Chapter One
People are strange creatures. They can be beautiful at times and downright terrifying at others. Some cry over the broken wings of a stray bird, others laugh while dismembering a fellow human being. How can you distinguish between the two when they both beckon you closer with a sweet smile? One genuine, the other is a perfect reflection.
People are obscure. Befriending one is like opening a tightly closed box, you could end up be with a nice surprise, disappointed or with a ticking bomb. First Impressions? Can be faked. Actions? Can be Adjusted. Emotions? Can be manipulated. And then you notice that in the overall scheme of things, we give our trust cheaply. Freely. To be battered or cherished.
Do we really need to distinguish? To trust attentively? To maneuver ourself through society while tiptoeing? This seems so damn exhausting! Decided Ashley. With her almost nonexistent fond memories of human interactions, the decision to live alone came easily. Hence, the moment she escaped the stake, which her village people oh so adoringly built for her, she kissed her middle-finger and waved it goodbye to the island.
Admits the chaos of pirates attacks, she stole a small boat and braved the waves, storms and hunger only to wash up seven days later on the beach of an abandoned island. Perfect. She remembered thinking. Wherever a group of humans exists, problems will surely follows. But alone, she could thrive.
She was mere ten years old child back then and eight years later, thrive she did. Ashley made the small island her home, fortress and sacred land.
She built a house with the help of the animals whom, after their rocky start, welcomed her with open hearts and every year she improved it farther and farther. Now, it can only be called a shrine befitting of a witch her caliber.
She practiced her 'gift' that the people rejected til perfection and with it beseeched the earth and plants to head her words and do her bidden. She learned that her words bore no power without intention and that she can convey her intentions better with a wooden staff. She can curse, as well as she can bless and with a set of runes scattered all over her island she made it inaccessible to sailors.
What knowledge can the outside world afford when all she was interested in are her runes and potions? What humans can gave her when she has the absolute friendship of animals? Other than head and heart aches of course, nothing at all.
Ashley developed her own routine and so this morning, like any other mornings, she sat reclined on her chair facing the beach and seeping tea unhurriedly with Loki, a black cat, curled up on her lap. The sound of waves and gentle breeze lulling her into a daze.
The peaceful atmosphere could bring a warmonger to his knees.
And then came a scream! Weak but getting louder and louder as it source neared the island. Ashley shot up, flinging Loki in the process. She ignored the cat's hisses, no doubt asking for an apology befitting it majestic self, and kept looking at the sky from where the voice could be heard fast approaching.
She spotted a dot flying, the dot then took a strange shape and the shape turned to be a human being with his arms and legs askew. "How could it be?!" She screamed, hands clutching her head. Did humans master the art of flying while she was tucked away in this island? Did they somehow evolve? She didn't notice any wings on this fucker tho.
Then it hit her that this person would be able to land on her island because her runes only covers the sides and not its top. She stumbled toward her staff, took stance and start chanting a spell to cast a shield capable of bouncing this intruder back to wherever hole he came from. Alas, his speed exceeded her spoken words. "NO!" She yelled when he crashed right into a guardian stone smashing it into pieces.
A guardian stone is a giant boulder with runes etched on it by hands. A single one took her over two months to finish and if one is destroyed, the array falls and her island would be open for anyone to invade.
"What have you done?" Ashley screeched with red eyes and shaking hands. She itched to pulverize the offender. He deserved nothing short of being one of her forbidden rituals' ingredient. She marched toward him, huffing and puffing, only truly seeing the scale of the crash when she got closer. "You son of a….! If you're dead, I'll call your soul back and imprison it in a jar!" She closed her eyes and implored the stones to move and clear the scene. And move, they did. Floating, as if weightless until none remains.
Ashley crouched over the bloodied body. "Hey?" She poked him with her staff twice. She frowned when he didn't response. Was she obliged to make sure he's dead or alive? Troublesome. She inched closer and put her ear over his heart, only for him to suck in a deep breath and groan loudly which scared her witless.
She fall back so hard, her bottom throbbed. "Who-" she start but her voice was so soft, she barley heard herself speaking. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Who are you?"
He mumbled something between labored breaths, again and again. Only when Ashley mustered her courage and inched closer did she manage to hear him. "Thatch?" He smiled, and muttered an airy 'yeah'.
"My name is Ashley!" She said, with a bright grin. It's been a long time since she last gave her name to someone. Loki meowed, mocking her flippant attitude. "Ahem! Ahem! What brought you here, Thatch?" She manged to rein in her emotions and, put on a serious face though she doubt he could see it.
Thatch managed to mumble some more quiet words that Ashley, even after putting her ear near his mouth, couldn't hear nor understand. He then passed out with a sigh.
Ashley crossed her arms and studies the man in front of her. He has many wounds, but one deep slash across his chest stood out the most. He probably wouldn't make it past tonight if she doesn't heal him. Would that be the right thing to do tho? He could be a criminal who will jeopardize the safety of her domain. "What should we do now, Loki?"
Loki sat elegantly like a chief whose opinions actually mattered, licked his paws in slow motion and meowed. She could take him as a mate, he explained, cause only God knows she needs one.
"Urgh! Shut up!" With face as red as a rip tomato, she closed her eyes and willed herself to go over her options. Truthfully, she dwelt on the worst-case scenario. The person that hurt this man could possibly be searching for him or he, himself, could be a rotten man with loose morals who'll kill her after he wakes up. Worse, he could aim at her family, her herd.
She bit her lips, trembling and willing herself to...just let him be, but the thick smell of blood filled her nose and poked at her conscience. Finally, she relaxed with a sigh of defeat. "Fine! Let's take him home." No benefits have ever came from overthinking.
Loki meowed continuously as if chanting a song.
"Not for that, you pervert!"
The walk home was relatively quick with her taking the lead, Thatch floating behind her and Loki playing with Thatch's swaying sash.
She put him on a makeshift bed made of blankets that she fished out from shipwrecks, cause there ain't snowball's chance in hell would she let him use her feathers filled bed. She then rummaged through her inventory in search for healing potions. She grabbed a handful. Ones that reduce the pain, others that mend raptures and finally ones that replenish blood.
The moment Ashley knelt beside him, Thatch opened his eyes. He silently watched as the beautiful lady took his clothes off oh so cautiously, that she was biting her lips in concentration. What captivated him though was her snow-white hair, it looked like sheets of the finest silk that he could happily, willingly drown in. It beckoned him to touch it, sink then run his fingers through it in a gentle brush and so he reached his hand to do just that.
"Don't worry,"Ashley startled, could only think that this man was asking for help when words failed him "you will be okay, I promise."
However, to both their surprises, instead of touching her hand or hair, Thatch ended up holding her breast. They froze. Thatch didn't know what's the best course of actions for this situation would be but squeezing her tits and saying "Now I can die a happy man," definitely wasn't it! He was smacked unconscious.
Ashley calmly removed the potions that reduce pain and the one that speed up the mending of injuries. She decided to sew this mf into an inch of his life. Loki had enough wisdom to retreat into a corner though his raised fur betrayed his fear.
And so, after giving him a couple of Blood replenishing potions and cleaning his wounds, Ashley spent the rest of her morning sewing, sewing and sewing until she didn't know if she was punishing him or herself.
"Done!" She declared, before letting herself fall in a crumpled heap on the floor. With shaking hands, she wiped her face and neck then she observed belatedly that Thatch was sweating buckets as well. "You poor thing," she mumbled, grabbing a new piece of cloth and swabbing it over his body gently.
Loki howled. This woman was giving him emotional whiplashes.
Indeed it's true that what can go wrong, will go wrong. Here she was just chilling and minding her own business, when this heap of a problem bowled right into her own domain. She may be worried about what the future holds but her excitement cannot be ignored as well. She wouldn't go searching for human interactions but now that a man is laying in front of her, she looked forward to have her first conversation in years that didn't entail growling.