she made a noise that hurt me. Now angry, I jammed even deeper and she made the same noise again, but this time in a stronger and higher decibel.

  Shakyo

  Sweet Yei! The Elders tell us this is what we call rape! I was told sex for the first time might be painful, but then pleasure would flood in. But there was no pleasure! I involuntarily tightened myself, but the bastard pushed even further, circling his rope tip within me. As He did so, I could feel a spillover of what might be pleasure. Was I wrong? Were the Stories wrong?

  Nayee

  She was so confusing—offering and then screaming when I accepted her offer. What civilized species could understand humans? If she were now fighting me, I might as well use the time I had before I returned to my own world.

  I extended all four of my matingpods and I glowed so brightly her body blazed with the reflection. Using my forepods I lifted her from the ground where she lay. One matingpod went into the hole she first offered me. The second shoved into her face hole. The true matingpod thrust itself into her birth slit. The fourth of my matingpods played lightly with her ear holes—first one and then the other.

  She screamed again but this time there was the unmistakable reverberation of mating joy that did not differ from dimension to dimension. My forepods lifted her higher and I dug even deeper inside her birth slit. I felt myself tighten in preparation.

  Shakyo

  Oh, Yei! It’s true, here is no love! This is nothing sacred! There is no ceremony! This Rainbow Man is raping me exactly as my Elders told me about rape! Suddenly he filled me with his rope and I knew he had hurt me as I could feel the blood from my asshole trickle down. His other ropes jammed into me and I could no longer breathe with the one in my mouth. I screamed, forcing his thin rope out of me, but the one in my asshole only pushed further, and his damned ropes played with my ears! Then he pushed completely into my womanhood! His rope was so large I could feel my body tear and bleed!

  Nayee

  Perhaps this is an insane one? Our own history tells us a significant percentage who Call us will be insane by the standards of their species. She had offered herself freely to me and now she acts as if she had been unwilling all the time. In anger I jammed her more forcefully and she screamed to the extent I hurt from the sound.

  With more effort than I had anticipated, I readied myself for what I must do before I snapped back to my own reality, across the infinite dimensions. I exploded into her birth slit, feeling her bend forward from the force of my injection. I knew as I felt spent I had been successful. We always knew. This human would carry my young. Once more we establish our territory across the dimensions.

  Shakyo

  I burned! I could feel the blood flow from my asshole and my pussy as I gagged with the rope in my mouth and spit it out. I drew in a deep breath and the Rainbow Man flared so brightly I was blinded. I screamed again and felt all of his ropes withdraw at once. I fell to the ground and felt a heaviness I had never known and my soul was spinning with trying to make sense of a Yei who rapes. Only Coyote rapes! Even First Woman had willingly made First Man a cuckold with Badgerman.

  I heard a cry and looked up. Bidziil stood in front of me.

  << >>

  (Earlier that night)

  Bidziil

  I was so angry I didn’t realize I had crushed the tskloh I had just found in my hand. I didn’t know which of the women had lost it. All the women used one to tie back their hair. Everything needed to be kept in order. Wear your hair loose and a witch might find a single lost strand and use it to harm you with wicked magic. That was why you always had to keep a careful eye on women. They’d naturally do something out of harmony—the way First Woman had betrayed First Man with Badgerman.

  There had been whispers in the night from the men about how women were disappearing at odd times, claiming it was their moon time. I had my doubts. Some of the old women said if the younger ones lived close enough to one another their moon time would become the same. Old women were often wrong. No, I had no doubt my worst fears had come true. The women were rebelling, just as in the Stories.

  When First Woman lay with Badger Man, First Man was so righteously offended he called all the Men together and they left the Women, seeking to purify themselves from their female corruption. He wisely went to one of the Turquoise Twins who was neither male nor female, asking Him to go with the Men. “You can do everything a Man can do or a Woman can do. Come with us to prepare our food and do the things the Women would do.” He agreed and joined the Men to cross a great river and they prospered.

  The Women grew hungry when the Men were not there to hunt for them. Their appetites and their lust continued to grow in their isolation and they sought pleasure in
a disgusting way, having sex with whatever they could find—sticks, stones, cactus they had scrapped free of thorns. They shoved these things within them, seeking to replace a true Man’s touch. Then they started giving birth to monsters.

  Men have passed these Stories down to remind us a woman is never to be trusted. Oh, they had fought us. When the Whitemen came, they tried to convince us our old ways were wrong and that we should embrace their little god on a stick they wore around their necks. Our homes were properly round so no evil could collect in the corners, but they had built a house for their little god and it was shaped like a brick with sharp corners, no doubt filling up with evil. That would explain a lot of their behavior.

  I had urged our people to enforce our beliefs and practices, making them as pure as possible to balance what the Whitemen were doing to us and around us. That also meant cracking down on the women who wanted to conduct their own ceremonies. As if women had proper ceremonies—no, that was clearly the responsibility of men.

  Even in the Stories, the only real thing First Woman had done was to place the So' Dine'é—the Star People--into the night sky. She had even gotten that wrong when Coyote became impatient with how slowly She was arranging the stars and He grabbed Her deer skin where She had sorted the shining stars and flung them into the air.

  That caused the Yikáísídáhí –what I had heard the Whiteman Priest call the Milky Way-- to form. The stars were scattered haphazardly. My father’s mother had called what Coyote had done Łees'áán yílzhódí. It was a better word. It meant the way a cake will crumble when you drag it across something hard. I looked up and it did look like a lot of shining crumbs above me.