Beauties and Beasts

Chapter 18: brought to you by ophidiophobia

I told the witch doctor I wanted to go home. And then the witch doctor told me his tragic backstory. Shay almost gets kidnapped...again... and Curtis sings her to sleep with sweet thoughts of warmth and good tea forever while Panther covets his neighbor's 'wife'.

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When she woke up, the panther handed her another leaf-cone cup of tea once more hiding his face by bowing, looking as though he hadn't moved an inch since she'd fallen asleep. But the bright sunlight through the canopy told her it was, at the very least, late morning, so he would have had to move since then.

"Thank you," she said without thinking.

"There is no need to thank him," said Curtis. "Panthers are the children and mates of witch doctors, which tend to the health of homeless beasts exclusively. Panthers are, in a way, homeless beasts themselves, though I had believed the panthers had died after this area's witch doctor had. Either or, he will be duly paid once you are well."

The panther's shoulders hunched. "No payment necessary."

"You will be paid," said Curtis with a hint of a threat.

The panther's head bowed further. "Yes."

"Doesn't that make them the same thing as doctors then?" Shay asked before taking a sip of her tea. It was just as good as last night.

"I know of no other differences besides their clientele," said Curtis.

"There are some others..." said the panther quietly, hesitating.

Shay hung against the snake body against her belly. "Go on."

But the panther glanced at Curtis's face and said nothing.

Mentally, she sighed, and added yet another point to the long list of Curtis's grievances against her. She couldn't even have a proper conversation with anyone. Would he be like this towards Neara?

That gave her pause. Had she already assumed herself stuck with this guy?

Once she finished the tea, though her coughing fits felt much lighter than yesterday, the panther served her a wooden bowl full of some kind of meaty soup. The taste told her chicken, though it was a chicken that made all the chicken from home seem like watery, poop-filled excuses for chicken.

"Oh my gosh," she gasped, before inhaling it.

Sign her up, she wanted a panther.

Once she finished, she tapped the snake to release her, and having been held for so long, her legs had become unfamiliar and strange to her. But, she managed to get her business done and headed towards the stream without some man badgering her about her wellbeing or taking it as an excuse to pick her up again. Honestly.

In an instant, Curtis was beside her.

Spoke too soon?

"Where are you going?"

"To wash up. You know, I don't have to report to you."

Curtis scowled. "Need I remind you that you are mine and others are after you? And we are in the wilds. I assure you, there are much worse ferals than me, and predators that wouldn't hesitate to eat you."

Despite the goosebumps his low hiss sent up her skin, she did her best not to show her fear.

"I believe you...and I guess there really isn't much you can do about this situation, granted you're the one who brought it upon yourself." She knelt and reached for the cold water--

Only for a dark hand to stop her wrist.

She blinked. Hadn't he just been by the fire several yards behind them? How had he gotten here so fast? She hadn't heard a thing.