by Logan Jacobs
There were little tents made of cloth spread over about seven different trees, on branches both above and below the one Mira and I stood on. The tents were all connected by little bridges made from vines that had been twisted and knitted together, and there were also a few platforms made of thick green vines.
“I’m back!” Jemma called out.
About fifty women all peeked their heads out from the tents at the exact same time. They all had the same huge eyes and long, lean figures Jemma did, but some were brunette, some blonde, and some had black hair. Their eyes were a mix of Jemma’s light green, blue, and a light silver that was completely entrancing.
Slowly, the women all stepped out and stared at Mira and me with the exact same look Jemma had given us when we’d first saved her. It was a mix of fear, shock, and surprise.
I noticed a bunch of the women pointed at Mira as they whispered to one another, and the warrior shifted uncomfortably from the attention, but stood her ground.
“What are they?” a small voice cried out.
I turned to see two little girls, about ten years old in human years, on a platform outside of a tent across from us. They had long brown hair and wide green eyes, and they stared at Mira and me with the adoration only children can possess.
I smiled and gave them a little wave.
A woman shushed them instantly, and she had the same brown hair, but her eyes were a brilliant silver. I assumed she was probably their mother from the way they instantly fell quiet.
“It’s okay.” I smiled at her. “My name is Ben, and this is Mira.”
I spoke to the whole village now, and indicated both myself and Mira. The warrior gave a little half wave as she surveyed the women in front of us.
“They saved me from a warg,” Jemma called out. “It was about to take me to the invaders, but these two killed it.”
That was the wrong thing to say.
A heavy silence fell over the crowd, and I could instantly feel their disdain at the fact I’d killed a living creature, despite the fact that it was absolutely evil and needed to get the hell of the face of the earth.
“We’ve come to help you,” I announced to the women. “To save you from the invaders who are threatening you.”
“There is no room in our world for violence,” the brunette woman who’d shushed the two little girls retorted as she stepped forward, too. She looked right at me, and I noticed her gaze was the only one that didn’t lower in fear the moment we made eye contact. “We cannot kill the wargs. It is forbidden by the Goddess. You have done a great wrong.”
I blinked in shock.
What?
Chapter Three
Honestly, if the woman who’d spoken hadn’t looked so absolutely innocent, I probably would have thought it was a total joke.
Since Jemma had been so freaked out when Mira and I had killed the warg, though, I knew this nonviolent belief ran deep for these women.
But that needed to change.
Mira and I couldn’t kill all the wargs on the island by ourselves. We would need their help, so we would need them to change their beliefs on violence.
And fast.
“Listen.” I stepped forward and addressed all of the women. “I understand you’ve lived this way for a long time, but I was told to come here, to save you. Maybe we can just get to know each other first, and I can show you why you need to defend yourselves.”
A quiet murmur ran through the crowd of women, and Mira and I shared a look.
“She is a … warrior?” a second woman asked and indicated Mira. This woman had strawberry blonde hair past her waist and strikingly blue eyes the same bright hue as Jemma’s.
“I am.” Mira nodded. “I come from an island much like this one. We were also terrorized by the ugly invaders, our men killed, and our women stolen from us. But Ben came from the heavens to save us, and he has since helped us defeat the pirates and reclaim our land. Is that not something you would want to do?”
Thank the gods for Mira. The woman had a way with words like no other.
Unfortunately, though, she was met with a deafening silence, the kind of silence that made me want to shuffle awkwardly in place, but the woman who’d asked about Mira gave us the perfect diversion.
“Well, I believe the newcomers deserve a tour,” she announced as she flicked her blonde hair over her shoulder. “I will give it to them.”
The woman climbed gracefully from her platform and over the vine bridges that connected the tents to make her way toward us. Then the crowd slowly began to disperse, but not before more whispers and looks were thrown our way.
These women seemed so fearful and timid. It was such a stark contrast to the greeting I’d received from the serpent women that I knew it would take me a while to get used to it.
“Hello,” the strawberry blonde woman greeted as she approached us.
“This is Ainsley,” Jemma said with a smile on her face. “She is our wisest woman.”
“Jemma, you know we are all wise ones here,” Ainsley chuckled as she walked right up to me, and it was all I could do not to let my mouth flop open like an aroused fish.
All of these women were drop dead fucking gorgeous, but something about Ainsley put her above even that. She was almost goddess-like, and everything about her made me want to worship her and screw her all at once.
Just like Jemma, she was about my height, but with a small, slender torso and long, toned legs. Her pale skin seemed iridescent and glittery, and her blonde hair looked so soft I wanted to run my fingers through it over and over again. Perfect, white teeth showed when she smiled at me, and her large blue eyes had the sexiest, come hither look I’d ever seen.
There was not a doubt in my mind this woman was a fucking firecracker. I had to wonder, though, if this was the woman Marella mentioned in her visions.
If so, I was so damn glad I’d sailed to this island. I had to force my mind to stay on task and not wander into the most wonderful sexual fantasy I’d ever had.
“It’s nice to meet you, Ainsley,” I said, and in a gesture I’d learned from every medieval movie ever, I reached out and took her small, soft hand in mine. Then I brought it up to my lips and gave her a gentle kiss.
Oh, my gods. Her skin was absolutely fucking divine. It was silky and soft, like the most perfect whipped cream, and I couldn’t help but instantly feel a need to run my hands over every single inch of that smooth skin.
“Oh,” Ainsley gasped as I kissed her hand.
I watched a red-hot blush flood her cheeks, but she made zero attempts to take her hand from me. So, I made sure to hold the moment as long as possible, just long enough for it to almost seem ridiculous, before I finally let her hand drop.
Ainsley held my gaze for another few hot, heavy seconds before she turned to Mira.
“And you are?” she asked gently.
“Mira.” The warrior grinned.
Ainsley held out her hand expectantly, which caused Mira to laugh.
“Uh, no, I think that’s more of a Dragon King thing,” Mira replied.
“Dragon King?” Ainsley cocked her head to the side as she tested the words out on her tongue. “What is that?”
“Just a name.” I shrugged.
My explanation clearly didn’t do much, because Ainsley continued to look at me in confusion.
“What is a … king?” she asked.
“Oh!” I gasped as realization dawned on me. “You don’t have kings here? They’re like a ruler, you know, in charge of everyone. Like a queen, but in male form.”
“We do not have those here.” Ainsley shook her head. “No one rules over us. We simply live together.”
“You mean you make decisions as a group?” I prodded. That made a hell of a lot more sense to me than royalty, if I was being honest.
“No,” Ainsley replied. “We all live freely and do as we wish.”
Huh.
Well, that explained a lot.
It would be awfully hard to fight a common enem
y when the people weren’t even united under some sort of government system. It was why all those hippie communes had failed in the seventies.
But I was in a world where hippies hadn’t even existed.
So, now I knew the two underlying causes of their lack of defense. They didn’t believe in violence, and they were all a bunch of hippies.
It was endearing, in a way. The innocent naivety in these women’s expressions made the testosterone-induced, protective tendencies inside me flare up like nobody’s business.
At the same time, though, I wanted them to want to fight. There was no way the pirates would just up and leave this island, especially not when the women were so fucking gorgeous.
It was, in all honesty, a kill or be killed situation.
Mira must have seen in my expression exactly what I was thinking, and the jade haired warrior simply nodded before she turned back to Ainsley.
“Jemma has told us a bit about your home,” Mira said, “but Ben and I would like to know more. May we have a tour now?”
“Oh, of course!” Ainsley grinned, and the woman turned on her heels and motioned for Mira, Jemma, and myself to follow.
“Your infrastructure is pretty great,” I remarked as I looked around at the tents and bridges.
I could see how everything was made to be moved easily. The tents were nothing more than a large square of white cloth hung over a tree branch, with a platform that served as the floor and extended beyond the opening. The platforms were made of woven vines, and while I could feel how sturdy they were under my feet, I could also see how they would easily roll up. The only thing that would need to be replaced were the sticks that served as the skeleton of the tent and made sure the vines didn’t collapse. It was the same with the bridges, though those were made more like an old-fashioned rope bridge and had no sticks underneath them.
These women had formed their entire lives around their need to move. It was at once impressive and sad.
“Thank you.” Ainsley smiled. “It is what we are best at. Hello, Thornen!”
Ainsley waved at a much older deer woman who was on a platform to our left. She was still beautiful, but she had a few lines that showed around her mouth and eyes, and her black hair bore streaks of white.
Thornen raised a hand in a silent wave to Mira and me, and we returned the gesture.
“Thornen is the oldest among us,” Ainsley explained. “She has the clearest memory of the time before the invaders, back when we were thriving and happy.”
“You can get back to that time again,” Mira assured her. “We did it, with Ben’s help. And he’ll help you, too.”
“Tell me about your home,” Ainsley requested as she turned her blue eyes to me. “What is the other island like? We thought, up until today, that the only other island housed the invaders.”
“There’s a lot of other islands, actually,” I told her. “I’m not totally sure what’s on them, but I’m told there are other civilizations that have been tormented by the invaders, too.”
“Ben is going to save them,” Mira added with a proud smile. “He was told this by a soothsayer.”
“One who sees that future?” Ainsley gasped. “That is amazing, Ben!”
“Thanks.” I grinned as a blush rose to my cheeks.
“This is the medicine tent,” Ainsley said as she stopped in front of the biggest tent I’d seen in their little village.
Jemma slipped inside ahead of us to presumably go tend to her wound, while Ainsley opened the flap for Mira and me. Instantly, I was hit with the hot, heavy feeling of steam. The place was like a sauna, but Mira and I followed Ainsley inside.
“It is rather warm in here,” Mira laughed as she fanned herself with one hand.
“Heat heals all,” Ainsley explained. “Many illnesses have been sweated out in the infirmary.”
I could see the source of the steam now. In the center, a fire burned over a pile of sand so the embers didn’t set the entire forest on fire, and over the fire sat a clay pot filled with water.
“You guys have clay here?” I asked as my heart skipped a beat.
This was exactly what I needed. At home, there was no way to make dishes and pots easily, and clay would solve so many of our problems.
“Do you not?” Jemma questioned, and I turned to see her seated on a log while a young woman with soft brown curls and olive skin placed a poultice over her wounds.
“Not on our island,” Mira replied with a shake of her head, and then she turned to be with a grin. “Ben, this could come in handy.”
“Absolutely.” I nodded. “Jemma, how’s your arm?”
“I’ll be healed soon.” The auburn-haired woman smiled.
“You’ll be healed that fast?” I asked her in surprise.
“Along with Nira’s many wonderful creatures, like the squirt, we also have poultices that have been blessed by the Goddess for a speedy recovery.” Ainsley nodded.
“Look, Ben, I am already beginning to heal!” Mira exclaimed as she peeled back the bandage over her wound to reveal it had already scabbed over. “Talise would love the medicines of this island.”
“We grow many medicinal plants.” Jemma smiled. “Ainsley, have you shown them the gardens yet? Ben could help us with that!”
“You guys have gardens?” I questioned with a quirked eyebrow. I couldn’t figure out how the deer women could have a garden up in the trees. I hadn’t seen any sort of hanging plants or pots while we’d walked through the camp.
“Yes.” Ainsley nodded. “Follow me.”
She led us back down the path we’d come and then began to climb down a ladder that was built into the tree.
“You have gardens on the ground?” Mira asked. “How does that work when you have to leave?”
“It doesn’t,” Ainsley sighed.
Just before we passed through the final layer of branches, Ainsley froze.
“Don’t move until I know there are no wargs down there,” she whispered.
“I’ll do that,” I offered, and I reached a hand out to stop her before she could move another muscle.
I didn’t want to risk that there was a monster down there, since Ainsley wouldn’t be able to fight it off.
“Thank you.” She smiled softly. It was the kind of smile a woman gives when she’s lived without the protection of a man for too long, and then she is suddenly reminded she doesn’t have to do everything herself anymore.
All in all, it was an expression that made my heart stumble in my chest.
“You’re welcome,” I rasped before I lowered myself down through the last layer of branches and silently dropped to the ground. I kept my hand on my sword as I listened for any sort of movement. After a few moments, I heard the slight rustle of the leaves in the warm breeze, and a few crickets chirped a little ways away, but other than that, the forest was completely silent.
“It’s safe,” I called back up through the trees.
Mira dropped down first, with a broad smile on her face.
“I like this place,” she laughed when she hit the ground.
Next came Ainsley, and I watched as the lithe, lean woman gracefully descended through the thick of the branches and almost floated down to the forest floor. Her long legs bent just slightly to absorb the impact, and then she fearfully looked around.
Clearly, these wargs had done a serious number on her.
“They normally hunt at night and in the early morning,” she informed us, “but we can never be too cautious. The fields are this way.”
Ainsley took us another hundred yards through the forest and stopped just in front of a large, triangular clearing. It was obvious from the freshly mulled dirt that the clearing had been made recently, but where I’d expected to see plants and food, there was nothing but dirt. Lots and lots of dirt. A few tiny little green sprouts could be seen here and there, but there was absolutely nothing to indicate that the food would be at all sustainable.
“Uh, where are your gardens?” Mira asked with a fro
wn.
“This is it,” Ainsley sighed. “We do not have the methods or ability to fortify the fields much. When we move our village, it becomes hard to travel back to a field and maintain it. The longer the journey, the more likely we are to be attacked and captured by the wargs.”
“So, how do you eat?” I inquired.
Ainsley glanced at me, and the sad, hollow look that filled her eyes made my heart physically hurt. It was then I really took in her skin, the way it was nearly translucent but not in a good way, the purple circles under her eyes, and the way her arms lacked any real definition. She didn’t look like someone who was built to be thin and sallow, like a malnourished runway model. These women were supposed to be strong and healthy, and I could see where her skin would glow and her eyes would shine if she was able to eat more.
She was breathtaking now, but she really would be a goddess if she was getting some nutrient rich calories in.
“We forage, mostly.” She finally shrugged and averted her eyes.
“There doesn’t seem to be much to forage for,” I pointed out.
“That’s true.” Ainsley nodded sadly. “Before the invaders came, our fields were healthy and abundant. My people are blessed by the Goddess with the skills of growing. But now … ”
Her voice trailed off as she stared sadly at the fields in front of us.
To my left, I heard a quiet rustling in the leaves, one I’d come to recognize as the sound of a smaller animal approaching, and the three of us turned and waited to see what would come out. Sure enough, one of those devilish little rabbits with a taste for flesh hopped out.
We were in luck, though. The little bastard didn’t see us at first as it snuffled around and kicked up dirt on the garden, clearly in search of some sort of food.
As it dug up what looked like a little potato, I drew an arrow from my quiver and nocked it in my bow. I set the rabbit in my sights, aimed, and--
“No, don’t!” Ainsley screeched.
Before I could even register what was happening, she’d knocked the arrow from my hands to the ground. Her sudden outburst had also scared the rabbit, apparently, because it scampered off into the woods, safe.