Beauties and Beasts

Chapter 11: brought to you by #allthemuscles

"Parker's mama, the Leopard Queen, introduces her to the workings of the City of Beasts while she waits for the rescue of her snake-napped friend in a cloak, because what is an adventure to another world without a cloak? Hardly an adventure at all. Neara's glasses prevent her from being too attractive, but darn it if some desperate men still won't take their shot."

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"Neara." Parker's mother gently said as her guest stretched the sleep from her arms. "Parker and the Leopard King have left. They should be back soon. Your friend, Shay, has been spotted."

She sat upright and held the blanket to her chest. "That's good news, right?"

"Yes. If you come to the courtyard, there should be meat grilling. Perhaps one of the leopards there will catch your eye."

"Are there... some furs around I could make myself clothing with?"

"Yes, I will have some brought to you."

"Thank you, your majesty."

The Leopard Queen smiled and walked out. Within minutes, a short leopard beastman dragged a bundle of furs into the room, along with a fish bone and long strings that smelled like meat. He dropped them at the foot of the bed and left; the tip of his tail twitched in the air.

"Now to make a cloak." She tried to find the thinnest furs so she wouldn't boil in this heat. The tube top didn't help the sweating and when things got slippery, they obeyed gravity a bit more earnestly. She sewed loose stitches to get the look she wanted first, then filled them in with tighter stitches so her skin wouldn't show even a little. The patchwork quilt felt thicker at the bottom and smelled like urine, but she could always wash it later. She fastened it around her throat with a thicker strand of leather. "I guess I could always make buttons later." she trailed off and decided against tying the rest of it shut. "No sense in making my own sauna."

At the prospect of fending off more entitled men, Neara stayed in bed until hunger drove her to quietly peek around the corner. Nobody walked the corridors and she grabbed a lock of her hair as she walked down the hall. The stones were old, but bore no chisel marks on their surface. They seemed pressed together with a mortar, but the fit was so tight, Neara couldn't be sure. The crude huts in Camel Hump Valley hadn't indicated this level of engineering, but she supposed it could have been done by another tribe. Apes, maybe? They could be more like actual humans, although she didn't know if they would turn into actual chimps or gorillas. With their simple vocabulary, Neara didn't know if they knew the difference.

A hunk of meat smoldered by the fire and Neara ripped off a chunk and gnawed on it. The meat was dry and bland, like leather. It sorely needed the spices, or at least a garlic rub. "I wonder if they have limes and cilantro here." She mumbled to herself as she chewed. She met no one as she wandered through the halls and out the door. A wide path set with cobblestones led from the castle to the center of the city and she followed it, passing by large stone houses that looked to have a main room with a smaller room to the side. Ahead, a large group of beastmen gathered, some towering over the rest, although the rest appeared to be Parker's height.

"He's brought back more females!"

"That one looks like Fox Tribe; she's so pretty!"

Neara noticed large tigers and bears walking with young women sitting on their backs. There were 5 of them and she noticed they all looked sad. Someone shoved her from the back and she fell onto the road. Her glasses flew off her face. "Shit..." Her hands passed over the rough stones and searched for that scrap of plastic. "That's it, I'm super gluing these damn things to my face except we're in medieval times so glue hasn't been invented yet and I can't invent it because I'm blind..." she muttered maliciously to herself. The smell of animals and blood thickened in her nose.