by Logan Jacobs
Chapter One
I woke up to birds singing.
That had never happened on the island of the deer women before, but the morning after we defeated the orcs and the wargs and reclaimed their island, I woke up to the most beautiful sounds.
It was an exotic chorus, a mixture of caws and chirps that mingled together to create a ballad that would rival anything Sondheim could have hoped to write.
And I said this as a fan of theater.
I blinked open my eyes and stretched out my arms, but I was careful not to wake the blonde beauty beside me.
Ainsley was still fast asleep, and her chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, like it danced along with the birdsong. Her beautiful strawberry blonde hair was splayed out around her face in soft waves, and her little deer horns poked upward, just above those closed but brilliant blue eyes.
I wanted her with me from now on. I wanted all of them with me.
It was more than the fact that I wanted them all safe. I’d come to think of each of these women as a part of my family, and I never wanted my family to be too far away from me.
Especially if they were pregnant with my children.
As I continued to dwell on this, Ainsley blinked open those bright, clear blue eyes to stare up at me.
“Good morning, Ben,” she mumbled, still half asleep.
“Morning,” I whispered back.
All of a sudden, the deer woman shot straight up as the brightest smile I’d ever seen graced her beautiful pink lips.
“Oh, my goddess!” she exclaimed, and one dainty hand flew to cover her mouth. “The birds!”
Ainsley turned wild eyes on me, planted a firm kiss on my lips, and then jumped out of bed. She barely managed to pull a soft white dress over her naked body before she’d leapt out of the tent and onto the platform in front of it.
I quickly followed, even if I was a little confused.
Outside the tent, the entire village had gathered on each of their platforms, and everyone stood quietly with excited smiles on their faces.
On the platform next to us, Jemma grinned widely at me, and her chartreuse eyes sparkled as she tossed a strand of her auburn hair over her shoulder.
“Ben, do you hear the birdsong?” she asked me, and her voice was breathless with awe.
Mutterings flew across the village as everyone stood and listened to the cacophony with religious zeal, and my heart swelled with excitement for them. Every single deer woman was excited for the birdsong, but I knew it wasn’t just the music. It was what the birdsong signified.
The invaders had left the island.
But even with the electricity in the air, I couldn’t help but remember the image of those three fat orcs as they rowed away from our bows and arrows.
They’d gotten away in the middle of the war, and as much as I would have liked to hope they’d encountered some sort of monstrous squid out on the open ocean and been devoured whole, I couldn’t help but wonder if they’d made it back to their home island.
And, subsequently, gathered a much bigger army and a much bigger ship to come back with them.
“Ben?” Jemma asked and pulled me out of my dark thoughts, and I realized I hadn’t answered her earlier question.
“I hear it.” I smiled back at the auburn-haired woman. “It sounds beautiful.”
Her brow furrowed for a split second, and then she quickly leapt from her platform, across two bridges, and over to the one I stood on.
“What is wrong?” the auburn-haired beauty inquired.
“Wrong?” Ainsley instantly turned around and fixed me with a concerned look of her own.
I glanced between the two of them, ran a hand through my hair, which was now nearly to my shoulders since it hadn’t been cut in weeks, and prepared myself.
“Something just doesn’t feel right about me leaving in that orc ship with all of you here,” I told them. “Ainsley, I know yesterday you said you wanted to table the discussion for a moment, but I really think we should gather the village and talk about it.”
Ainsley thought for a moment before she nodded and called out to the rest of the village. “Sisters, meeting on the platform outside the cooking tent.”
Immediately, a wave of deer women headed toward the cooking tent and gathered on the main platform. Then Mira walked up beside me and bumped her shoulder into my bicep.
“Good morning, Draco Rex,” she murmured, and I could tell she was still a little sleepy. “Those birds woke me up. Fuckers of mothers.”
I chuckled at the nasty glare the jade haired warrior sent toward the treetops, where the birds still chirped away happily. Mira may never admit it, but she was a big fan of her beauty sleep.
“Good morning, Ben.” Theora actually smiled at me as she arrived on the platform. The black-haired beauty glanced around with her astute green eyes for a second before she settled into a spot right next to mine.
Everyone was in such a good mood, and the change was a stark contrast to the women I’d first met when Mira and I arrived on the island. Those women had been scared out of their minds, starving, and on the brink of death, whether from nature or the monstrous orcs who had tried to take over their island.
But now these women were smiling and happy, with meat on their bones and muscles in their legs that had never existed before.
“That was the best night of sleep I’ve had in years,” Sarayah announced as she joined the crowd, and she ran her slim, pale fingers through the thick brown locks that stretched down her shoulders.
Mumbles of agreement rippled throughout the gathering before Ainsley put her hand up to call attention to herself.
“Sisters, Ben has something he would like to talk to you about,” the blonde announced, and then she stepped back and let me have the floor.
I tried to gauge where the strawberry blonde’s head was at, but I couldn’t totally tell as she smiled at me. This would all go a lot smoother with Ainsley on my side. Even before she’d gained the title of President of the deer women, the village had looked up to her and trusted her decisions, and Jemma had even called Ainsley the wisest one of the deer women when we’d first met.
“To get straight to the point, I want you all to come back home with Mira and me,” I began as I looked out over the gathered crowd. “For starters, the two of us can’t man the ship alone. It’s too big. On top of that, I don’t want to leave you here alone and nearly defenseless.”
“We are not defenseless anymore, though, thanks to you,” Sarayah pointed out.
Unlike the first few times she’d gone against me, the brunette’s tone wasn’t hostile but serious, and she stood tall, with her chin raised proudly.
“That’s true.” I smiled at her. “And you all did a freaking fantastic job. I’m not worried about your fighting skills. But, let’s face it, you guys don’t have nearly the army the orcs do. Actually, we don’t even know their true numbers. My best guess is somewhere close to a thousand, but they could have double or triple that, for all we know. And no matter how skilled you guys are, fifty fighters is no match for fifteen hundred.”
Silence fell across the crowd as each woman fell into deep thought and considered my words.
“But … this is our home,” Nima finally spoke up. “We need to stay here. This is why we fought so hard to regain our land from the invaders. Netta is in a living sleep for it.”
Nima’s pale upper lip trembled, and she wiped a tear from her emerald green eyes as she spoke of her sister.
She was right. Netta had been in a coma for nearly a week after a brutal run in with one of the wargs during our oil barrel missions. She wasn’t dead, and Thornen, the village healer, didn’t believe Netta would die. Nevertheless, all of our attempts to wake her up had fail
ed.
But there was one thing we hadn’t tried.
“On our home island, we have creatures called water dragons,” I said to Nima. “They have magical properties. They might be able to help Netta.”
Instantly, Nima and a few other women perked up.
“You mean they could heal my sister?” The red-haired woman breathed.
I glanced over at Mira, whose brow was creased. Then she gave me a look that made it very clear she didn’t want me to make any false promises.
But I knew in my gut that if we could just get Netta back to the island, George and Nixie could heal her. Or Jonas might know a potion he could make with their tears or scales or something. Either way, there was far more magic on the island of the dragonkin women than on this one.
“I believe so.” I nodded. “There’s no guarantee, but some chance is better than no chance, right?”
Nima’s green eyes were wide with hope, and I felt the same way on the inside. A few other women nodded in agreement, but there was still tension in the air.
Finally, I turned to Ainsley and Jemma for their opinions.
“I would love to go back with you, Ben.” Jemma smiled. “It seems so exciting!”
Ainsley, on the other hand, wasn’t quite as convinced.
“I understand what you are saying,” the blonde started, “but we have just gained our homeland back. There are so many memories and traditions that live on this island. I just cannot imagine living elsewhere. But, at the same time, I cannot imagine a life where I do not see you every day.”
Whether it was conscious or not, Ainsley pressed a hand to her stomach, and I flashed back to the wonderful sex the night before, when I’d poured my seed inside of her.
I wondered, not for the first time, if she could be pregnant.
I certainly hoped so.
“I can’t imagine that, either,” I murmured to the blonde.
I could tell we were at an impasse, though. It wasn’t a plain no, but it wasn’t a yes, either. Half of me wanted to push the subject, but a loud rumble echoed out of Mira at that very moment.
“Sorry.” The jade-haired warrior grimaced. “I haven’t eaten yet this morning.”
“Why don’t we all have breakfast, and you guys can think it over?” I suggested.
Heads nodded, and the crowd began to disperse inside the tent for some simple bread and fruit.
I piled my plate high with some of the sweet, delicious fruit of the island, and I also made a mental note to bring some back for Hali and the other women to try.
“We should prepare some dried meat for the journey back,” Mira said as she sat beside me and munched on her meal.
“Good thinking.” I nodded. “Let’s go on a hunt when we finish.”
“Ooh, can I come?” Jemma gasped as she sat on the other side of me.
“Of course.” I grinned.
Half an hour later, the three of us had our bows and arrows ready, and we climbed down the main tree to the forest floor.
“Good thing we do not need these anymore,” Jemma giggled as she pointed at the traps we’d laid for the wargs.
“If any of them do try to come back, maybe these will remind them why they should flee like the cowards they are,” Mira growled as she glanced at the detritus that covered one of the holes.
“Damn straight,” I agreed as we trekked through the forest toward our favorite spot by the clear stream where the deer-like tarrel creatures loved to hang out.
The entire forest felt different. The birds still sang, but everything was calmer and more peaceful, as if the land itself understood that the danger was gone. We no longer had to walk quietly and on high alert in case any fat, ugly wargs were nearby. Now, we wandered freely through the forest, and Jemma leapt and twirled the whole time, happy and excited at the newfound freedom.
When we reached the bushes just five feet from the stream, the three of us hunkered down and softened our footsteps so we didn’t disturb the beautiful tarrels and ruin our meal.
There were six of the creatures, all adults, with their extra long legs and lean frames. They blinked their big, black eyes in the sunlight as some of them drank, while others chewed on leaves.
Silently and as one, Mira, Jemma, and I nocked an arrow each, and then we took aim at a different tarrel. I placed my arrow so it pointed right at the heart in the center of the largest one’s chest, and then, as one, our stone tipped arrows whizzed through the air and landed in our targets.
Instantly, the tarrels’ knees buckled, and their mouths went limp as they died quickly and painlessly. The other three tarrels looked up in alarm before they leapt away from the stream and took off into the forest, away from danger.
“Nice shooting.” I grinned as we stood up and walked over to examine our kills.
Jemma knelt beside the limp tarrel she’d killed, placed her pale hand on its head, and said a quick prayer.
“Thank you, Goddess, for this creature,” the auburn-haired beauty murmured. “Thank you, dear animal, for giving your life so we may eat. Your sacrifice will not go unappreciated.”
The three of us spent a moment in silence to observe the tarrels’ deaths. I loved the kindness and care Jemma took with each hunt. Many of the women had said prayers when they had first begun to hunt, but after a few weeks, they’d decided to show their appreciation in silence. Jemma, though, still said a prayer to the Goddess every time she killed a creature. I’d even seen her do it with a few of the orcs and wargs.
“I am done,” the deer woman informed Mira and me as she stood up and brushed the dirt off from her pants. “Let us clean them.”
We strung each tarrel up on a nearby tree and drained the blood and offal from them. I took some of the tastier bits, like the liver and the heart, for a later meal, but we buried the innards near a cluster of bushes for fertilizer.
“Jemma,” I said as we started to wrap the tarrel meat in white cloths to carry back, “would you still like to go with me even if the entire village doesn’t?”
Jemma cocked her head as she considered, and then nodded once.
“Yes, I would,” she replied. “I want to be with you. Now that I have found you, I cannot imagine being away from you. I am also interested in exploring the other islands with you… like Mira.”
The auburn-haired beauty ducked her head sheepishly, nodded at my serpent-woman lover, and peeked up at me from under her thick, black lashes.
“I want you with me, too,” I reassured her as I pressed a soft kiss to her pink lips, and I was happy she would be along for the ride no matter what. Much like Ainsley, I couldn’t even imagine a life without Jemma in it nearly every day.
“You have made a good decision,” Mira said as she nodded to the deer-woman, and then they both shared a small smile.
We hiked back to the village, where we helped Theora and a few other women slice the meat thinly, and then we hung it over the fire in the cooking tent where it would dry.
“Ben, we should also have dried fish on this journey,” Ainsley announced as she stepped inside the cooking tent.
Her statement surprised me, but it brought a smile to my face.
She said “we.”
“So, does this mean you’re coming?” I asked her.
“I would like to.” Ainsley nodded. “Even if my other sisters do not join me. But, as always, Ben, you are right. Hopefully, they will see that before I leave with you and Mira.”
“And me!” Jemma grinned. “I told Ben I would come, too.”
“I figured you would,” Ainsley laughed.
“I feel bonded to Ben,” Jemma sighed as her hand drifted down her front to rest in her taut belly. “Especially… since… well…”
“I feel the same bond,” Ainsley said as she also rested her hand on her own tummy. “Maybe we will become mothers around the same time?”
“I’d like that,” Jemma giggled. “Isn’t it wonderful how… uhh… wonderful our lives are thanks to Ben and Mira?”
“I need
no thanks,” Mira chuckled as she waved her hand. “I want to help others in need. Just as Ben helped my people.”
“It’s the right thing to do.” I smiled at the three beautiful women.
“Well, then, shall we fish?” the blonde asked, and her blue eyes glittered with excitement.
“Absolutely!” Mira nodded. “I am in the mood for a good white fish on this journey.”
“Where are you off to?” Theora asked as she looked up from preparing the tarrel meat.
“A last fishing trip.” I grinned.
“Oh, I shall come!” the deer woman exclaimed.
“I would like to come, too,” Sarayah added.
“And me as well!” Brenna jumped up and down, and soon enough, the entire village planned to come fishing with us.
Just as they had on the first day Mira and I had taught them all how to fish, the village women gathered their nets and followed us down to the clear, sandy beach. The ocean sparkled like diamonds as brilliant white sunlight bounced off it, and I took a moment to relish the warmth on my skin.
After a minute, I waded a few feet off the shore, with a vine net in my hands, and peered down into the water. Sure enough, a plethora of fish swam beneath the waves. Some were bright reds and oranges, some blue and yellow, but they were all tropical and beautiful. I’d learned to spot the less tasty fish in my time on the island, and I made sure to keep away from the little purple suckers that darted in between the larger fish. Those ones were poisonous, a fact I’d discovered two fishing trips ago when I’d caught one, only to have Theora knock it out of my hands with uncharacteristic vigor.
As I sidestepped a purple fish, I found a school of bright red, flounder-like fish not too far off. So, I carefully bent at the waist, dipped my net into the water and made my movements gentle and easy so as not to disturb the fish before they were in position. The moment I had three of them less than an inch from the net, I yanked it up and out of the water. The red fish flailed around and gasped for water, but they were caught up in my net and couldn’t get free.
“Sorry, little guys,” I said to them.
“Hey, Ben,” Mira murmured behind me, and her voice was so quiet I could tell I was the only one who’d be able to hear her.