Sabaat the Blessed Princess

On a small planet, a small tiger-beast girl grows up.

Sabaat screamed. It was instinctive.

Mother Nom had never heard Sabaat scream before. It made the tiny hairs on her neck stand up. With the speed of a warrior, she grabbed her rudimentary wooden spear and ran out the front door of the modest hovel. Another scream reached her ears, and her furry ears turned toward the surrounding forest. The haze of the summer’s day obscured her sight, but her acute hearing pinpointed where the screams were coming from. The small form of her daughter appeared in her field of vision, running fast and swinging her sickle in her hand. She whipped the sharpened farming tool around her head as if trying to defend against flies. Fear struck her heart as two four-legged creatures appeared from the dark forest’s edge, chasing after her daughter, filling the air with terrifying howls.

Mother Nom had never run so fast in her life. With andrenalin still pumping in her veins, she approached her little daughter and launched her spear toward the closest beast. The creature made an aggressive leap toward its prey, its mouth wide open. The spear went in deep inside its throat, killing the creature instantly. Its limp body tumbled to a stop. Its death made its companion stop in its tracks. Sabaat ran past her mother, knowing she was not safe yet. She turned around and held her sharpened kama at the ready.

The companionless creature's fur glistened a shimmering blue in the sunlight as it sniffed the dead body. Its teeth, covered in drool, were long and sharp. Mother Nom noticed that both creatures were skinny—emaciated skinny.

“Dungeon jackals,” said Mother Nom under her breath. Sabaat looked at her mother with surprise but didn’t say a word.

“What are they doing in the forest?” thought Mother Nom.

With the stealth of an assassin, Mother Nom slowly crept toward the dead creature to retrieve her spear. The other jackal, mourning its companion, noticed her. Several times larger than Mother Nom, the sneering jackal jumped into the air and landed on top of her, knocking her to the ground. Her hands instinctively tried shoving the beast off her.

Emaciated or not, the Jackal was strong.

An oversized paw swiped at Mother Nom’s head, making a sick thudding noise and knocking her unconscious. Her body made a dull thud as she fell to the ground. As its latest trophy lay still, the creature released a howl of victory into the air.

A silent wind blew past the dungeon jackal as a simple tool called a kama became lodged in its red-colored eye. Blood started to trickle down its face, and a deep pain in its head took root. It looked down and saw the little child smiling at him. A rudimentary form of anger formed in its head, and it lunged toward little Sabaat. The beast’s large teeth sank into the young girl’s arm that she held up in defense, drawing blood and tissue. Her crooked smile never left Sabaat’s face, making her look deranged and disturbed. She pushed against the head of the large creature to no avail. It’s breath warming up her arm. The beast’s lone eye rolled back into its head, finally succumbing to its fatal wound, and it fell with a thump, still holding on to its dinner.

Sabaat pried her arm out of the Jackal’s bloody mouth, and she collapsed to the ground. She could see the white of her bone in the cut, and the smile fell off her face—she started to panic. She staggered over to her mother’s limp body and placed her good hand on her neck. She felt a pulse. She smiled and then fell on her bottom. She held her elbow as she watched the blood pour out. They were poor, secluded, and lacked the sanative potions to save her from death. She conceded her life.

The breeze blew on her face as she looked up toward the forest, breathing heavily and reflecting on her short life. Her body froze as a large creature, eight feet tall with one large glowing eye and two long, lanky arms, looked at her motionless from the umbrage of the tree line.

“Nothic,” she whispered through her lips.

Adrenaline coursed through her body as she stood up from the ground. She walked over to the Jackal and grabbed her kama stuck in its head with her good hand. She turned to the creature and stood over her mother’s body; Sabaat’s body was swaying back and forth.

The hideous creature amicably raised its hands and slowly limped toward her. Her vision began to blur, but the beast appeared to be unarmed. It only held a small bottle in one hand. She swung her kama when it got too close; the creature moved back, and she missed. The weight was too much for her, and she dropped the tool-turned-weapon. The creature bent down and stared at her face. The panicked look on her face faded away. The creature smiled as it lifted its hand and poured something onto her arm. The glowing liquid covered her wound, making it hurt even worse than it already did. Tears finally came to her eyes, and then the pain disappeared. The wound stopped bleeding, and the muscle tissue started healing.

“Will be scar. Saved some for me,” said the monster, baring its stained, sharp teeth in the form of a smile.

Her voice formed the only words she had ever said. “Twe.” She rubbed her disfigured, semi-healed arm, looked at her savior, and smiled.

This caught the beast off guard. No creature had ever smiled at it before. That posture somehow put it at ease.

“You do a favor for me?” said the beast. It sounded like he was talking with gravel in his mouth. She could only understand him because he spoke slowly and softly.

“Twe,” she said as she shook her head up and down.

The creature pointed at his torso. A large, green-blood-soaked hole had been dug into his chest. Inside the wound was a bright red blinking light attached to a metal device.

The Nothic pointed to the device and said, “Take?” The creature kneeled slowly and gave a dry cough.

Sabaat walked up and grabbed the device from within the gaping hole. The creature was startled at first, seeing how easily this little creature just shoved her hand in without giving him notice. He winced from the pain. Sabatt grabbed the blinking object and pulled it. A noise of muscle tissue tearing, a beeping sound, and a low grunt from the one-eyed beast echoed through Sabaat’s ears as she stumbled backward and fell to the ground. In her hand, a little innards-covered metal device started blinking slower until it stopped.

The creature fell to the ground, and its large eye closed. She dropped the device on the ground and slowly approached the beast. She didn’t see it breathing. Green ooze was rushing out of its large chest wound. She bent down and retrieved the potion from its hand. She looked at the large piece of meat still missing from her arm.

The potion was poured and started to work right away. The creature’s eye opened, and a gasp of breath hit its lungs. A small smile came to its face as it lay on its back, looking up at the sky.

“Good,” said the creature. “Was right about you.”

After a few minutes, the Nothic pushed itself off the ground. The creature stretched out his hand towards Sabaat. She grabbed it and held on to it. Some blood was still pouring out of its chest wound, and he blocked it with his other hand. “Thank you,” it said and released her hand.

“Twe,” said Sabaat.

“Yes, Twe,” said the beast. He looked around for a moment and then looked back at her.

“Do you know home? Ruins?” said the monster.

She pointed toward the forest where he had come from and said, “Twe.”

The Nothic touched Sabatt’s small face with a tender smile. Sabaat did not flinch. Turning around, it uttered the word “Twe,” shook its head, and slowly walked toward home.

“Sabaat?” came a weak voice from behind her. Oh, right, Mother Nom