Mermaids are Menacing (Book 2) Complete

18.) Oh Deer

I've been waiting and wanting to right this chapter. Finally ramping up to the better bits. Your welcome.
I want these >☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
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It wasn't my brightest idea. In fact it was probably the dumbest one I had, next to eating a rock a stranger gave me but here we are. Almost surrounded by fire, barreling towards a monster with every intention of tackling it. The deer was focused on the chief and the two carrying him. When it stood upright it was even more creepy. A malformed creature between human and deer. I slammed into it. It bounced away full force, into the tall grass.

Well that was easier than I expected, I thought. The monster got back to its hooved feet. Its body bending in an unusual way like bones breaking and reattaching. It looked me square in the face with its red eyes and screamed a shrill shriek. It ran at me on two legs and I ran east following the others. The Orc who was toarching the grass was starting to close off the east side with a wall of fire. I did NOT want to be trapped in a fire box with this thing.

I fell face first to the ground. It was dragging me back by the ankle. I felt the ground sliding under my chest as I  was pulled, my dress hiked up and dirt and grass skidded against my belly. When I flipped over to look back my ankle wasn't in its humanoid hands but in its maw.

Its teeth weren't cutting through the tough skin but the sight of a monster trying to eat me set me into a panic. I started kicking it in the face trying to free my left foot. Screaming incoherently at the ugly thing. I could hear the bones in its face cracking and feel the vibration through the sole of my foot. It still refused to let go. Scatching pain. The monsters teeth broke through the skin  just enough to draw blood.

"Abyssal thing!" I screeched between kicks. "Le-Go!" The smoke was thick. I felt it in my lungs and tasted it on my tounge. It raised a memory of another fire. A memory of loss and panic. I'm not going to die here.

A rock came flying and hit the thing square in the jaw. The deer like mandible broke and hung open limply. I gave it a final kick to the face before I jumped to my feet. Dashing through the hazy billowing smoke to where I remembered the opening to be, my heart pounded in my chest.
It was getting hard to breath and I felt dizzy.

Faster, faster, faster I urged myself.

But there wasn't an opening. I skidded to a stop. Only the wall of fire and the dark. Trapping me in, trapping us in. I heard the beast behind me, raging with fury. There was no time to waste.  If I have to choose between fire and mauled by a monster, it's the fire.

I jumped through the wall of fire and felt the heat ripple across my skin and I came over to the other side. It didn't hurt. It was like jumping into a warm bath, the sensation of being immersed in warmth and then it was over. The fact that my dress was on fire barely registered. I couldn't breath.
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This was becoming a weird pattern. I'm getting tired of waking up in strange places. It was a hut that smelled strongly of grasses. I sat up and felt the pliant leather on my skin. It was one long piece of animal skin wrapped around my body like a towel. The brown fur was still on the outside. A length of fabric that was once my dress was tied around my waste to hold it in place. It was knotted tightly.

Looking around I noticed that Chief was here to. His belly had lots of thick green leaves pasted on, they had a furry texture. I heard feet and turned to the door, a few moments later Ortha entered with an old Orc woman.

"Bait up?" Ortha said brightly.

"I'm awake. Where is this place?" I asked.

"This house of Sha." She answered gesturing to the green woman. She walked with the help of a long wooden stick. Her back was hunched and her tusks were a yellow color.
"Sha heals."

Heals? I felt fine. But then I looked down at my foot. There was that same leaf plasted on to my ankle. I do remember getting bite by that monster. I looked over and the sleeping Chief was being taken care of by Sha. The old woman kneeled with her back to me. I peeled of the leaf and underneath there was only unmarred skin.

Dragon regeneration is a pretty useful ability. A knife wasn't able to make a cut in my skin but somehow that thing was able to bite in. Maybe my skin was strong but not actuall dragon strong or its bite was just crazy bad. Seeing how the Chief was out, the second option was fairly plausible.

"What happened to the monster?" I asked Ortha.

"Red eye burned, weak to fire." She said putting down thick wooden baskets by the door.

"Good, that thing was terrible." I said relieved. It made since why the Orcs didn't keep rushing it with weapons like the big cats. Hitting it hardly did any damage. At least now with that thing gone I'll be able to hunt where ever I like.

I wonder what part of the big cats Gorza was able to get. More meat is always great but those pelts and fangs would also be pretty nice. Thinking about it, I should really start making some winter clothes. I dont know what the weather is like during the cold season here and there will probably be alot to prepare.

Now that I'm no longer injured I guess it would be fine to go back home. I got to my feet, holding the brown wrap in place. It was tied tightly but I was worried my boobs would spill out the top. The Orc woman mumbled something unintelligible but Ortha seemed to understand.

"What did she say?" I asked Ortha. Her words sounded jumbled together.

"Can't leave yet." She told me.

"My ankle is all healed up." I flexed it for her. "I should go bring her something to show my thanks. What is the usual gift?"

"Not about Bait ankle." Ortha scratched the back of bead.

I tilted my head to the side in confusion. "Is it my breathing? It's fine now." I said taking in a deep breath and letting it out. There was no hitch or wheezing in the action.

"Sha wants check on Baits babe." She said.

Not this again. "Ortha I'm not a baby, I've told you many times. I'm really an adult." I began to rant.

"Not Bait." She interrupted. She came up and put a green hand on my stomach. "Baits babe here."

"Your not making sense Ortha." I said stepping back. She looked at me with pity. They were mistaken. I'm not pregnant. It's not like I had found an Orc husband while I was here. I hadn't had sex in months. It was an impossibility, if I was pregnant I would be the first to know. My first pregnancy was lost so easily with only a little stress but now my body was constantly stressed. Fighting deer monsters, wrestling practice, being used as bait, fighting fish, going without food, and even being asleep for a month. Abyss! I hadn't had sex since I left the mountain and it had been months.

I hadn't had sex since I left the mountain....

No. It couldn't be I thought. But now that the idea had been planted, the thoughts started to grow. I mentally started tallying up the information. I hadn't bled since I left and lately i was constantly hungry. I was on the river for a little less than two weeks, asleep for a month, been with the Orcs nearly two months. Roughly three months give or take a week. I swallowed.

There was also the change in my appearance. I had already had a child and I never grew a tail or horns but my some things about my body did change when I was pregnant with Vee. My hair fell out, and grew back different. My skin did get dry and I was more hungry throught the day. Cerastes had always kept me well fed during my pregnancy, it's possible that the hunger was the same.

My mind was realing. I sat back down heavily my scaled brown tail swishing  in anxious swipes. 

"Bait?" Ortha asked concerned.

"How sure is she about the baby?" I asked abruptly. "Maybe she got it wrong." A heat began to grow in my eyes.

"Bait." Ortha sighed. "Sha always knows."