Monster Girl Islands 13 Chapter 1

“Jarin!” I called out to my two-month-old. “What did I tell you about climbing the wall?”

The half-Coonag, half dragonkin child just cackled wildly as he flicked his scaly tail back and forth and looked back at me over his shoulder. Jarin was about halfway up the wall of the palace courtyard, and my heart stopped in place when he began to show off by hanging onto the stone with just one hand.

Meanwhile, my other two Coonag-dragonkin children, the twins Hokir and Terra, chased each other around on their hands and knees while making annoyed chittering noises. Every now and again, they would catch each other, tackle their sibling to the ground, and erupt in loud grunts and snarls as they rolled across the sand.

These little guys were only about two months old now, and they weren’t even walking upright, but they were already exhausting.

“He’ll be fine, Ben,” Lezan, the racoon-woman with the multicolored bowl cut, snickered. “When I was Jarin’s age, I was scaling trees almost three times the size of this wall.”

“We don’t know how much of the Coonag genes he inherited,” I reminded my lover. “Because if he climbs more like a dragonkin, then he’s gonna fall any second here.”

“You worry too much,” Nadir scoffed with a wave of her hand. “The children are fine. In fact, they are fairly tame for their age.”

“Tame?” I gulped.

“Their half-dragonkin blood has made them less dangerous than a pure-blooded Coonag,” Lezan clarified. “Normally by this age, the children would be begging to go out on their first hunt.”

“They’re two months old,” I reminded the racoon-women. “And they can’t even walk or talk yet.”

“That’s irrelevant,” the athletic Coonag, Trin, spoke up. “Coonag are killers by instinct… They don’t need to have fully developed minds or bodies to tap into their lethal nature.”

All of the Coonag women sat at a nearby table while they watched the kids play, and Nadir and Lezan both still had that “new mother” glow about them as they leaned back in their chairs and observed their children. Trin, Malak, and Jira made up the rest of the table, and all three of them laughed and hooted with glee at the sight before them.

Though they were all too “stoic” to say it aloud, these three children were a big deal. The kids Nadir, Lezan, and I had created were the first new Coonag children in years, at least since all the men and children of their island were wiped out by the orcs.

Malak had a child on the way, as well, and her belly was now as round as a pumpkin beneath her thick, hide armor. The racoon-woman’s amber eyes were full of nostalgic joy as she rested her hand on her stomach and watched the Coonag children play, and I was sure she was thinking happy thoughts about our baby. Malak’s fuzzy black tail twitched back and forth behind her chair, and she let out a longing sigh.

My excitement quickly waned, however, when I turned back to Jarin.

There was the sound of crumbling stone, and the boy’s handhold broke away from the wall with a spray of stucco-y debris. Jarin’s arms and legs flailed as he plummeted downward, and then he slammed into the sand with a dull thud and laid there motionless.

“Jarin?” I shouted as I ran to the child.

Then I reached my son’s body, knelt down on the ground, and flipped him over in a hurry.

The second I did so, the child’s piercing blue eyes shot open, and a sharp smile spread across his mouth. Before I could even react, the damn rascal took a snap at me with his razor-sharp teeth and then flipped to his feet, which caused a soft spray of sand to splash up against my face.

I stumbled backward and spat out the gritty granules that had managed to make it into my mouth, all while Jarin scurried off to play with his siblings.

“Told you he’d be okay,” Lezan snickered. “It looks like he definitely inherited the dragonkin’s thick skin.”

“I’m just glad he’s alright,” I admitted as I wiped the sand off my face. “Even if he was being a little shit.”

“He won’t be alright if Isla sees what he just did to her wall,” the Dragon Queen Nerissa’s voice chuckled from the entrance of the courtyard.

“She’s already bitter about all the time it’s taken to repair the wall at the shore,” Mira’s voice added. “I certainly don’t want to be the one to tell her she’s got another one to fix.”

I turned back to see the two dragonkin sisters headed our way. The Queen’s light hair flowed behind her like a cascade of silver and seashells as she approached, and her pearl-colored scales glistened under the rays of the mid-afternoon sun.

Mira looked equally as radiant as she sashayed her hips and smiled at me beneath her golden eyes. The dragonkin warrior’s green hair was draped down onto her right shoulder, and the seashells entangled inside of the locks seemed to hold them motionlessly in place.

“You say ‘time it’s taken,’” I observed as I grinned at my two lovers. “As in past tense. Does that mean the repairs are finally done?”

“They are,” Mira confirmed with a nod. “It’s taken us two full moon cycles, but the wall has been completely repaired.”

“I just can’t believe how much fucking damage those dragons did to it,” I grumbled. “We spent almost a year building the damn thing, and they just about brought it down in seconds.”

“That is the nature of thunder dragons,” Nerissa sighed. “Or at least, that is what Jonas and the Cero women have told us. I’ll have to take their word for it, since I had never seen one until the goblins invaded.”

“Could you imagine?” I sighed as I began to think of all the possibilities before us. “If we had a couple of those things on our side, we’d never have to worry about cannon fire or arrows ever again. The thunder dragons could literally block a freaking blast from Bungal. From Bungal! The orcs wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“Need I remind you we killed not one, but two thunder dragons?” Mira chuckled. “I’m not sure they would be as invincible as you are predicting.”

“There’s one major difference between the thunder dragons the goblins brought and the ones we would have…” I trailed off. “We wouldn’t treat ours like slaves who only exist to conquer our enemies, and we wouldn’t torture them when we want to fulfill some sort of sick, sadistic fantasy. If we had thunder dragons, they would be our friends, just like George and his family and Tirian and Bungal and Swaer.”

“I suppose you are right,” Nerissa agreed. “Though that would require you to find a thunder dragon egg, no?”

“Stranger things have happened.” I shrugged. “Besides, if Bungal’s really going to take us to the council of dragons, we’re going to get introduced to a whole lot of potential allies.”

“Or enemies,” Mira warned. “Remember what Bungal said, Ben… The council of dragons doesn’t take well to strangers. Particularly ones who are not dragons. We can’t be doing much orc killing if we are all burnt to ashes or eaten alive by twenty-six dragons.”

“Maybe me and you won’t,” I joked as I stepped over to Nerissa and threw my arm around her shoulder. “But it’s not like we’re taking our entire island on this journey. I’m sure Nerissa and Dalwen and Pae will lead their people in plenty of orc-killing activities if we end up biting the big one.”

“You know I don’t like it when you joke about that.” Nerissa frowned, and the edges of her eyes filled with tears. “I-I don’t know what I would do without you, Ben… And if I lost you and Mira at the same time? I don’t know if I could continue on.”

I turned toward the Dragon Queen, placed my hand softly against her cheek, and then rested my forehead against hers.

“I don’t plan on going anywhere any time soon,” I promised the beautiful dragonkin woman as I stared into her aquamarine eyes. “That would mean you’d have to raise Arrick and Meer all on your own, and I know just how much of a pain in the ass that would be.”

“Indeed,” Nerissa chuckled through a sniffle. “I love my two children to death, but they certainly can be a handful sometimes. I don’t see how you do it, with eleven children running around who call you ‘father.’”

“Soon to be even more,” Mira snickered. “You’ve got how many on the way?”

“Uhhhhhh… ” I did the math in my head. “Thirteen, I believe.”

“Thirteen?” Nerissa gasped. “That would mean--”

“Twenty-four children,” I confirmed. “And I’m nowhere near done yet. There are still plenty of women on this island who need to be impregnated, and it’s my duty to make sure they all have a child of their own. I mean come on… I gotta help repopulate all these species.”

“What a thankless job,” Mira teased with a wink.

“Somebody has to do it.” I smirked and then ran my fingers through Nerissa’s dark hair.

“I, for one, cannot wait until my child arrives,” Malak spoke up as she approached our group. “Look at those little ones you have already, Ben. Soon, you’ll have another tiny Coonag boy or girl, hopefully one who is a bit more… Inquisitive than the others.”

“Are you trying to tell me you’re less crazy than the others?” I raised an eyebrow at the short-haired racoon woman. “Because I’ve watched you tear the flesh off an alligator’s bones with nothing but your bare teeth.”

“‘Less crazy’ doesn’t mean ‘nonviolent,’” Malak giggled. “I just think maybe our child will be more creative with their aggression. Perhaps they’ll learn to use their axes as a bludgeoning tool, rather than a cutting weapon. Or maybe they will realize they can kill an enemy quicker with their claws and teeth…”

“That’s all gonna be up to how his mother trains him,” I admitted. “Not that I’m worried about it. You’re one of the most resourceful people I’ve ever met, Malak.”

“Thank you, Ben.” The gray-haired woman smiled. “My resourcefulness is just getting started, though. Just wait until you see what I have planned for our next adventure.”

“Our next adventure?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Well, yeah,” Malak scoffed. “Did you really think I was going to let Nadir and Lezan have all the fun? Coonag women must stay close to their men, particularly when they get as far along in their pregnancy as I am.”

That was right. Even though Malak had been pregnant for awhile, she hadn’t left the island since we had originally brought the Coonag women back. With her species’ need for mother-father bonding, it only made sense she would come with us on our next journey.

“I would have thought you’d want to come along sooner,” I admitted with a chuckle. “Lezan and Nadir both refused to leave my side the second they found out they were pregnant.”

“Please, Ben.” Malak winked. “Don’t compare me to my Coonag sisters. You should all know by now I’m much, much more in control of my emotions than they are. Besides, with the two leaders of our people gone, somebody needed to stay behind and lead the Coonag women of this island.”

“So, why now?” I raised an eyebrow at the gray-haired woman.

“I may have more control of my urges…” Malak shrugged. “But I am still a Coonag. My instincts had to take over eventually, and they make me want to be near you. Also, if Nadir and Lezan are sitting out this adventure, then that means they will be around to lead the Coonag.”

“Come on, Draco Rex,” Lezan teased. “What sort of a voyage would it be without any Coonag at all?”

Even then, it still made me uncomfortable to bring somebody this far along in their pregnancy on a treacherous adventure.

“Uh-oh,” Nadir mused as she looked over at our group. “I know that expression. What’s on your mind, Ben?”

“It’s just… I don’t want our child to get hurt,” I sighed. “You’re way further along than Nadir and Lezan were on most of their adventures.”

“Lezan and Nadir quite literally gave birth on the last adventure!” Malak noted as she pointed at my kids.

“Yeah,” I confirmed. “And I don’t want to be in that situation again. It all turned out okay in the moment, but it could have ended up way, way worse.”

“No way,” Nadir protested. “Bungal was around, and he wasn’t going to let anyone touch our babies. Just like he won’t let anyone touch Malak or her child.”

“Wait,” I gasped. “Does that mean you’re not coming along to the council of dragons?”

“I wish I was,” the Coonag leader sighed. “But I can’t. I have to stick around to watch Hokir and Terra. They are nowhere near ready to be watched by anyone other than a full-blooded Coonag, and I most certainly don’t want anybody else training them!”

“Same here,” Lezan interjected. “These are the most formative moon cycles of a Coonag child’s life. This is where they will learn to hone in on their killer instinct and perfect their technique with the battle axe. What kind of a mother would I be if I missed that?”

I guess I couldn’t argue there.

“You’ll always be a damn good mother, the both of you,” I proclaimed. “Battle axe training or not.”

Just then, I heard a loud thud, and another bit of concrete fell away from the wall.

“Jarin!” Lezan huffed as she turned back to our child. “What did I tell you about climbing that wall?”

The boy turned to his mother with a sad expression and eyes on the verge of tears, and his tail was slumped behind him, completely limp, as he furrowed his brow.

“Seriously,” I added. “Isla’s gonna be pissed if you keep destroying her wall. Listen to your mother and stop climbing up it.”

“That’s not what I was going to tell him at all,” Lezan clarified. “I am just getting sick of telling Jarin he needs to watch his hand-hold when climbing, and he needs to use his front claws for better grip.”

“Of course.” I rolled my eyes before I turned back to Nerissa. “How’s everybody else holding up? Are they all passed out on the beach?”

“Most of the dragonkin retired to their huts,” Nerissa explained. “As did the Cero, Spindrel, Niralope, and Morpho people. They needed their rest.”

“I’m sure they did,” I agreed. “We’ve all been working like crazy to get the wall fixed, and now we can finally rest easy after two long, laborsome months.”

“Now, we can get back to the important things,” Mira chuckled. “Such as celebrating this glorious occasion.”

“Indeed.” Nerissa nodded firmly. “I do believe a feast is in order. I’ll get Hali and Baratu on the preparations at once.”

“Awwww,” Nadir proclaimed. “It will be the twins’ first real feast!”

“Other than the two monthly feasts we’ve had,” Malak chuckled.

“The kids were all too young to remember those ones, though,” I reminded the Coonag woman. “It’ll be the first feast Algon and Nirali can remember, too.”

“They have no clue what they are in for,” Mira mused. “When the dragonkin celebrate such a momentous occasion, we celebrate hard.”

“I dunno…” I shrugged. “The Cero people certainly gave you a run for your money. I haven’t been that hungover since college.”

“College?” Nerissa asked as she and Mira both quirked their heads to the side.

“It’s a place where you go to learn,” I explained. “And party. Actually, I did a lot more partying than I did studying, which is probably why I ended up in the Coast Guard. But still! It was a fucking blast.”

“Then we shall have Zamwae create a festival that makes this ‘college’ look terrible,” Mira declared. “If anyone can do it, it’s her.”

“Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves,” I warned as I waggled my finger. “I want to see the wall in all its finished glory before we celebrate. Who knows? It could be one small gust of wind away from collapsing in on itself.”

“Highly doubtful,” Nerissa chuckled. “Though I suppose the Draco Rex should get the final say in these matters.”

“Do you guys think you can handle the little ones?” I asked back to the Coonag women. “I’m not gonna come back to find they’re all trying to tear each others’ throats out, am I?”

“No promises.” Nadir winked.

“Go, Ben,” Malak chuckled. “We all have plenty of experience dealing with Coonag children. We shall be fine.”

I had to admit I was still a bit nervous as I turned away from the racoon women, but all I could do was push the little voice in the back of my head down into the darkest pits of my soul and completely ignore it as I headed for the doorway of the courtyard.

Nerissa and Mira were right behind me, and we walked through the winding corridors of the dragonkin palace until we reached the main entrance. We exited out into the humid, breezy jungle and then walked practically in unison down the pathway to the beach.

When the three of us finally arrived at the wall, we saw a handful of familiar faces.

From afar, I saw the Niralope archers Theora and Nima stood guard atop the structure. They both had their bows in their hands as they scanned the horizon for any sign of a threat, and they were both ready to strike their enemies down before they even had a chance to reach the shore.

Just at the foot of the wall sat a small circle of my friends, made up of men and women of several different races. First, I saw my daughter Marella, who sat across from the Spindrel boy Kehlaan.

Of course he was here. The kid was completely obsessed with Marella, even though she wanted just about nothing to do with him.

Next to my daughter were the Cero women Batari, Ashanti, and Rikuri. The three of them were very close friends and practically inseparable, so it came as no surprise to me that they were huddled next to each other. The furry red wind dragon Swaer was wrapped around Batari’s neck like a Gucci scarf, and he was so limp that for a second I thought he was dead, but my fears dissipated when the little guy peered up from Batari’s shoulder and twitched his long, yellow, noodle-like whiskers.

Next to the rhino-women sat the deer-woman Ainsley and our resident dragonkin healer Talise, both of whom had a small child wrapped up in their arms. Rounding out the group was Ahwara, the orange-haired butterfly-woman who quite literally floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee.

“What’s going on, motley crew?” I chuckled as I walked up to my friends. “What are you all doing down here? I thought the wall was all done?”

“We needed to test it,” Rikuri explained as she pointed back at the structure with her thumb. “So, we had Swaer give it a few gusts of his wind breath.”

“And?” I prompted.

It’s still standing, isn’t it? Swaer chuckled. I gave it my all, Ben… I swear I tried like, five times.

“Don’t apologize,” I chuckled. “I’m happy to hear it held up against your wind breath. Maybe next time the orcs or their cronies come to our island, they won’t even be able to put a dent in this bad boy.”

The second the words left my mouth, I felt the atmosphere completely change. My friends all went silent as their smiles faded into concerned frowns, and some of them awkwardly fidgeted as they glanced back at the wall.

“It better stay up,” Ahwara finally broke the silence with a chuckle. “I’m not building this thing again!”

“How often do the orcs attack here?” Kehlaan questioned. “I thought you said this island was safe?”

“It is safe,” I argued. “But that doesn’t mean we don’t have our close calls…”

“But the goblin attack was like, a one-time thing,” the Spindrel boy continued. “Right?”

“It’s not,” Marella sighed and rolled her eyes. “We’ve been attacked at least three times, and that is just in my lifetime.”

“I’m afraid this island is like forbidden fruit to the orcs,” Nerissa explained. “Though they killed our men and our dragons long ago, they have never been able to truly conquer it. Now that the Draco Rex is around, they have not even been able to set foot beyond our beaches, and I know that drives them crazy.”

“They will certainly be back,” Marella confirmed. “I have seen it in my visions.”

“You have?” I asked, and my heart skipped a beat in my chest. “When are they coming back?”

“I’m not sure,” my daughter admitted. “Lately, it has been hard to pinpoint the timeline of my visions. Jonas has been trying to teach me the power of foresight recently, so everything is muddled up.”

“Don’t you already have foresight?” Kehlaan questioned. “You told me the gods told you there was no chance we were ending up together.”

“I didn’t need the gods to tell me that one,” Marella laughed. “I had premonitions before. Now, I’m trying to see things in the more immediate future… I’m talking seconds or minutes, rather than days or months or even years. The only problem is it all starts to blend together right now.”

“Hopefully, we won’t see an attack for some time,” I mumbled. “But I know they’ll never stop coming, and they’ll just keep making stronger and stronger efforts until they eventually bring down this wall. That’s why it’s so important we have Bungal get us to the council of dragons, so they can help us find a place where we can be free of these fuckers once and for all.”

“Imagine,” Ainsley sighed longingly. “A life free of orcs.”

“Well, that’s not gonna happen until we wipe them off the face of the planet,” I chuckled. “But if we lived in a secret location, we at least wouldn’t have all these fucking invasions happening on a regular basis.”

“We could fight the orcs on our terms.” Ahwara nodded. “And our terms only.”

“Exactly,” I agreed. “It’d be us doing the invading and going on the offensive. Contrary to popular belief, the best offense is a good offense, and not a good defense.”

“I just hope the wall will remain intact until you find us a new home,” Nerissa observed. “If they orcs show up again while you are gone…”

“Then you’ll use all the training I’ve given you to kick their ass,” I reassured the Dragon Queen. “Or you could just sic all the Coonag children on ‘em. That’d probably end the battle reaaaallllly quick.”

“I don’t even know if I’d wish that on the orcs,” Mira joked. “In fact, I--”

“Draco Rex!” a familiar voice huffed from the pathway. “Nerissa!”

I turned around to see a very pregnant Hali bounding through the jungle. Her breasts were full and plump, and I couldn’t help but stare at their jiggle as they bounced in time with the woman’s red hair. Hali came to a skidding stop just before our group, and she doubled over as she tried to catch her breath.

“Breathe, Hali.” Talise jumped up and placed her hand on the dragonkin cook’s shoulder. “Short, shallow breaths.”

“What’s wrong, my dear?” Nerissa implored.

“It’s-- It’s the clucker birds,” Hali explained through huffs. “I just went out to harvest some eggs and-- and-- something jumped out of the sand and gobbled one up!”

“Gobbled up a chicken?” I gasped.

“Like George or Bungal with a boar,” Hali confirmed.

“Son of a bitch…” I growled as I began to run toward the jungle path.

Those chickens were one of the few sustainable food sources we had left on this island, and I’d be damned if I was gonna let them all be taken away by some random creature that wanted them for their supper.

I didn’t know what awaited me at the chicken coop, but one thing was for sure.

It picked the wrong fucking time to mess with the Draco Rex.