Rise Of The Beast Queen: Elizabeth

Ch 4 Jin's Scar's

Liz woke up hot and covered in sweat, with a heavy pressure wrapped around her waist and pressed to her back. Her heart beat quickened and her eyes shot open, as they adjusted to the darkness her memories from the night before came rushing back. After Jin finished eating, she yawned and he immediately scooped her up off the ground and walked into his cave. It was so dark she couldn't see anything and he sat her down on another soft fur laid overtop a thick pile of grass, the only reason she could tell is because of the smell of dried grass or hay. After laying down himself he pulled her against him.

"Sleep now, Liz. I'll keep you warm." He whispered in her ear and buried his face in her hair, causing her heart to beat wildly, but after a while the crazy events of the evening caught up to her and she succumbed to exhaustion.

The next morning.

Now that the sun was up and Liz's eyes had adjusted, she was finally able to look around the cave. It was actually more spacious than she thought it would be, mostly empty accept for a few animal skins lying around. As Liz turned her head she was nearly startled by a pair of luminescent blue eyes staring back at her.

"Good morning, Jin." Liz whispered with a grin. His eyes glowed as his lips stretched into a smile so wide it caused the scars around his eye to slightly wrinkle up. Realizing that she was staring at his scar his smile quickly faded and he turned the left side of his face away from her.

"Jin what's wrong?" She asked, confused by his actions.

"It's nothing, Liz." He said with a stoney expression as he stood up and walked out of the cave.

'What was that? Did I offend him by looking at his scar? Is he ashamed of it?' Liz thought to herself, until he walked back in, holding her dress, bra and tunic. "Thank you." She said with a smile. After he handed them to her, Liz stood up, not caring anymore that Jin could see her in her underwear, he already saw it last night, she turned her back to him and casually began getting dressed. "Jin, how did you get that scar?"

For a moment he seemed stunned by her question, then he covered his scar with his hand and turned away again."I'm sorry you have to see something so ugly."

"Ugly? Jin Are you ashamed of your scar?" Liz probed as she finished tying on her tunic and began moving closer to him, but he stood like a statue with a stern expression. "Why? Did you get hurt while you were doing something bad?"

That caused him to look at her, his expression now changed to one of near panic. "No, I got this shortly before I came of age, saving my mother from a rootless beastman."

"What's a rootless beastman?"

"It's a beastman who's been rejected by his female... Or his female died and he didn't join her for whatever reason." He explained.

"What do you mean rejected by his female?" Liz watched as Jin's eyes grew large before he turned away and looked pained. "Jin what's wrong?" She asked as she placed her hand on his forearm comfortingly. He turned back and met her eyes with sadness in his.

"When a male is rejected by their female after they've mated... It's a fate worse than death... The pain is said to be so unbearable that most beastmen die or go insane and become little more than wild beasts."

Liz was stunned by his explanation, it was crazy to think that females would have that kind of terrible power over a male. "That's horrible! Why would anyone do something like that?" She exclaimed in exasperation.

Jin was shocked by her outburst and his heart fluttered at the look of anger and empathy on her face. He wrapped his arms around Liz and nuzzled into her hair, "Don't be angry, when a male is rejected it's because they've done something to anger their female."

Liz thought about his words, 'If females are a lot weaker than males I guess it might make some kind of since to have a way for females to protect themselves from becoming objects.' She concluded it to be a fair point, but concerning doubts remained knowing how females in her own world would use this kind of power, some would use it as a scare tactic to keep their man in line, but that thought repulsed Liz and made her even angrier for the rejected males. Liz looked up at Jin and remembered what started this conversation.

"So you saved your mother's life." Liz said as she reached her arm up and brushed his scars with her fingertips. "What's there to be ashamed of? You should where this as a badge of honor." She said comfortingly, "Besides I like your scars, they make you look like a badass." She stated with a devilish smirk. Jin stared at her with a dumbfounded expression, before he tightened his grip around her, drawing Liz against his chest as he buried his face in her neck. Liz patted his back and giggled as she took the opportunity to run her fingers threw his silky white hair.

After a few minutes he pulled away slightly to look at her with an expression too gentle for his stern face. "Liz, I..." He hesitated, eyes shining with something unspoken, but he suppressed it. "I'll go find you plants to eat today." He looked like he was going to say something else but he didn't and she simply nodded.

"Can I go with you? I really want to have a look around." She asked, then watched as a range of emotions flashed across his face. "Jin, I don't know this world or what dangers there are. I'd feel a lot safer if you let me stay with you." She pleaded, giving him doe eyes. All the expressions seemed to melt from his face until he was left with a doating smile.

"Ok, but you have to stay by me all the time." He agreed with his lips set in a stern line, but his eye were smiling so Liz couldn't help the wide smile that spread across her face as she answered him back excitedly.

"Ok! Give me a bit to get ready." Liz quickly brushed her hair and braided it over her shoulder. She checked herself in her little compact mirror and shrugged at herself, 'That's about as good as it's going to get.' she thought before noticing Jin watching her.

"What?" Liz asked as a light blush tinted her cheeks.

"Your so beautiful." Jin said and Liz felt her heart skip a beat.

"Th... Thank you." She said, her face feeling like it caught fire and she looked away quickly focusing on tying on her sandals. "Ok, I'm ready, let's go." Liz said, rushing past Jin out of the cave and into the sunlight. The sun was bright in the sky as she followed Jin into the forest, Liz ran around him playing like a kid and picking flowers, they walked for a while before Jin turned grinning from ear to ear with a blueish purple colored berry in his hand. It looked almost like a large badly bruised strawberry but without seeds on the outside.

"Liz, try this." He exclaimed excitedly, nearly shoving the fruit into her mouth. As she bit through the thin skin, an extremely sweet juice exploded into her mouth, it tasted like a warm mixed berry smoothie.

"That's so good!" Liz shouted with excitement, she instantly thought it would be perfect to make into a pie or jelly, but then quickly brushed that thought away, with no idea on how to make a pie crust or even store the fruit. When Jin turned back around he held a large leaf full of the berry's out to her, Liz giggled while taking a few, "Jin I can't eat all of these in one sitting." She informed while popping another fruit into her mouth, then an idea hit her, Liz untied her tunic and laid it on the ground.

"Liz what are you doing?" He questioned with clear exasperation in his voice.

"We can use my tunic like a bag to carry the fruit and anything else we find." She stated

"But you'll get cold. We can go back and get a skin to carry it in." He said in a concerned tone as he dropped the fruit.

"Hey! Don't waist the fruit, I'm not cold right now." Liz scolded as she began picking them up and placed them onto the fabric. She saw that one of them had rolled under the bush and reached for it. Suddenly she heard a buzzing and felt something sting her hand. She quickly pulled back, it felt like someone stuck a lit match to her skin, she gasped in pain and held her wrist. Jin dropped to his knees and grabbed ahold of her arm, inspecting the back of her hand where what appeared to be a large thorn was sticking out of her skin. "Aww. Pull it out! It burns so bad." She cried out, reaching for the wound, but Jin blocked her.

"No if you pull it out it won't stop bleeding." He said, then they heard the buzzing sound again, Jin moved quickly, suddenly he was holding a large bee like creature in his hand. He scooped Liz up and began running. The wound was swelling up around what Liz now knew was a stinger and the burning sensation was pulsing up her forearm, causing her to whimper in pain.