New Females
The banquet went well and a few of the tiger beastmen were able to find new mates. The females were impressed with the seasoned meat they were offered. Shuu was proud he got to teach them the recipes that ultimately allowed them to find new mates. Shelly was happy to contribute to the village. She went to talk to Indigo after she finished eating. He came up to the surface of the water and asked, "What is happening? Why is it so noisy?" Shelly said, "We are having a welcome banquet for the new females in the village. You should come up and see if you like any of them." Indigo thought about it and nodded. He came up and transformed into his 2 legged form. Shelly handed him an extra piece of fur. He wrapped it around his waist as a makeshift loincloth.
Indigo smelled the seasoned meat and his mouth watered. Shelly offered him some and he happily accepted it. She said, "You can use some meat to offer a female and see if she will accept you. I have seen other males do that and some have been successful." Indigo nodded and accepted the meat. He got up to go inspect the new females. None of them were up to his standards, so he just ate the meat himself. Shelly sighed and thought he was too picky. If it was her tribe facing extinction she thought she could be a little bit more flexible. She called him back and asked, "Why did you eat the meat yourself?" He said, "I'm not interested in any of these females. Molly was acceptable. I can not accept a female less beautiful than her."
Shelly sighed and said, "Fine, we will plan a trip to the Fox tribe. Maybe you will find a female you like. You should really think about the survival of your tribe and consider other traits than just beauty." Indigo thought about it and said, "As long as I find the female attractive and she can bear young, what else is there to consider?" Shelly thought about it and said, "What about a good personality? She will keep you company for the rest of your life. You should choose someone you can get along with." Indigo thought about it and nodded. Shelly had a point. He was only thinking about the short term and reproduction, not considering the long term.
He said, "I will observe the female's personality and see if I find any that I like." Shelly nodded and thought maybe there is hope for him and the merfolk after all!
The banquet was a success and afterwards everyone went home. Shelly was getting ready for bed when she heard some rustling sounds outside her treehouse. She asked the guys, "Did you hear that?" Shuu said, "Anything you can hear we can hear better." Albert looked outside and saw some shiny eyes in the distance, he said' "I think the village is about to be under attack." Winston looked out and saw the scorpions surrounding the village. He let out a loud roar to alert the tiger guards and warriors. They all went out to attack the intruders and defend the village.
Shelly was worried about the females and remembered the water hole. She told Winston, "We should send the females to the water hole so the males can focus on the fight. Indigo can blow bubbles and keep us safe." He nodded and told David and Shuu to keep Shelly safe as she led the females into the water hole. Shelly asked Albert, "Can you fly the females over to the water hole?" He nodded and took off spreading his massive wings. He could carry 10 females at a time! This would be an easy task for him. Shelly rode Harvey while Shuu and David protected her and fought off scorpions and the rootless beasts.
They made it to the water hole and Indigo came out of the water. He said, "What's happening now?" Shelly said, "The village is under attack! We need you to blow bubbles and keep the female's under water until the fighting is over." Indigo nodded and started to blow bubbles. Shelly faced the scared females and said, "Indigo will keep us safe. Please go in the bubbles and we will be safe. Scorpions cannot swim and will drown if they try to go down and get you underwater. Indigo can fight off any rootless beast who comes near the water." The females seemed hesitant but Molly came forward to support Shelly's idea. She was the first to go into a bubble and slowly started to sink. She gave an encouraging smile to the other females. They all started to go into the bubbles. Shelly was last.
When they got to the bottom they saw a light coming from the cave underwater. Shelly asked Indigo, "Can you bring the light closer to the females. It will help to comfort them." Indigo nodded and brought his glowing balls towards the female. He did not hand them to anyone, but put them near the females to help them see. The glowing balls were only for his future female. He would not give them away so easily.
The illumination helped to calm the females slightly. Indigo went back to the surface to wait and defend his territory. A few rootless beasts made it to the water hole, but Indigo was faster than them and sliced their heads off. It was messy, but he was able to wash off right after killing them. The males were able to kill off the intruders without having to worry about the females. The fighting was over in a few hours. Indigo was busy refilling the oxygen in the bubbles so the females would not pass out.
After the fight was over, Winston instructed the males to burn the bodies and clean the blood before the females returned. He knew most females would be scared of dead bodies and blood. After they cleaned up the village and disposed of the bodies they went to retrieve the females and bring them home. Once Shelly was home she hugged each of her mates and was glad they were ok.
Shelly was exhausted and slept throughout the night and into the morning. The next day, she discussed the attack with her mates. Harvey had been busy tending to the wounded. Shelly had told him about stitches and basic first aid. It had helped a lot, but some beastmen still died. Luckily no females were kidnapped thanks to Shelly's quick thinking and Indigo's help. Shelly asked where these beastmen came from. Winston told her, "They came from the City of Beasts. It is a horrible place with Scorpion beastmen and Rootless beasts who abduct women to torture and kill them." Shelly said, "That sounds awful! We should get rid of them!" All of the men agreed, but didn't know how. Shelly said, "Once we get more flying beastmen we could use them for an aerial attack!" Albert perked up and said, "What is that?" Shelly said, " It is when you attack from the sky. You could drop something on the city that will catch fire and the City of Flames will go up in flames!" Winston, David and Shuu all nodded with her plan. Winston said, "They attacked us first! We need to retaliate!"
Shelly told him her plans. "We need oil and explosives ! We can get the oil from oily wood and the explosives are from salt from the caves and burnt wood." Winston nodded. He said "We did find some salt from the caves when we were building the wall." He brought some to Shelly, " She picked up a piece of charcoal and dipped it in the saltpeter. She lit it on fire and threw it up in the air. It exploded and caught fire. They were all in awe and they quickly put it out. Shelly said, "The beastmen first pour oil on the city, light it and then drop these explosives on the city." Winston thought about it and nodded. He said, "I will get the beastmen to work on the oil right away. Albert, can you get more flying beastmen to come to the city?" Albert nodded and said, "I will tell them this village has good food and new ideas. They will be interested." Harvey kept quiet during the conversation. As a doctor he didn't like killing, but he knew that these beastmen were a threat and the world would be safer if they were all dead. Also, they attacked the village last night for no reason.
If the village did not respond they would keep attacking until there were no females or they were all dead. He agreed to keep his female and villagers safe, but he didn't want to participate. He would keep busy with tending to the wounded. Shelly acted as his nurse over the next week and helped to teach other beastman basic first aid. Winston had the males making oil and collecting ingredients for the explosives. Shelly told him not to mix them until they were ready to attack just in case. The ingredients were not explosive on their own.