“You did not save me from anything,” Gee growled, and her damp hair hissed violently before it erupted into flame.
“You didn’t see the giant predators heading in our direction,” I said as I began to wrap up my hut posts with the vine cordage. “They are called spinosaurs, and they could eat both you and me with a single bite.”
“I did not see them,” Gee said, “but I did hear that noise, so I will take you at your word for their size. Still, you did not save me. These dinosaur creatures would not be able to eat me since I am fire born. I would melt their jaws and teeth with just a trigger of my thoughts.”
“You can make yourself burn hotter?” I asked.
“Yes,” Gee said, “but it is much like reducing my heat; it requires concentration and is difficult to maintain for more than a few minutes.”
“So maybe you are fine on your own.” I shrugged, lifted up the first binding of posts, set them on my shoulder, and then began to walk toward the ferns that concealed our nook from where the stegos were relaxing.
Gee didn’t say anything else as I walked away from her, and I commanded Ad-Rock to lay down on his tummy so that I could climb up between his back plates easier. As soon as I was on him, I set the parts of my hut in between his kite shaped armor, and then I slid down his tail so that I could return to the nook.
“I want to find my way back home,” Gee said when I walked past her on my way to the hut pieces.
“I can’t help you there,” I said. “All I can do is bring you back with me and include you in our tribe. If you know how to fight and plan battle strategies, we can use you if we ever have to battle other tribes, but most of our day revolves around trying to improve our quality of life.”
“What do you mean?” Gee asked.
“Take this hut for example,” I said as I gestured to the posts on the ground. “We started off with one made of easy to bend cane, then we built another one similar to this one. I want to make a hut out of a clay and sand mixture so it will be more durable in the coming cold weather. We have planted a garden so we can grow food. We have dug a well and are working on a water filter so that we can have clean water to drink. We are making soap and are talking about making improvements to the way we dispose of our waste. We need to make new clothes, figure out better ways to cook food, and make sure our wall is strong enough to handle more dinosaurs. I have a list of tasks to do that will take all of us half a year to complete, but the more people helping the better.”
“You want me to cook your food?” Gee asked as she crossed her arms under her full breasts. The heat was starting to come to her skin again, and the surrounding air was twisting like summer asphalt.
“Everyone does something,” I said with a shrug. “It might be that cooking isn’t what you are best suited to, you might be better helping us make clay pots or dishware, or--”
“I am not a potter,” Gee hissed, and her hair twisted away from her head as if a gust of wind had just blown across her face. “I am Lord Commander of--”
“And I was a fucking animal rescuer,” I interrupted her. “No one cares about what you were. We just care about what you can do. Burning shit with your touch isn’t going to be that useful of a--”
My words stopped in my mouth as an idea hit me right between the eyes. “Wait, Gee, can you melt things with your touch?” I asked.
“Depends,” she said as she pinched a small flower from the edge of the spring with two of her fingers. The petals of the plant curled up on themselves immediately, and then the flower burned like a candle for half a moment before going out.
“Rock or metal?” I asked.
“Maybe,” she said with a shrug. “Depends on the rock or metal. Our ships were made out of a special metal that does not melt so we can sail across the lava oceans. My quarters were insulated to keep my heat away from the rest of my crew.”
“But you can increase the heat your body produces?” I asked.
“It takes effort,” she replied. “What are you getting at, Victor? We were talking about me taking over as leader of your tribe, but then you began to speak of pots and--”
“We don’t really know how to turn ore into shapeable metal,” I interrupted her. “We have some big clay ovens, but I don’t know if it will get hot enough to smelt iron, or even how to get iron. Do you know how to mine metal?”
“No,” Gee replied as she shook her head. Her flame hair danced around her shoulders and the tips fell back in the creek with a hiss of steam. “My engineers crafted our ships. I commanded our pilots, Marines, and warriors in battle.”
“Well shit,” I sighed. “That would have been really useful.”
“What do you mean?” she asked as her green eyes narrowed.
“We need metal,” I said as I carried the next batch of posts out of our nook. “We are using stone for our axes and blades, but if we could get some metal knives, axes, and a pick, it would help us a bunch. Hell, even metal nails would help with construction.”
I didn’t hear her reply, and I focused on putting the last hut posts on Ad-Rock’s back. I just had to put the bundled palm frond thatching and the leftover firewood on, then we would be good to go.
“You don’t understand my background, Victor,” Gee said once I walked past the ferns and returned to the campfire.
“Oh, I get it,” I said with a shrug.
“This can be easy for you,” she said. “I am the most qualified to lead your people.”
“You haven’t even met them yet,” I replied as I bent down to inspect the fish. They were almost cooked, and I figured I had enough time to put the palm frond stacks on Ad-Rock’s back before eating.
“It doesn’t matter,” Gee replied. “I was born to command and rule. It is my natural talent, and I have turned every small setback in battle into a victory in war. My people sang my praises from the top of our towers, and my nation’s enemies dreaded the sight of my figure carved on the masts of our warships.”
“I get the feeling you are like some sort of fire-elemental pirate,” I chuckled as I moved to gather the palm fronds.
“What is a pirate?” she asked.
“Someone that sails the oceans on a ship and takes what they want from others.”
“Yes then,” she agreed with a nod of her steaming head. “That sounds like an accurate description. I am a pirate. The strongest take what they want from the weak. If you serve me loyally, I will grant you your requests as a reward.”
“And our first objective will be to find a way for you to return home?” I smirked at her.
“Yes,” Gee said.
I didn’t answer. Instead, I picked up my packs of palm fronds and took them out of the nook so I could place them on Ad-Rock’s back. The area between the stego’s armored plates really did make a great storage area, and I imagined that we’d be able to use the trio to move building materials much easier than the trikes or parasaurs. The stego’s didn’t really run as fast, but they could carry a lot more between their plates.
“You are not answering me,” Gee said as soon as I walked back to the campfire. Her voice was dark, and her green eyes shone as bright as flashlights.
“Ehhh.” I shrugged and then pushed the stone the fish were baking on away from the fire so that they could start to cool.
“Ehhh?” Gee growled. “What does that mean?”
“I do my best to help everyone I can,” I said as I began to collect the firewood from the pile beside the flames, “but I don’t like getting pushed around.”
“This isn’t me pushing you around,” Gee hissed. “It is the best decision for you and your people. You are not a warrior, Victor, and I highly doubt you have my warfare experience.”
“I’ve played a lot of Starcraft and other RTS games,” I said with a laugh. “I’m not Korean good, but I’m pretty good.”
“I don’t understand your argument,” she said. “Games are not real--”
“Here is the thing,” I interrupted her. “You have no leverage, and every
time you toe the ‘coup’ line, I start to think that I should just leave you out here.”
“I am not speaking about a coup,” she argued. “I was speaking about a peaceful transition. However, I would not shy away from a coup if that will give me the results I want.”
“As I was saying, I do my best to help people.” I lifted the pile of firewood in my arms and then turned to her. She was still half submerged in the spring water, and her position pushed up her full breasts delightfully, but I was able to maintain my focus. “The people that these powerful beings take are used to being in charge. I think they are the best of their species, so I get how they might have egos. You don’t have any leverage though. I know where my camp is, so I can just leave you here.”
“I can follow you back,” she said with a shrug. “Victor, believe me when I say that my offer to you is very pleasant. Being second in command is much better than being dead, don’t you agree?”
“Huh, yeah,” I said as I fought to keep my rage bottled up in my stomach. “I suppose you are right.”
“Good,” she said with a slight smile as she leaned back in the water. “I’m glad you came to your senses. When you return from storing that wood, I will take my breakfast here in the water. I will allow you one of the fish, but I will have the other two.”
“Okay,” I said as sweetly as I could. “Then we are going to head out. I’ll have Bruce scout ahead. So we can leave right after we eat. You can just lay back in the water and let me take care of everything.”
“Good idea,” she said as she splashed some water over her flaming hair and then leaned back toward the deeper part of the creek. “You will make an excellent lieutenant, Victor.”
I gave Bruce the command, and the big pteranodon hopped up and took to the air with a honk of annoyance.
I ducked through the ferns, passed between the two banyan trees, and then loaded Ad-Rock up with the firewood. As soon as everything was secured, I commanded him to start toward the river at a slow pace. Then I climbed up on the back of Mike D, and then he and MCA began to creep after Ad-Rock. The stegos understood my desire for stealth, and their footsteps across the jungle floor were surprisingly quiet, and we made it to the river without the sight of Gee from behind us.
“Let’s pick up the pace a little,” I said as I steered the trio as close to the river bank as possible, and we met up with Grumpy sunning himself on the bank. He gave a low growl that sounded a lot like “I’ve been waiting for you all morning, you lazy bum,” but then he slid into the water as the stegos started trotting west.
I regretted telling the fire-woman that I would be heading down river, but I hoped that I’d be able to make it far enough away before she realized that I had ditched her. Hell, she might not even care if I left. The beautiful onyx-skinned woman with the glowing green eyes seemed more interested in finding her way home that joining my tribe.
I didn’t need someone like that in my group.
As the minutes turned into about half an hour of travel, my decision to leave the fire-woman began to gnaw at me more. Yeah, she was a bit of a megalomaniac, but our alien abductor overlords seemed to be bringing the best and brightest to this world. She probably had every right to think she was amazing. I didn’t know all the details of her background, but if she really was this badass pirate babe commander, then I could see her reasoning behind her statements about wanting to be in charge. She didn’t know who I was, or who my women were, so she probably honestly believed that she needed to be in charge. It was a bit different of an approach than what Emerald had taken, but the green-scaled woman seemed more pragmatic about her situation, and I’d saved her and Liahpa from four Utahraptors when I first found them.
Gee really had no idea how dangerous Dinosaurland was.
Would she die without my help?
I felt bad thinking about it, or maybe I just had a soft spot for beautiful women. If Gee had been a man, and had told me that I needed to make him the leader or he’d kill me, I would have agreed, but then had Grumpy or one of the stegos kill him as soon as the opportunity arose. I hated the idea of killing a woman though, and Gee hadn’t really been mean to me, so this was probably the best solution.
We moved out of the oak tree valley, rounded the next cliff corner, and then came upon another area filled with what looked like birch and maple trees. The trees were almost as sporadic as the palm trees up the river, but each of these were freakishly large. They looked almost as tall as the redwood trees in the forest around my camp.
There were more stacks of boulders here. Their placement looked organic, but one of the piles near the westernmost cliffs looked to be a strange green color. At first I thought it was moss, but as I got closer, I saw that it looked like this part of the cliffs once had a river bend through it, and the stone of the wall was actually green.
I was about to keep going, but something about the color was really familiar. It was a little lighter shade than an emerald, but a bit greener than turquoise. I knew pretty much nothing about rocks or metal besides various video game crafting stuff, but this stuff really looked like oxidized copper did.
I heard wings flap above my head, and Bruce landed, hopped twice, and then came to rest his chin on my shoulder. I stroked his head where he liked it and then gestured to the green stone.
“Okay, Bruce. This is going to sound all sorts of stupid, but that really looks like copper.”
Bruce let out a soft honk, and I laughed.
“It’s a metal. Really soft, but we’ll be able to make arrowheads, flatware, and knives out of it. We might even be able to make an axe, but it might dull too easily. I used to play this game called World of Warcraft, and the first stuff you mined in the game was malachite. It was a green rock that you could turn into copper. I think this is the same stuff.”
Bruce let out a curious sounding honk, and I took it to mean that he agreed with me.
“It couldn’t hurt to bring some with us,” I said as I glanced back at the beach. I’d tried to keep the stegos close to the water so that their footprints might be canceled by the rocks and sand there, but I could still see the indents that their toes left every so often.
If Gee was trying to follow me, she wouldn’t have that hard of a time.
“I’ll just get a bit,” I said as I searched the ground for something I could use to break into the rock. I really needed a pick made out of steel, but we might have been a year or more away from figuring out how to make one, so I was going to have to do the best that I could with what I could find.
I found a smooth river stone that looked a bit like an icicle, and I made a few practice picks against the green cliff wall. To my surprise, the green rocks broke free of each other with only a little effort, and I soon had about a basketful at my feet. Of course, I didn’t have a basket, but I made a hole in the posts and wood up on Ad-Rock’s back, and was able to store the green rocks up there.
The ordeal probably took me fifteen minutes, and I spared a glance back upriver just in case Gee was coming. I didn’t see her, but I remembered that I had a pair of eyes which could go up in the sky and let me know if danger was approaching.
Before I could open my mouth to give Bruce the order, he was already in the sky, and I jumped back on Mike D and ordered the stegos to continue on around the cliff wall and to the next valley. There wasn’t much of a beach at the choke point here, so the stegos had to ford the water a bit. The water was also rushing a bit faster, but my spiny-tailed friends didn’t have a problem walking through it and then climbing back on the river bank on the other side. This next valley was more maple and birch trees, but I also saw a few pines mixed in.
The ground seemed to be sloping downward a bit, and I noticed the wide river rushing faster. About halfway through this valley, the sound of the water began to grow louder, and the shore of the river became rockier and harder to travel next to. I guessed what was coming, so I wasn’t surprised when I saw that this valley ended in a cliff, and the river ended with a waterfall.
“We’ll have to find a way around on the left,” I said as I turned Mike D toward the maple tree forest.
Then I heard two urgent honks above me, and Bruce landed on the rocks beside MCA.
“You’re gonna tell me that Gee is in the next valley over, and she’s running toward us, aren’t you?” I asked Bruce.
The Pteranodon let out a single honk and nodded his long head.
“Well, shit,” I said as I made a last glance to the forest. I definitely didn’t want to fight a woman who could control fire smack dab in the middle of a forest.
My only choice was to face her backed into the corner of the river and the waterfall.
Chapter 5
I didn’t like the idea of fighting a woman in general, but I didn’t like the idea of fighting a woman with super-hot skin and a flame whip whatsoever. I figured that the best solution would be to try to talk my way out of a confrontation, but Dinosaurland had torn a bit of the optimism out of my soul.
I moved the stegos so that they were as close as they could get to the water and made sure that Grumpy was lurking just below the surface a bit upriver of us. I didn’t have much of a plan besides trying to knock her into the water where her fire would get quenched. Then I figured Grumpy would eat her, and then I could be on my merry way.
I commanded Bruce to the air, tried to calm my racing heart, and then waited for Gee to turn the corner. A few moments after I was focused, the beautiful woman rounded the corner at a run.
Despite her bare feet, curved hips, and ample breasts, the woman ran with a graceful stride that was reminiscent of a marathon runner or dancer. As soon as she saw me waiting for her, she slowed her run to a jog and then stopped a few dozen feet from the front of MCA.
The woman and I stared at each other for a few moments, and then she crossed her arms under her breasts.
“You forgot me,” she said.
“I think you know I didn’t,” I said.
Tamer- King of Dinosaurs 5 Page 7