by Logan Jacobs
The creature crashed into me and sent me straight to the rock-hard ground, where the wind was knocked out of my lungs with the force of a punch from a professional boxer. Pain radiated throughout my body as I coughed and spluttered, but I didn’t even have time to attempt to regain my breath as my attacker straddled me, with both legs on either side of my midsection, and raised the axe high above their head.
There was a split second where I managed to catch a glimpse of this attacker, and what I saw nearly took my breath away.
She wasn’t very tall, maybe about five feet at the most, with a curvy figure and voluptuous breasts, just barely covered by a tiny fur outfit. It looked as if it had been made from the pelts of some sort of small, furry creature, like a rabbit. Her skin was pale, and she had two furry, pointed ears that peeked out of the top of her long, straight black hair, as well as a thick, bushy tail that came out of her tailbone and flicked around nervously, even though her steely gray eyes were impassioned and strong. Then I noticed there were three black rings on each of her wrists and ankles, just like the rings of a raccoon.
“Ayeeeee Ayeee Ayeee!” came the cry again. Then the woman chattered her teeth, raised the axe, and made a mad chop straight for my head.
“Holy shit, stop!” I screamed as I flung my head out of the way in the nick of time. The axe slammed into the ground only an inch away from my ear, where my face had been a moment ago, and blasted dirt and leaves everywhere. I tried to flip the woman over and get her under me, but her legs were just as strong as I was.
“Ayeee!” she cried again, and I was starting to think she didn’t speak any other language outside of “war cry.”
“I’m not your enemy!” I cried out as she raised the axe above her head again.
“Do not fight me!” I heard Mira yell out from somewhere to my left.
“If you are a woodland creature, I do not like them anymore!” Jemma shouted from my right.
The swoosh of air above me brought my attention right back to the problem at hand as another wild chop, this time aimed at my neck, came toward me. Thankfully, my reflexes were as fast as lightning, and I reached up and caught the attacker’s wrist before she chopped off my head, old European style.
There were definitely some things I wanted to leave behind in my old world, and the possibility of getting my head chopped off was definitely one of them.
My fingers closed around the woman’s wrist and stopped the axe mid-air, just before it could separate my head from my neck and make me a permanent part of this island.
Quickly, I pushed the woman back while I simultaneously flipped the two of us over, so I now straddled her and pinned her to the ground with my weight. She struggled and screeched, but I slammed her hands back against the ground below, knocked the axe out of her grasp, and kicked it far away from her.
Now that I wasn’t in imminent danger, I spared a glance back at Mira, Sela, and Jemma.
The auburn-haired woman had managed to climb into the branches of a tree, where I could just make out her slim form as she leapt about and fought off her attacker.
So, they could climb the trees. That was good to know.
Mira and Sela had taken on three other women together, and the dragonkin warriors held their own as they tried not to hurt the women who attacked them.
“Tell your friends to stop,” I ordered as I turned back to the woman. “We don’t want to hurt you.”
“Let me go!” she screeched instead.
“So, you do speak our language,” I growled.
“Let me go, you invader!” the woman demanded, and her steely gray eyes glared up at me.
“We’re not invaders!” I told her. “The orcs are our enemies, too. Tell your friends to stop fighting, and we can talk!”
At that moment, a thud echoed through the forest. Both me and the woman turned our heads to see Mira and Sela had managed to knock two of the women completely unconscious, and now held the other two on the ground, much the same way I held my own attacker.
“Jira!” the woman below me cried out. Her voice was filled with stress and anger, but underneath it all, I could hear the fear there.
I realized what I needed to do. For good measure, I picked up the axe I’d knocked from her grasp so she couldn’t come at me again, and then I slid off her body.
Her gray eyes widened as she stared at me, but she didn’t move for a moment. Then she glanced between my face and the axe I held in my hands nervously.
“Look,” I said, “if I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead already. So would your friends. We’re here to help.”
The woman didn’t seem to believe me, but I saw something click in her dark gray eyes. These women were used to the orcs, who would either kill them where they stood, or tie them up and take them back to their ship. She knew if I had wanted to do either of those things, they would have happened already.
“Malak, Trin, stop fighting,” the woman called out.
Immediately, the two women Mira and Sela had pinned to the ground stopped their struggles.
“I am not trying to hurt you, for the love of the goddess!” Jemma screeched out from above me.
Suddenly, the auburn-haired woman dropped to the ground, closely followed by her own attacker. The attacker crouched on the ground and bared her teeth almost like a feral animal as she geared herself up to pounce on Jemma, but then my attacker stood up.
“Lezan! Enough!” Her tone took on such a strong, authoritative tremor it made even my eyes go wide as the scolded woman, Lezan, suddenly deflated. She glared at Jemma with enough heat to keep the sun burning for a thousand years, but made no move to get any closer to her.
So, that was what these women reminded me of. It made a lot of sense, considering the animalistic cries and the way they’d attacked.
The other five women looked much like my attacker, with slightly different colorings. The two women in Mira’s and Sela’s arms both had grayish hair instead of black, and their eyes were a dark amber color. The one named Malak had hair so closely cropped to her scalp she was nearly bald, while Trin’s hair was tied up into a tight bun. Their tails were all one color, too, instead of the sort of speckled gray and black like my attacker’s tail was.
Lezan, the woman who’d attacked Jemma, had strange hair that was white on her right side, and black on the other side. It was cut shorter in the back, and longer in the front. Her tail was ringed with white and black, and the rings on her wrists were a perfect white, like the color of store-bought eggs. Her eyes, though, were a deep black, and they were still full of anger as she stared my attacker down.
Jira, the last woman, had dark black eyes so pigmented I couldn’t tell the difference between her irises and her pupils, her white hair was cut in a bowl style just above her ears, and her tail was a pristine white.
It seemed to me like they were in some sort of battle for control. It was pretty apparent the woman who’d attacked me was the leader in some way, but Lezan didn’t seem to like that. It looked like she wanted to be in charge.
“I’m Ben,” I said to break the tension and make some sort of connection with these women. “This is Mira, Sela, and Jemma.”
I pointed to each woman as I introduced them. Mira and Sela stood with their hands on their swords, ready to draw at any moment. Jemma smiled and gave a halfhearted wave, but she shifted closer to me and looked at Lezan nervously.
My attacker broke the stare down between her and Lezan, though it was clear there was still something there, and turned her attention back to me.
Her steely eyes flickered up and down my body, and she tilted her head as she examined me with almost scientific scrutiny, pursed her pink lips, and finally met my gaze.
“You are not with the orcs,” she stated, as if I didn’t already know that.
“No.” I shook my head. “We’re here to help you fight them.”
“We hate--” Mira started, but the woman cut her off.
“So, then are you here to take our treasure?” she demande
d.
“Your treasure? No, you guys can keep that stuff,” I replied quickly. “We didn’t mean to disturb anything in your homes. We were just looking around. For you, actually.”
“Not that treasure,” she spat. “Our treasure. You are not here to take it?”
The way she said “treasure” made it pretty damn clear she spoke of something very important.
“No, of course not,” I assured her. “We want to be friends. You know, like allies?”
The woman suspiciously glared at me for a moment, but then the tension in her shoulders eased by a degree.
“I am glad you are not here to take the treasure,” she huffed. “The fire breathing beast has already stolen it from us. There is nothing for you to take. Warriors, come.”
With that, the still nameless woman motioned to her warriors to follow her as she marched further into the forest, almost as if myself and the other women no longer existed to her, since we showed no interest in her treasure.
It only took a split second for my mind to catch up to the fact this treasure had been stolen by a fire breathing beast.
Which was exactly what we were on the lookout for.
Chapter Six
“Hey, wait!” I yelled after the women, who were already on a brisk march toward the part of the island we had yet to explore.
If they heard me, they made absolutely no indication of it, though, because the leader continued to march forward as if my presence on the island was nothing more than a fly on an old apple.
“Just wait one damn second,” I shouted as I jogged up to them. Then I grabbed the leader around the wrist in an effort to pull her to a stop.
Without missing a beat, she spun toward me with a loud, angry hiss and bared those sharp teeth at me. Her gray eyes flashed angrily, like a lightning storm on a hot summer’s day, and for just a moment, I almost thought she was about to try and rip my throat out right then and there.
“You do not touch me, male,” she spat, and she yanked her wrist from my grasp with a strength that should have been impossible for her thin, toned body.
I could tell the reaction was not so much instinctual as an effect of me, a man, having the gall to grab her like that. It occurred to me then these racoon women were not just wary of us as strangers, but wary of me because I was a man. I’d bet they hadn’t seen one for far too long. Save for the orcs, of course, but I wasn’t too sure I’d consider those vile creatures men of any sort.
“I’m sorry,” I replied calmly. “But when you’re marching away from me as I’m speaking to you, I kind of have no other choice.”
“Yes, you do,” she snarled, and her round ears flattened against her head. “Leave us alone. We do not need to be attacked any further by any more beasts.”
“Okay, first, I’m not a beast,” I shot back. “And second, we’re not trying to attack you. I keep telling you, we’re trying to help you. Look, Mira and Sela over there fought off the orcs for years, and we finally won. They haven’t bothered our island in months. And Jemma’s people just escaped her island after they pretty much decimated an entire section of the orc army.”
The woman’s gaze slowly traveled over Mira and Sela, and then onto Jemma, as if she thought she’d find my lie hidden in their faces. The three women, though, just nodded and affirmed I told the truth.
Finally, those wondrous gray eyes landed back on me, and the leader of the racoon women pursed her full lips. Then she crossed her arms, cocked a hip in a way that would have been sexy if she didn’t also look like she thought I might up and kill her at any moment, and lifted her chin in a motion both regal and terrifying at the same moment.
“How do I know you are telling the truth?” she asked me with a raised eyebrow. “How do I know this is not a ruse to get my sisters and I to take you back to our camp, so you can kidnap the rest of us and sell us to the orcs?”
“What in the names of the gods would I get out of that?” I demanded. Her logic was so unbelievably flawed, but I didn’t want to put her on edge even more than she already was. So far, I hadn’t managed to scare off any of the inhabitants of these islands, and I sure as hell didn’t plan to start now.
“Maybe so the orcs do not attack you.” She shrugged. “Although, I have never seen an orc ally so handsome.”
“That could be a ruse in and of itself,” Lezan piped up behind us, and her black eyes narrowed at me.
“Look,” I huffed. I’d started to grow a little weary of this nearly insane distrust. All I wanted was to help these women, and they couldn’t see that. “I’m not here to trick anyone. I’m here to help you. Let me guess, the orcs came here, killed off all of your men, and started to kidnap all the women they could get their hands on, right? And they come back here every so often, catch you by surprise, and try to take more of you. Which, they succeed in doing because you guys have few fighters and crude weapons made from rock, whereas they have a seemingly unlimited supply of soldiers and much more advanced weaponry. That’s the story here, isn’t it?”
Once again, the woman’s steely eyes narrowed, but this time, there was far less suspicion in them and a whole lot more surprise.
“That is correct.” She finally nodded. “How do you know all of this?”
“Because those fuckers of mothers did the same thing to our island,” Mira growled. “And to Jemma’s, before we defeated them.”
“How did you do that?” the racoon woman demanded.
“We had him.” Jemma pointed to me with a brilliant smile on her face.
“Do you believe me now?” I asked.
The woman wrinkled her creamy nose and sniffed the air in a move both strange, but also kind of arousing at the same time. Then she took a small step toward me and invaded my personal space, which was absolutely not unwelcome, and pulled in a long, hard sniff through her nose.
“I smell orc blood on you,” she murmured, more to herself than me, and she brought her axe up and started to smack the handle against her opposite hand as she thought.
“Probably because I killed some before we landed on your island,” I said as I cocked a brow at her, and my women nodded around me in confirmation.
The raccoon woman narrowed her steel gray eyes at me. “I suppose you might be telling the truth.”
“Because I am,” I insisted. “Now, can we start over?”
“Start over?” she asked as her brow furrowed curiously.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “I’m Ben. And you are?”
The racoon woman glanced back at her companions, all of whom stood in silence, which made it clear the decision was hers, and hers alone. I could already tell from the way they deferred to her that the gray-eyed woman was the leader of their little population.
“I am Nadir,” she finally said. “The de facto leader of the Coonag people and ruler of this island since my mate was killed in the battle with the orcs.”
“Long title, I like it.” I grinned. “It’s nice to meet you.”
I stuck my hand out in the classic gesture for a handshake, and Nadir looked at it for just a moment and tilted her head in the same intelligent way cats so often do, before she laid one dainty finger across the side of my hand. Her fingers were long, about two inches more than any of mine were, and looked as if they were built to get small things out of even smaller places.
They really were raccoon-like.
“I have yet to decide if it is nice to meet you, Ben,” she replied as she looked up to meet my gaze head on. “But I will let you know when my decision has been made.”
For the first time since I’d met her, the nearly feral gleam disappeared from her eyes and was replaced by a sparkle of joy. Then I realized she was teasing me, so I’d take that as a good sign.
“I’ll wait anxiously,” I chuckled. “Now, why don’t you take us to meet the rest of your people?”
In a flash, Nadir had removed her finger from my hand and sprang back about three feet.
“No.” She shook her head furiously. “It is too soon for t
hat. If I am wrong about you, I cannot let you know where my people reside.”
“They do not live in those trees?” Jemma asked as she came over to stand behind my shoulder.
“We spend nights there occasionally, but we do not live in them,” Nadir replied with a frown. “Not since the orcs discovered we made our homes in them.”
A sad, faraway look entered her eyes, and I knew painful memories played through her head. My heart ached for her, and I wanted to reach out and grasp her hand again, but something told me these women weren’t the touchy feely type.
At least, not yet.
“Well, if you will not take us back to your encampment, you shall have to come back to ours,” Sela announced. The gray-blue haired warrior always was the most business-like, and I could tell she’d grown tired of our conversation about matters that no longer involved either pertinent information, or a fight. Sela always wanted to wring the necks of orcs as soon as she possibly could, and anything else just got in the way.
“Why would we do that?” Nadir demanded.
“Because we have also encountered this fire breathing beast you speak of,” Sela replied as she lifted her chin. “And I would very much like to know just what treasure it took from you.”
“Also, we have food,” Jemma piped up with a friendly smile. “You look hungry, if you do not mind my saying so.”
Nadir pressed her lips together and glanced back at her companions, and I saw Jira glance at the other women with her dark black eyes before she gave Nadir a small nod, which Malak echoed.
“Alright.” Nadir nodded. “We will come to your camp. But I must ask you to help us get our treasure back. The beast stole it from us.”
Clearly, this woman was very focused on whatever this treasure was. I hoped it was some sort of magical orc-killer, but I highly doubted it. Judging by the little trinkets we’d seen in the tree, I had a feeling these women had a very different definition of treasure than I did.
Still, they knew about the fire breathing beast, and that was definitely something I had a shit ton of questions about. Most importantly: where was it and how could I get it on our side. If the thing had burned down an entire orc ship, I wanted to see if it would be willing to burn down their whole island, too.