The Beast Inside Read online

  She could not tell if it was the ship that her friends, and their daughter were supposed to be on. As it got closer she could see them waving. They looked so happy that they were coming to see her. Alexandra ran or limped into the water as a small boat was lowered from the ship, and dropped into the sea. It hit the water with a splash that sent a spray of water onto the side of the ship.

  After everything was settled Alexandra noticed that the boat contained her friends, Siren and Kevlin. The boat was moving very fast for only being powered by oars. She felt happy once again, but her joy turned to fear as the boat left the edge of the water’s surface, and headed for her. Alexandra did not understand what was happening, and then the ship, and the boat were gone.

  Fear made her stiffen up and soil her under clothes as she realized that the boat was not a boat, but a creature with a large fin that rose about three and a half feet out of the water. Alexandra had never seen such a creature before and did not know how to react. It was obvious by the creature’s aggressive behaviour that her life was on the line.

  She needed to get a hold of herself or die. Alexandra did not want to die. The creature brushed her left side nipping at her as it went by, but only managed to get a hold of her clothing and tear it from her. While the creature struggled to get the clothing out of its teeth, Alexandra started to run toward the shore but with her broken leg she could not move very fast so her attempt was only a half hop, half drag.

  Fear almost made her heart stop when she heard the creature splashing behind her, the splashes continued for a good hour or what seemed to be an hour or maybe it was an eternity. Alexandra did not know how long it had been nor did she have any concerns for the passage of time. She just wanted to get out of the water and onto the land. Just as her right foot was placed onto the soft sand of the shore Alexandra felt like a thousand needles were being stuck in her flesh as she was lifted off of the ground and pulled into the water.

  No matter what she did to the shark it would not let her go. She knew that her strength would soon be gone and that would mean that she did not have much time left to live. Alexandra did not know how long she had been under water, but could not hold her breath any longer. Her lungs addiction to air forced her to open her mouth, and attempt to breath. All that happened is that she took in a fair amount of water. She felt numb, cold and desperately needed to take in some air. The shark kept drawing her closer, and closer to the bottom of the sea.

  CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

  “Don’t get up. You have been severely injured by that shark. I have sewn you up as best I could and set the bones in both of your legs, but there is still a chance for infection. You are young, and may be able to heal completely. Unfortunately you will have a nasty scar all over your body.

  “It is fortunate that you are not a male child, if you were I and the rest of the tribe would be eating you. Judging by your smell I would say that you probably would taste good,” Hopefully he did not see her face when she heard this.

  Eating people was not within her mindset and she did not think that she could get her mind around that even if she seriously tried hard to do so. He continued to speak without seeming to notice the disgust written all over her face.

  “Since there is a shortage of females in our tribe your survival means our survival. According to the law of our society you become my daughter once you are well enough to go through the tribal joining ceremony. It is our custom that since I saved your life you must stay with us till you pay your debts, which will most likely be many years. That, and you will find that eating people is a good thing.” Alexandra did not know what to think about the man that was talking to her.

  It was obvious that her debt would probably be paid long after this one’s death, but she did not say anything for it was good to be alive. Her studies about the life on Sevle told her of the average life expectancy in the village, and this guy was ancient according to their reasoning. Also, she did not completely understand his dialect, and missed most of what he had said.

  From what she could see he was a thirty-year-old man and greying at the temples, but his skin was darker than she was used to. He was a hue darker than charcoal. She wondered how he happened to save her considering she was probably in a pretty deep end of the sea. A small boat made it look like she was seeing more water than she ever did in her life, but she knew that could not be true because there was more water when she was on the Sea Serpent.

  The man was rowing the boat to another side of the island that she woke up on the morning before this. Or what seemed to be the morning before this since she had no idea how long she was here. The hunger in her stomach was a sign that she had been here for a while. She could see palm trees, and white sand on the beach. It looked too peaceful to have any danger lurking in the waters, but she knew all too well of those dangers.

  Looking at the scar on her partially naked torso she noticed that it was huge, and grotesque. The larger of the two scars made a jagged path from the top of her left shoulder to between her breasts, from between her breasts to her belly button, and finally from her belly button to the top of her left hip. The other scar was festering on her right leg just below the knee. It would take time to heal, but at least she still had her leg. After feeling her whole scar with the fingers of her right hand she noticed that she almost had no clothes on.

  Her tattered clothing did not cover much, but at least most of her breasts, and pelvic area was covered enough for her dignity to remain in part if not entirely. The man rowing the boat only had a leather loincloth covering himself. If he had not been of the ones that had a short life span she might have been tempted, but she just brushed the thought from her mind. Alexandra was surprised at the speed the tribal man was going.

  His muscles rippled across his chest, back, shoulders, biceps, and forearms as he continuously steered and made the boat move forward with his single ten foot oar. All that she thought about was that he got this way by eating people. She knew that they would make good time on their way to the territory of this tribe, or wherever he was taking her.

  The sun blazed upon her skin as they zoomed through the humid and tropical climate. Where the sun touched her skin it was red and flaky. She was not used to these hot temperatures and the sweat poured out from every pore of her skin. The heat was making her sleepy. Closing her eyes, she soon succumbed to the swaying of the boat and the heat of the sun.

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

  It was a long time since Kevlin and his wife had nearly lost their daughter and had lost their dear friend, more than enough time to heal his broken arm and her broken leg but their wounds caused by losing a dear friend would never heal. He was now director of the king’s buildings in the kingdom of Shizamid and mayor of Shizimad. His wife was now pregnant and in her fifth month of pregnancy after so many miscarriages.

  Thinking back on that dreadful event always made him quiver with a sorrowful longing that left an indescribable emptiness in him that could never be filled without the safe return of his friend, Alexandra. His wife was much better now that it was definite that she would carry this one to full term, but he was worried about her well being. Thankfully his daughter Kalima did not parish in that dreadful storm because he would not be able to handle Siren’s or his own emotions at this time.

  Life had been hard after the accident and things just seemed to puzzle him far too much these days. He always wondered why things like this had to happen after so many years of preparation. How could he have failed his ancestors? They were probably looking at him right now wondering how he could have blundered on such an easy task. He knew his place in society and kept to his own business.

  All of that money he had earned over the last few years he would gladly trade for his friend’s return. She was gone and he could hardly cope with it, but he had to for his family’s sake. The only way he knew how to cope with it was to delve into his work wholeheartedly and spend lots of time with his family, but like all workaholics the work came first. The king was fascinated wit
h what he had accomplished with his castle and the capital city.

  So much so that he put him in charge of even the masonry. Kevlin noticed that many of the masons despised him for this. A lot of them were in their trade for over twenty years. They hated the fact that they would have to take directions from a mere master carpenter, and their mayor. Some even said this to his face, and he could sense the venom, and the animosity from most of the others.

  To counter this unrest and animosity, Kevlin secretly took on an apprenticeship with one of the less resentful master masons. The master mason was surprised that he was learning the trade fairly quickly. Learning masonry also improved his carpentry for it allowed him to increase the dependability of the carpentry-masonry bond, where the carpentry and masonry met in the construction of the buildings.

  Besides learning masonry, he and his wife had to attend a lot of the king’s functions. This also seemed to appease Kalima in the loss of her old friends, and she made new ones very quickly. Most of the time he would talk with the men, and she would talk with the women, and his daughter would be with the young children.

  There were many toasts to some unnecessary events, and some other events that Kevlin, and his wife gladly toasted to. They drank of the finest wines, and ate of the finest foods in the kingdom. Well at least he drank the wine. His wife drank the wine up to the day she found out that she was pregnant, and now only drank juice, or water.

  CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

  She awoke to find herself lying on her back on a cold hard leaf covered ground with a thin animal skin for a blanket over her. The blanket was kind of itchy as muggy sweat, and parts of the blanket stuck to the bare parts of her skin. It was dark in whatever room she was placed in, and she did not know where she was, or if there were windows, or doors that would allow her to exit the room.

  All that she was aware of was her self, she was still in her tattered clothing, and any movement of either leg caused her pain. Tears welled up, and one lone tear rolled down her face out of her left eye. She stifled the whimper that wanted to exit her dry parched lips. Every movement pulled at her stitches and being sun burnt aggravated her wounds.

  Alexandra wanted to get up, but it would have caused her too much pain. Even so, she gritted her teeth in anticipation of pain every time before she even began to move. Her only choice was to go back to sleep, and possibly it was because she was drowsy from whatever kind of drug they gave her to sleep. Alexandra was woken up by voices outside of the room. She opened her eyes and closed them again because of the bright morning sun shining through the animal skin walls.

  Slowly squinting her eyes open she looked around to see her surroundings in the light of day. The walls, and ceiling were of a rain proof canvas that looked to be made from animal skins patched together. This meant that she had to be in some sort of a tent. Forcing herself to her feet she walked slowly to the door flap. Lifting the flap she could see many different types of trees that she had never seen before. It frightened her that she could not see much beyond the canopy of trees. A strange thing these people that they lived on the ground in a forested area, it was even stranger that they ate people.

  “You are finally up,” The man that saved her from the shark said as he walked in after opening a tent flap still not wearing anything but the leather loin cloth, “It is good to see that your legs are strong enough to stand with the two crutches I left for you.

  “For the last eight months it has been rough with those legs of yours. We thought that you would lose your legs anytime, which meant that we were prepared to cut them off and eat them before they were too much worse for wear.

  “You were only awake long enough for us to feed you broth,” He stopped looking at Alexandra’s legs long enough to say more.

  “Before you begin eating, and living among the rest of the tribe there are many things that you will have to understand in order for you to be able to be a part of our society. The first of those things is our native language that is preferred over the dialect that I am addressing you in right now. Let me check your wounds to see if they have healed sufficiently to begin your training.” He said other things, but she could not quite make out everything that he mentioned due to not understanding his language fully.

  She caught words like ‘flesh eater’ or ‘rules’, but all of those were out of context, and she was not sure if it meant that they were cannibals, or not. Or were talking about themselves being vegetarians, and that she was to eat what they ate. Eight months was not a long time to rest for a Dochani. She had only seen this man out of the whole cannibal tribe.

  He checked her wounds like a father would have believing her to be younger than she really was. Alexandra wondered if Kevlin, Siren, and Kalima were still alive in the Shizamid kingdom. The man from the tribe gave her an okay for her condition, meaning she was healed enough to start training. Whatever training he was talking about she did not know. Alexandra made a vow to go to the Shizamid kingdom, wherever it was, to see if her friends had made it in hopes of being reunited with them.

  CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

  The tribesman began to teach her the language of his people. He started with the alphabet, then the different word formations, general expressions and then finished with body language. The tribesman continued until Alexandra could read, write and speak the language like a native. The tribesman took a month to teach her the language of his people.

  As to the body language and different signals, that took two months for her to learn. He also trained her in eating habits, and the basics of how to live with the cannibalistic customs. It bothered her that she now understood more of what the tribesman had said at their first meeting, and this tribe did practice many cannibalistic customs, and strange rituals.

  All of this was very puzzling to Alexandra because to her cannibals were cannibals, and that meant that they ate people. Why was it really important to have a way to eat people? According to the tribesman’s dictum to Alexandra their tribal name was L’art’o. It is the L’art’o’s custom to only eat those who were healthy, and to hunt them from other civilizations on Sevle.

  The fact that they come in contact with so many foreigners made it easy for them to learn new languages. Alexandra also learned about the age protocol, and order that one eats, and smokes the tribal pipe. The elders were served first, then the shaman, then those over fifty years old, then those over thirty years old, then those over fifteen, then those over eight, and then those over three. Those younger than three did not eat with the whole tribe, but ate outside of the tribe in a hut.

  When eating amongst the tribe the elders ate their fill, and then the next in line began to eat. It continued throughout the tribe’s people until everyone had eaten. Unfortunately because of customs Alexandra is last, and will always be last in the meals. This has been set because she is not of their blood. Her children that she has if she weds a tribesman will eat before she does.

  After everyone is done eating, the pipe is passed in the same hierarchy as the meal. Alexandra did not like the fact that it was mandatory for her to smoke the pipe, or the tribes peoples' bluntness of thinking that she would have a child within the tribe. The tribesman that considered himself to be her new father let her try it out. It tasted bad and made her see things that she preferred not to see. Her first time smoking the pipe made her see this big one hundred foot long, and about fifty foot high beast following her.

  She was not sure what it was, but in the back of her mind she knew that she should know what it was. All that she understood about it was that it was as big as a ship, had three horns on its head, as much teeth as the shark in the water that bit her but bigger, and talons as big as she was that looked very sharp. Alexandra hated the pipe because she now had bad dreams about the creature, and she wanted it to stop. She was finished her basic protocol training, and would soon start her other training.

  It would soon mark the fifth anniversary of her captivity, and that is when she will first be introduced to the rest of the tribe and would
need to follow their rules from then on. She did not want to do this because she wanted to be with her friends. Unfortunately her real, and true friends were not with her. Alexandra needed them now, and believed that it all happened because they had to move to Shizamid. She was coming along in her physical exercises that the tribe was putting her through to regain the full use of her legs again.

  Soon she would be introduced to others in the tribe other than the tribesman and the tribeswomen that helped her with her getting physically well again. Once she was physically ready her duties to the tribe would be laid out for her to do, and rules for her to follow. It was hard being powerless and unable to be free from these cannibals. Tomorrow was going to be very boring considering that she would be forced to join a society that she did not want to join.

  Alexandra had other duties more important than being with a tribe that could go through many generations of lives while she was still young, and vibrant. She would stay young and vibrant for some time. Alexandra could not do much here besides what she was told to do, and had the resolve that it was better to obey than to be eaten. The tribesman seemed to be excited about tomorrow, and to him it was her big day of being a part of the tribe. So, as to not being eaten, she practiced all day. She knew that the food would be different if not abhorrent.