Shelter Forest: Monsters in a Medieval World

Asker (Male Naga x Female Reader)

You had lived many lives and you remembered them all, and in each one, they were there. Sometimes they were a man, sometimes a woman, or both, or neither. Sometimes they were your childhood friend that lived next door, sometimes it took you decades to find them. But you always knew them for what they were, your mate for eternity. You were fortunate; not everyone had the joy of knowing who they were meant for, but you did. All it took was to look them in the eye, and you knew.

You parents didn't believe you when you told them about your past lives. They thought you were just making up tales. While you were growing they found it cute, but as an adult, they found it less so. Eventually they told you to stop telling these stories. It would be hard to marry you off if your suitors found you strange.

You had no plans to marry, not unless it was to the love of your distant memories. Of course, you couldn't tell your parents that.

One day, while collecting eggs from the quails in their pen, you felt a pull, an undeniable tugging toward the forest. It told you to go, and soon, or you would miss your chance. Panicking slightly, you dropped the egg basket, ran inside and filled a bag haphazardly, telling your confused mother that you would be back soon. In reality, you wouldn't stop looking until you found them. You knew what this pull was: something was wrong. They were calling you. They needed you now.

The wide, wide forest was supposed to be wildly dangerous for anyone, not just small women with no weapons or fighting experience, but you didn't care. You had to find them. Pulling on your cloak, shouldering the bag, and picking up a walking stick, you ignored the main road and walked straight into the woods without hesitation.

You searched relentlessly, without food or sleep, for two days. You kept walking when it rained, and when it was pitch black, and when the fog was so thick you couldn't see your own hand in front of your face. You could feel them fading with each step you took, and you knew soon it would be too late. The panic had gripped you so hard that it forced you to keep moving, indifferent to cold, hunger, and pain.

You kept going until you heard the carrion birds crying and circling overhead. Carrion birds didn't attack; they waited for their prey to die. You ran then, terror fueling your steps.

"Please don't die," You gasped. "Please, please don't die."

You followed the birds to a stream that ran red.

"Oh, gods," You whispered, hurrying upstream.

There, past a highish rock wall that you had to scale, was a small pool, dark red with blood. In it, there lay a man, gored from who knew what kind of creature. Only his head and shoulders were out of the water, heavy gashes covering both. The rest of him lay under the murky red pool.

Was this them? You couldn't tell yet, you hadn't seen his eyes. Well, whoever he was, he needed help. You couldn't leave him like this. Whispering a silent prayer for your love to forgive this slight detour and willing them to wait for you, you took the wounded man by the arm and tugged.

He was far too heavy to pull out of the water, but you tried to turn him over. It took several heaves, but you managed it. There were claw marks on his chest as well, deep ones.

"Hold on," You said. "Just hold on."

You had to get him out of the pool if you were to treat him, but you couldn't do it yourself. He had lost too much blood to regain consciousness. You'd have to find help.

"I'll be back, I promise," You said, smoothing his dark, wet hair out of his face.

The stream led into a river, and you followed it down, running recklessly, stumbling on the rocks in your haste, your breathing coming in sharp pants that cut through your lungs like a knife.

"Hey!" You heard a shout to your left. There was a woman there with a bow and quiver of arrows, wearing a hunter's coat, waving her hands above her head. You stopped, gasping for breath.

"Help!" You called. "Help! There's a man in the rock pool about three hundred yards from here! He's badly hurt. I need to get him out but I'm not strong enough to do it alone. Can you help me?"

"Yes, let me call my husband! Stay here, I'll be back!" She dashed away, leaving you standing at the river with your heart in your throat.

After several minutes, in which you bounced impatiently on your heels, you heard a whooshing sound above you, and the largest bat you'd ever seen, at least eleven feet tall, landed with a hard thump in front of you on all fours. You gasped and took a stumbling step backward.

"No, no, it's all right!" The woman you had seen earlier stepped down from his back and held up her hands placatingly. "This is my husband, Declan. My name is Ryel."

You stared in disbelief at the bat creature. Gulping, you told them your name in a squeaky voice. Declan stood to his full, considerable height to greet you, and you took another step backward.

He chuckled. "You humans," He said, his voice deep and full of good-natured laughter. "Always so jumpy."

"Where's this man you told me about?" Ryel asked.

"This way," You said, turning, swallowing your heart back down. "Follow me. Hurry!"

You scurried back toward the rock pool with them in tow and showed them the man in the water.

"It's Asker!" Declan exclaimed. He rushed down in to the pool and began to heft the man onto his shoulders. "He must have fought Tota, the one who's been challenging him for his cave for the past few weeks. I told him a cave is nothing to get killed over, but you know how stubborn nagas are," He said to his comparably tiny wife with a sardonic eyeroll. She chuckled at him dryly.

You blinked. "How... what...?"

Just as you choked this out, Declan lifted the man from the water, revealing his naked abdomen merging into a sparkling red tail, with scales like sharp, slightly raised, arrowhead-like rubies set into skin, previously hidden in the dirty, red water.

There was no belly button, just a triangle of scales that ascended up toward his chest in a reverse vee. He had no legs whatsoever, but there short, sharp spikes erupting from his spine that crested over where his buttocks would have been, getting smaller the farther up and down they traveled until they disappeared altogether at the shoulders and roughly where the knees would have been. His tail extended far behind him, at least eight feet long on it's own.

As Declan laid him out on the rocks away from the water, you pulled out a ointment you had brought with you. You had literally swiped everything that was on your dresser at home into a bag to start your journey, and the ointment had been one of the random things just lying there. You hadn't really thought about it at the time, but now you were glad you had it. You weren't sure you needed the ivory piglet figurine, though.

As you rubbed it into his wounds, he groaned and his eyes fluttered open.

"Don't try to move, my friend," Declan said. "You're badly wounded."

"Declan?" He asked roughly, his voice very hoarse.

"Yes, brother," Declan said, kneeling down and placing the joint that was his hand on the naga's shoulder. "What did I tell you about that pride of yours? It nearly got you killed."

"You should have just let me die, Declan," The naga said weakly, trying to shake off Declan's grip and failing. "I'm garbage. Tota took my cave and my dignity, all that I had. I should be dead. Let me die. Tell your woman to stop."

"I'm not doing anything, Asker," Ryel said, standing next to her huge bat monster husband with her hands up.

"Then who...?" He looked up at you then for the first time, and you saw his eyes, blood-red jewels set deep in his bruised face. Your heart skipped a beat and your breath caught in your throat, a tingle shivering up your spine. Your hands faltered in their ministrations and your mouth fell open.

"It is you," You breathed.

He opened his mouth to reply, but lost consciousness before he could. While you were still marshaling your thoughts, you felt fat drops of rain hit your head.

"We should get him out of the open air," Ryel said. "Should we take him back to his cave?"

"It's Tota's cave now," Declan said darkly. "But I know of a smaller cave near our border that we can take him to." Pulling Asker over his shoulder, Declan began to drag him over the rock wall and back toward the river as the rain fell heavily on their heads.

After about a mile and a half, they came to a cave that was slightly raised off the forest floor and pulled Asker into it, laying him against the far wall.

"I have some herbs in my garden for healing," Ryel said. "From these injuries, I imagine he's been laying in that pool for a few days."

Right around the time you felt the pull, you thought.

"I hesitate to leave him alone in his condition," Declan said with a frown on his strange fuzzy, face. "And I don't just mean his injuries. A defeated Naga can become suicidal after a particularly brutal loss to a rival."

"I'll stay with him," You offer immediately.

They turned their gazes on you sharply.

"Who is he to you?" Ryel asked. "As far as I know, Asker doesn't know any humans besides me. He's not hostile exactly, but we're definitely not good friends."

"I only met him today," you tell her. "But... its complicated. I don't know if I can explain."

She half smiles and pets Declan's ears as he's crouched down next to her. His eyes almost closed as he made a sound of contentment that could only be described as adorable.

"No explanations necessary. I understand all too well," Ryel said fondly.

The rain had let up outside and Ryel and Declan prepared to leave.

"I'll come by later with food and supplies," Ryel said, climbing back up on Declan's shoulders.

"Thanks," You replied.

Declan shrugged her up so that she had a better grip on his neck. He was about six feet taller than her, after all.

"Judging by his wounds, you'll likely be here a while," He said. "And be prepared when he wakes; Nagas are fiercely territorial. He could be aggressive, and if he gets an infection and turns delirious, he could attack you." He frowned in thought. "On second thought, perhaps you shouldn't stay."

"No, I'll be fine," You insist.

"All right, if you're sure," He said, then turned and pointed at a nearby hill ridge with his wide wing. "We live about a quarter mile that way, over the crest of that hill. We've got a nice farm set up there, so don't be shy about coming 'round for food or help. We've got plenty of both to spare."

"Thanks," You said in a surprised tone. No wonder Ryel fell for him; Declan was a teddy bear.

With a friendly wave from the both of them, Declan scaled a tree with Ryel clinging tight to his back. She watched them as they crested the top of the tree and as Declan spread his massive wings and took off without a sound.

"Whoa," You said. Then, you went inside to tend to your patient.

After wiping his body down with a clean cloth, you took the ointment back out and reapplied it to the wounds. They were uncomfortably warm, and the fear of infection was very real. He did not reawaken while this was being done. His breathing was raspy, but you didn't hear a rattling in his lungs, which was a good sign.

After you were done, you realized you were starving. You hadn't eaten or slept in two days. Rummaging in your bag, you pulled out the waxed cheesecloth that contained a small amount of bread, cheese, and ham, eating quickly. After lunch, you went out into the summer afternoon with the rain steaming off of the rocks around the cave, looking for sizable stones to begin building a fire pit.

It took the better part of the day to do it, but once the fire pit was done, you went to find firewood. Finding dry kindling was going to be difficult. You managed to find some downed branches and dead moss that wasn't saturated and set it out to dry a little. You also stripped off your own clothes and went to bathe in the river, washing off the dirt and grime from your blind trek through the unfamiliar forest. Putting on your spare dress that was only slightly less damp, you went back into the cave, lugging the kindling in with you.

You finally got a fire going, flooding the cave with flickering light. You sat next to the naga, Asker, and examined his face and body.

He was badly beaten and bloody, but underneath red inflammation and black bruising, he was lovely. The skin that wasn't covered in bright red scales or horrible gashes was smooth to the touch and a lovely chocolate brown color, with a strange iridescent sheen that shimmered in the light. He had a beautiful face, all sharp angles and lines, and his vaguely human-looking half was lithe with strappy muscles, not too big but definitely there. He had no earlobes at all, just holes in the side of his head hidden under his jewel-bright red hair, and his nose was flat with slits for nostrils. His mouth lay slightly open, enough to reveal rows of needle sharp teeth, and his hands were tipped with red claws, twice the length of a normal man's fingers.

It took you a moment to get over the shock of the realization that your soul mate was, in fact, not human. They had always been human before. Well, maybe that wasn't entirely true. In one of your past life's, when they had been a she, you were certain she was part satyr, as she had hooves in place of feet. But she had been abandoned at birth and she didn't know her lineage, so neither of you could be sure.

Just before nightfall, Ryel returned by herself with a basket of food, herbs, bandages, and a bag of dry firewood. She also had a brace of rabbits hanging from her belt and a blanket around her shoulders.

"He won't be able to hunt for himself for a few days at least," She said, handing you the rabbits. "This should tide him til then. If you need more, don't hesitate to ask."

"Thank you very much," You tell her, nearly moved to tears by her kindness. "This is terribly generous of you."

She waved this away. "Forest folk look out for each other," She said simply.

"I can't help but wonder how you became forest folk," You said. "How long have you been with Declan?"

"Two wonderful years, last spring," She said, smiling in a besotted way. "Declan saved my life, then I saved his, and he brought me to this little piece of heaven. I've never been so happy in all my life. I can't imagine where I would be without him."

You smiled a little. "Yeah, I know how that feels."

"Have you ever been in love?" She asked.

"Oh, hundreds of times," You replied mysteriously, which made her furrow her brow but she refrained from asking further. "Thank you for all the help, Ryel, really. To be honest, I'm glad I'm not going to be doing this alone."

She smiled, helping you set up a bed out of dry moss. She helped you turn Asker so you could treat his back, then bid you farewell and left.

You were trying to stay awake, but the exhaustion of your journey plus the excitement of finding and tending to Asker was finally catching up to you. You sat on the new moss bed, blanket around your shoulders, and began to nod off.