I Am A Carnivorous Plant

There were various reasons for the average person to get taken to the village. Perhaps they had done wrong and were sold off as a prisoner, or it could be that they had run afoul of the wrong groups or racked up too big of debts. All such unfortunate people could be bought for only a pittance, gathered up like livestock, and sent to make charcoal for the organization. Of course, that was only a time holder, a sort of sorting phase, until it was decided what they truly wanted to do with you.

 

Those who were brought to the charcoal village rarely managed to hold on to their hope for very long. Still, no matter how miserable and slavish their lives were there, it was usually the better outcome when compared to the fate which awaited them afterwards. It wasn’t unusual to see your neighbors taken away kicking and screaming to their new horrific lives after having lived by you for weeks, months, or even years. With how quickly they were working their way through the surrounding woods by making all this charcoal, it was easy to tell that they were far from located in the safest place, however, and very few people were brave enough to risk leaving and being descended upon by the beasts and monsters that were kept back by the village’s greater numbers. Still, there were those who would rather die than keep being treated this way, and would head out from the village in the opposite direction in which the watchers always came, praying to the dead saints for their safety as they went.

 

But everyone knew of the legend of the monster that lived towards the west, even if they didn’t want to believe it.

 

It was a fact that the village never expanded its wood cutting in the direction of the rumored monster, afraid to eventually approach too close and anger it into attacking them all. Perhaps that was part of why it was so easy to escape that way, since the still thick woods behind the village would easily hide you from the eyes of the watchers. Besides, it seemed that even the watchers themselves were wary of the legend, considering they rarely if ever tried to hunt someone down who ran even slightly towards the west. If someone were to disbelieve the legend of the monster, then they might just think this village would be easy to escape from, but then there were the stories. Rarely, the people who ran away would come back, covered in gashes and bites all over their legs, speaking of the horrific plant monster who streaked amongst the bushes. Most who made it back had been carrying some kind of torches, or knew a little bit of fire magic, and always attributed their success in escaping due to the fire, although almost none of them were brave enough to trust in their fire forever against such a beast.

 

Still, if the fire was what had saved all those people, then it was odd to see the plant-woman who came to their village easily take down the fire mage who had been watching them.

 

Unlike the rumors, there were no signs of bushes. Although the monster’s body did have roots on it, it wasn’t nearly as much of its body as described. And despite all the horrific tales, the plant-woman had been nothing but kind to the young boy that she’d found.

 

Perhaps the only accurate parts of the legends were about how fast and blood-thirsty it was.

 

Fendel had been there. He’d seen it with his very own eyes. He’d been the first of all the villagers to rush off when he heard the screams, having reluctantly accepted the role of the ‘leader’ of the village. There were many times that he’d used his warrior trained body, abused and growing older though it was, to try to fend off the needless violence of the watchers, although in truth at best what he actually did was just taken the blows that the others would have received. He saw it as only natural for him to do; After all, he was the one who’d been in the village for the longest. Of any of them, it was only right that he be the one to sacrifice himself first.

 

The scene of the plant-woman tearing apart a dead body and stuffing the pieces it ripped off into its open, grotesque mouth was what first greeted Fendel when he located the source of the screams. It didn’t take him very long with his battle-trained mind to see the blade that hung from the body’s still intact, but oddly bent, torso. Obviously, the man must have been one of the watchers, the one that had been wandering on the west side.

 

Soon the angry shouting of the other watchers could be heard, and the faster, melee oriented watchers arrived, but they were nothing before the fearsome whips of the monster’s arms, and they too quickly joined their dismembered comrade on the ground. Even the two mages, who had been the leaders of this small group of watchers, were unable to harm the monster. Fendel was sure that the fire magic would have been enough to scare away the plant-based fiend, just as the rumors had said time and time again, yet the thing only flinched for a moment at the flames, simply dodging away from them with sheer speed before mounting a counter attack.

 

In the end, it only took a few minutes for the plant-woman to take down the powerful mages that had kept them all trapped there and living in fear.

If the monster had decided to eat everyone in the village, Fendel was sure that nothing could stand in its way.

 

~~~

 

Even though he’d gotten the monster to make several promises and agreements with him, it was still hard for Fendel to trust the man-eating plant. Its voice was cheerful, and its manner amiable, but the sight of it eating others of his kind, or the fact that it so easily accepted to become a weapon for him, both weighed heavily on his mind. Perhaps this time he had truly signed a contract with a devil. It wouldn’t be strange for the monster to betray him at any moment. He could only hope that its hunger could be fully sated against the bastards who had enslaved the village, and that the monster would be too satisfied to go back on its word afterwards.

 

=Whatcha thinkin’ so hard about?=

 

The odd voice of the monster, following only a few steps behind him, chimed out, making the wary Fendel flinch.

 

“...I was just trying to make sure I remembered the way correctly, monster.”

 

He could hear the monster making a small dissatisfied sound behind him in response to his words, and when he heard its footsteps abruptly speeding up, his entire body stiffened. And when the monster’s head suddenly appeared in front of him from the side, he was sure that his heart was going to completely stop.

 

=Hey! You can stop calling me ‘monster’, by the way! I’ll have you know that I have a name!=

 

Fendel’s eyebrows twitched in surprise and confusion at the completely different situation than what he’d expected, but eventually he was able to calm himself down just enough to offer an apologetic bow and keep his voice steady while he responded, staying on his best behavior to try not to run afoul of the fearsome thing. Today would truly be a test of his limited ability to be polite.

 

“...I see. Then, my name is Fendel. May I ask for yours?”

 

The plant-woman straightened up a bit at his question, and the way that the ends of her tentacles that trailed at her sides slightly wriggled made him scared for a second that he’d somehow done something to make the monster even more upset. However, contrary to his thoughts, the voice that replied to him was actually quite pleased in its tone, if not gushing with excitement.

 

=My name is Mellily! Til gave me that name!!!=

 

Fendel had to do his best to keep the confusion that was running rampant through his mind from reaching his face. For some reason, the way the plant was speaking with him right now reminded him of some of the conversations he’d had with the children who were sometimes brought to the village, and yet there was no way he could treat the dangerous monster in front of him in such a way, especially not after the conversation they’d had before they’d left. Truly he wasn’t sure how he should treat such an odd existence.

 

“Erm… Yes. It’s nice to meet you, Miss Mellily.”

 

The plant woman stopped for a moment, truly not moving, in a way that anything human or animal would be incapable of. It was something that instinctually set off warning bells in Fendel’s mind, reminding his already plenty wary self that the thing in front of him was something to be afraid of. But then, only a few seconds later, the monster’s tendrils moved once again, coming up to rasp against its face like a young maiden holding her cheeks in embarrassment.

 

=Mhmm! As I thought, I really do like you, Fen!=

 

For a moment the corner of Fendel’s mouth pulled back at suddenly being called by a nickname by someone he barely knew, but when he remembered he wasn’t in any kind of position to say anything about it, he simply just nodded his head and put on as neutral of an expression as he could. He could already feel the strain of acting so differently than he usually did wearing down on him.

 

“Ah… Thank you very much, Miss Mellily. Now, if we could please… We don’t have much time to work with…”

 

=Oh! Oh yeah, you’re right! Wow, you and Til really are similar, huh? You’re a lot more polite to me, though! At first I was like ‘Wow, burly guys must all have this kind of personality’, but then you totally proved me wrong! For instance, you-=

 

Fendel let the plant-woman keep babbling as he continued walking, politely nodding along to her words and only half listening as they continued their walk. It had been quite a handful of years since he’d been taken to the organization's hidden building, and although he believed in his sense of direction, Fendel wasn’t completely sure he wouldn’t lead them the wrong way if he didn’t concentrate. If he led them astray, then not only would he be forsaking the boy’s mother and sister, but possibly himself and the entire village as well, since he would have broken his agreement with the monster. He had to do his best right now so that everyone could remain happy and safe, as was his duty as their leader.

 

=Oh by the way, Fen! …Fen? Fen!=

 

“Ah! Y-Yes, Miss Mellily?”

 

Fendel couldn’t stop himself from jumping when he felt one of the monster’s gently grab hold of him from behind. For a moment he was sure that his aging body would catch up with him and send him to an early grave from the fright.

 

=I was trying to ask you, do you know if there are any more corpse plants in the area?=

 

“...Corpse plants?”

 

Fendel’s eyebrows furrowed at the term he’d never heard before.

 

=Yeah! Oh, do humans not call us that, maybe? I doubt you use the elven word like Til… It’s what me and that bush-dog that used to be outside of your village are called!=

 

The mention of a ‘bush’ reminded Fendel of the legends he’d heard time and time again, and re-awakened the doubts he’d previously had when the plant-woman had first come to his village. His eyes scanned over the monster once more as his brain sifted through and analyzed the words it had just said.

 

“...What do you mean it ‘used to be’ outside of the village?”

 

=Well I had to kill it, obviously! It tried to attack that kid, so I had to get rid of it.=

 

Fendel’s eyes grew wide, and he had to suppress the shiver that tried to make its way up his spine. The horrible legendary monster that had kept them boxed in with their captors all this time… was being spoken about like it was just an annoying mosquito. He’d already known that this plant-woman, this ‘Mellily’ was strong, but now…

 

His hope that this monster would be strong enough to destroy the organization grew just as much as his fear did.

 

_____

AN: Next chapter will also be from Fen's view! But then we'll go back to our regular silly Lily view!