Tamer- King of Dinosaurs 5

by Michael-Scott Earle

  The direction of the stego’s twin attacks forced both of the predators to slam together, then they passed through the funnel right into Mike D again. His swing could only hit one of them because of their position, so the front most allosaurus flew into the lake with a hole filled skull while the other collided with Mike D’s armored back plates.

  Bob and Sonny were standing by to help though, and Sonny turned around to slam his thick tail into the allosaurus. The parasaur’s tail wasn’tasn’t spiked like a stego’s, but it was still super thick and probably weighed a few tons. It cracked into the allosaurus with enough force to stagger him free of Mike D’s back, and then MCA’s spiky tail swept the predator’s legs out from under him. The beast was almost like a massive screaming pinball that kind of reminded me of a big frantic chicken, but then Ad-Rock got his hit in, and the allosaurus’ skull exploded into a few hundred pounds of spraying brains, blood, skull bits, and teeth.

  I commanded Bob and Sonny to dash back to Tom as Katie and Nicole finally freed themselves from the allosaurs that they’d impaled. Tom had gotten one of his feet underneath himself, but the sand where he fell was wet and slippery from all the blood, and he couldn’t quite get enough purchase to rise. Both Bob and Sonny set their heads against the big trike’s side, and then they gently pushed and heaved the big three-horned male upright.

  We were just in time to see the remaining group of allosaurs slaughter the last parasaurus herd member they had flanked and turn to face us.

  We were about a hundred yards away from the final group of predators, and I ordered Tom, Nicole, and Katie to move up to the front so that they had point position. Within seconds, the rest of my small dinosaur army fell into place on the beach, with the three stegos slightly behind the trikes, the four parasaurs behind them, and the troodons and balaurs in neat lines in front of Liahpa, Youleena, and me.

  The group of allosaurs let out low and deep roars of discontentment, and then one of them stepped to the front of the group. He was the largest of the six by a good five feet, and the parts of his hide that weren’t covered with blood from his kills were a black color with white streaks that looked like they could have been scars. His rumble turned into a growl, and then he lowered his head ten feet off the ground and unleashed a roar which could have rivaled that of a T-Rex.

  All of my dinosaurs let out a train-horn sounding trumpet of challenge. The sound was coordinated across all of my friends, and it sounded a good three times louder than the roar that the allosaur had unleashed, and the water of the lake rippled as if someone had tossed a giant boulder into it.

  The alpha allosaurus ran his large red eyes across the rank and file of my troops, and then his gaze fell on me. We stared at each other across the sandy battlefield for what felt like forever, and time seemed to stand still as my heart hammered in my chest. I saw intelligence in the creature’s eyes, and I suddenly realized that this big guy knew that I controlled the group of dinosaurs standing in front of me.

  He finally broke eye contact with me, looked at the ground like a dog who knew he was in trouble, stamped his feet to create a bass drum strike that echoed across the lake, shook his back like he was trying to dislodge a flea, and then turned his back on us so that he could feast on the kills he had just made.

  “Is he letting us go?” Youleena gasped.

  “No,” I growled. “I’m letting him go. He knows I’d kill him.”

  “He’s making a smart decision, then,” Liahpa hissed as she rested her bloody soul ring axe on her shoulder.

  I ordered everyone to backup across the beach until we were standing next to the clay and tools that had fallen off Tom, and then I had the male trike turn around and trot over to us.

  “Everyone okay?” I asked as I turned to the two white-haired women.

  “Yes, somehow.” Youleena smiled at me. “I can’t believe your power, Victor.”

  “That’s what I do,” I said.

  “You do it well,” Youleena replied as her black eyes stared into mine.

  “How about you?” I asked Liahpa.

  “I’m fine,” she laughed. “My legs are shaking though. What a rush! More intense than any game of Lift Ball that I’ve ever played. When you ran out with the axe, I knew I had to support you.”

  “I think it was more like I supported you.” I laughed and patted Tom’s side and then gestured for Youleena to step into my hands so I could lift her up.

  “We are a good team, then,” Liahpa said, and I turned to face her after Youleena had climbed up onto Tom’s saddle.

  We stared at each other for a few moments, and I noticed she was biting the bottom half of her lip a bit. The beautiful woman’s chest was still heaving as she sucked in long breaths, and I could see her nipples push against the thin fabric that covered her breasts. Blood was splattered across her bare stomach, white hair, and one of her muscular thighs, and it made her look like she was one of those badass Heavy Metal magazine cover girls.

  “Yeah,” I said. “We are a good team. That axe is one hell of a great tool in your hands.”

  “It is,” Liahpa said as she glanced sideways at the bloody weapon. “But, as usual, we’d be dead if not for you and your dinosaurs.”

  “Let’s get these tools and clay containers back on Tom,” I said as I gestured to the stuff that had fallen out of his saddle. It only took us about a minute to get everything stored on his saddle, all the while the allosaurs pretended like we weren’t even sharing the beach with them.

  Then we were all seated back on Tom and began pushing through the jungle.

  We had to go east because the predators were in our way, and I didn’t want to instigate another battle. My head was starting to hurt a bit, and I felt as if I could sleep for a good twelve hours. I was sure I would feel better once we got back home, and I didn’t want to test the limits of my Tame ability if I didn’t have need to.

  The eastern part of the lake valley was a thicker jungle than the valley west of our home, but there seemed to be numerous dried river beds or trails that crisscrossed through the thick foliage. After about five minutes of trotting along one of the trampled rocky roads, I veered north up one of the intersecting roads, and we traveled for another half of an hour until we hit the slope of a hill.

  As soon as we ascended above the tops of the jungle trees, I got a better idea of where we were in relation to the lake and our valley. I realized I couldn’t really cling to this valley slope and follow back west because that would put us close to the allosaurs, so I decided to just climb up the rest of the hill and pass over into the north valley.

  The sun began to sink from its apex as we descended into the other valley. This one was a mixture of sporadically placed but massive banyan trees, and as we descended into the valley to ride among the trunks, the entire blue sky and sun was hidden from us. The air felt much cooler here, and both of my friends began a conversation comparing their different homeworlds.

  Liahpa asked Youleena about the various sports her people played, and Youleena asked Liahpa about the types of art and music her kind enjoyed. I smiled as I listened to them talk, but I focused on guiding the dinosaurs out of the valley instead of participating in their discussion. Something about the banyan trees in this valley was really relaxing, and by the time we had made it to the slope that would take us out of this valley and into the one north of our home, my headache had thankfully left me.

  The climb out of this valley was a bit more difficult than the way down into it had been. It was less of a gentle slope and more of a cliff with a narrow switchback that reminded me of the path I had taken the stegos down when I was following the river back toward the ocean. The climb up was challenging, but I was able to manipulate even Tom’s bulk up the side of the cliff, although one part required that the massive trike had to stand up on his hind legs and swing his front legs up and over a gap.

  Then we were up and over the hillside and moving into the next valley.

  I had seen this place often when I climbed th
e hillside above the caves where the orange birds now lived. It was mostly tight jungle foliage with the occasional massive banyan tree poking up from above the canopy. As we made our way along the southern wall, we came to a small creek with clean looking water, and I let everyone get another drink. While we rested, Youleena moved around one of the trees to relieve herself, so I instructed the balaurs to go with her just in case she was attacked by something. This left Liahpa and I alone for a few minutes, and the athletic silver-skinned woman sat downstream of where the dinos drank so that she could dangle her toned legs into the cool water.

  “I was thinking about the fight with that massive predator,” she said.

  “Allosaurus,” I corrected her, not that it really mattered.

  “Yeah,” she said as she splashed some water on her thigh to wash the blood away. “It should have killed us.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Uhhh, you saw it, didn’t you?” She laughed lightly and then dipped her fingers into the water so she could splash some of it on her bare midriff. “It was huge, fast, angry, and what wasn’t teeth was claws. They tore into the other dinosaurs that look like Hope and Bob easily.”

  “We got lucky,” I said.

  “Nope,” she said as she smirked at me.

  “Nope?”

  “I’ve lost track of how many Lift Ball games I’ve played,” she said as she wiped the last of the allosaurus blood off her stomach, arms and face. “I know when someone is playing defense so I can run the ball.”

  “You mean me?” I asked.

  “It was focused on you,” Liahpa said as she fixed her red eyes on me. “Why? It should have moved its feet away from where I was hacking and tried to chomp me. Every swing I took with that soul ring axe cut through it easier than when I had chopped through the trees, but the dinosaur just went after you as if your axe strikes were the most dangerous.

  “Hey now,” I laughed. “I’m pretty good with that axe.”

  “Yeah,” she laughed as her eyes moved down to my torso. “Your muscles are developing very nicely as well.”

  “Liahpa, are you flirting with me?” I chuckled.

  “Ahhhh,” she gasped, cleared her throat, and then looked back down into the creek as a hint of color came to her cheeks. “I wouldn’t even know how to flirt with a man, sorry.”

  “That’s not really an answer,” I said, “but I think you know that.”

  “What do you want me to say?” she asked as she looked at me.

  “I dunno.” I shrugged and then reached down to splash some cool water on my neck. “You are being pretty nice to me, and you want to go with me to get more malachite. Alone. Seems strange.”

  “I can’t be nice to you?” she asked. “What are you thinking that I want?”

  “Argh,” I sighed, splashed water on my face and then turned around to make sure Youleena was still out of earshot. “Do you want to have sex with me?”

  “No, of course not.” Her words were hurried, and she glanced down into the creek. “How can you even think that? I’ve told you how you terrify me. All males do.”

  “But you want to go with--”

  “I like being around you!” she hissed as she looked up at me. “I don’t know why. I wish I knew why, but I like watching you move. I like watching you tend to your dinosaurs. I like watching you talk to everyone else. I like it when you plan our days and help us all work as a team. I like it when you look at me, and compliment me. You aren’t like I expected men to be, but that doesn’t explain why I want to be around you all the time.”

  “Well, I like being around you too,” I said, and her eyes opened wide with a combination of surprise and astonishment.

  We stared at each other for a few moments, and then my vision flashed. I resisted opening my Eye-Q for a few moments, but then the silver-skinned woman looked down to where her feet dangled into the water, and I blinked it on. The Women tab was flashing, and I opened it with a mental flick to see Liahpa listed there right under Kacerie.

  “Come here,” I said as I stood up from the creek and gestured for her to jump across and stand toe to toe with me.

  “What? Why?”

  “Because I want to show you something,” I whispered, and she leaned forward to listen before she pulled her legs out of the water and stepped across.

  “What do you want--” she asked as she moved in front of me, but I interrupted her by wrapping my left arm around her waist and pulling her toned body into mine.

  My bare chest made contact with her bare stomach, and her skin was still cool from the creek water. My other hand reached up high on her back, and my fingers weaved through her long white hair. She gasped when I touched her, but then I pressed my lips onto her’s and then her gasp of surprise transformed into a hungry moan of desire.

  She wrapped her left arm around my waist and her right arm pulled against my shoulder so that our bodies were crushed together. Our tongues urgently pressed and danced with each other. Her fingers dug into my skin. Liahpa was powerful and confident with almost every aspect of her life, but she trembled in my arms like an autumn leaf caught in a windstorm, and I knew that she was battling with a lifetime of misandry and fear.

  But her lips weren’t lying about the passion she felt for me.

  A throat cleared behind us, and we pulled our lips apart with a startled gasp so we could turn to Youleena.

  “How long have you been standing there?” Liahpa gasped as she struggled to catch her breath, and I realized that her muscular legs were shaking.

  “Long enough to wonder if you two needed to breathe,” the willowy woman laughed and then raised an eyebrow as she looked at Liahpa. “If you want, I can go back around the tree, or I can watch, or, if you want, I can particip--”

  “Let’s get going,” Liahpa hissed, and then her feet levitated off the ground as she floated quickly toward Tom.

  “Hmmm,” Youleena purred as she turned her black eyes to me.

  “Participate?” I chuckled. “You don’t seem like the type that would--”

  “Remember how I told you I was really bored on my home world?” She shrugged. “I had nothing to do for days or weeks. So I found my own amusements with my staff. I might be able to teach you a few things.”

  “Okay,” I laughed as I wiped some water across my face. “This has been one hell of a day. Let’s just get back, and we can talk about that another time.”

  “Sure,” Youleena said with a shrug, and then we both followed Liahpa to Tom.

  Then we took the group of dinosaurs south out of the valley and back to our fort.

  Chapter 12

  The journey down the hill on the north side of our valley was easy, and I noticed that the cave where the orange birds had roosted only had a few of the angry assholes sitting at the entrance. I could probably send the troodons and balaurs in there to kill all the birds that still remained, but then I realized that having the orange birds there would help me feed my smaller predators every few days without having to go on a big hunt, so I decided to leave them alone for now.

  “How did everything go?” Sheela asked once she had opened the gate to let us in and glanced at Liahpa’s axe. The weapon’s stone haft was still bloody, so it was obvious that we had run into trouble.

  “We got attacked, but it wasn’t anything we couldn't handle.”

  “Was it the black feathered dinosaurs?” Sheela asked as she lifted the gate closed after the stegos walked inside.

  “Nope,” I said. “Allosaurs.”

  “Ahh,” Sheela said, and then her eyes strayed to Liahpa’s new axe again.

  “You want to see it?” the silver-woman said as she slid off Tom’s back. She didn’t wait for Sheela’s response, and just held out the weapon.

  The blonde-woman grabbed the haft, turned away from Liahpa, and made a few practice swings. It didn’t look like the weight of the weapon affected her at all, and she was soon spinning it around in her hands as if it was just a thin branch off one of the pin
e trees.

  “I like it,” she finally said as she passed it back to Liahpa. “It will serve you well.”

  “You are our best warrior. If you want it, you can have it.” The silver-skinned athlete held up the axe again to Sheela.

  “No,” Sheela replied with a half-smile. “The weapon suits you. During our training session before dinner, I’ll teach you how to swing it better.”

  “Great,” Liahpa said.

  “Let’s get going on that now,” I said as Gee and Emta walked over to where the rest of us were gathered. “After we do it, we’ll talk about our progress over dinner.”

  Everyone nodded, and the group of us walked the rest of the way through the courtyard with the dinos until we reached the common work area between the kiln and cooking fires. Hope went back inside her doggie door to check up on her egg, I asked Bruce to go hunt for some more fish for dinner, and I told the rest of the dinosaurs to just relax on the grass close by.

  Kacerie, Quwaru, and Keefaye had been productive, and the complete framework of the new shelter over the worktable had been erected. It was just a simple series of arm-thick support beams holding up the skeleton “A” frame of a roof, but the women had done a great job of notching the wooden posts and fitting the cross sections of the roof components into each other without having to use too much cordage.

  “What do you think?” Kacerie asked as the three women looked over at me from where they secured the last roof crossbeam.

  “Looks great,” I said as I looked at the trio of beautiful women. Kacerie’s bright pink hair, Quwaru’s blood red skin, and Keefaye’s golden hair, eyes, lips, and horn were a strange pairing which reminded me again that I was far from Earth on an alien planet. “I’m surprised you were able to get so much done.”