Tamer- King of Dinosaurs 5

by Michael-Scott Earle

  “Then you want me to force stone into the indents?” Youleena asked as I passed her the weapon.

  “Yes,” Sheela agreed again.

  “How will the flaps stay closed?” the white-woman asked as her black eyes focused on the end where the wood was parted.

  “We’ll make a groove on the top and then wrap some cordage around,” Gee said.

  “Or, I could make a stone ring that will fit over it,” Youleena said as she smiled.

  “Oh, that’s an even better idea,” Gee laughed.

  “Or… We can also use copper,” Trel said.

  “Did it work?” Gee asked, and everyone turned to Trel.

  The spider woman held up the small bit of shiny metal in her long fingers, and the setting sun caught the surface. It sparkled almost like gold, and everyone let out a gasp of excitement.

  “It worked with the charcoal,” Urka said as Trel passed the tiny bit of copper around.

  “This is great!” Kacerie cheered when she got her chance to hold the metal.

  “Yeah,” I said, “so now I need to get some more. That is the plan for tomorrow. We are going to get some bamboo so that Trel can design storage trunks for the stegos, and then we’ll build--”

  “I’ll need more cordage as well,” Trel said. “I should probably use the sinew to ensure that the joints don’t break under the heavy load, but it wouldn’t hurt to get more ferns and plants for cordage.”

  “We’ll do it,” I said as I turned back to the group. “Once the stegos are ready, Liahpa and I will take them, the troodons, Bruce, Grumpy, and Tom back up the river to the malachite spot. We’ll load up all three of the stegos with the rocks and then we’ll come back. We’ll probably be gone three days.”

  “Just you and Liahpa?” Kacerie asked as she smirked.

  “She’s the strongest in the group,” I said. “I need Sheela here to hunt for food, continue to train everyone, and help Youleena make the various weapons. Then I need you, Quwaru, Emerald, and Trel to lead the work on the other projects for me.”

  “Which projects?” Kacerie asked, and her eyes sparkled as she leaned forward a bit.

  “The ones we have left over,” I began. “We need way more roof tiles made, dried, and then we have to try to cook them. We also need building bricks and paving stones. We have way too much foot traffic now in the fort, and everything is starting to turn to mud. We need a solid surface to walk on in the next couple of days or we are all going to be covered in mud all the time. Make them out of adobe or make them out of clay. I don’t really care what they're made of, I just want them ready. It’s getting colder, and we are going to have a lot of problems in the next few weeks if a major storm hits our grass huts.” I turned my eyes to Emerald as I finished talking, and the green-haired woman nodded and tapped her hand to her heart.

  “Second priority is the toilet,” I said. “Who wants the job of leading that project?”

  “I’ll do it,” Kacerie said. “I might need help from Trel with the design--”

  “I will help you,” the spider-woman said quickly.

  “Third priority is clothes,” I said as I turned to Trel and pointed at her thin lingerie. “If it is going to get colder, we will all need many more warm clothes.”

  “I can’t make everyone clothes with my silk,” Trel scoffed, “It takes too much out of--”

  “I’m not asking you to do that,” I laughed. “I just want you to teach people how to sew or knit, or whatever. We can use cordage or other plant fibers to make yarn. It might not be super comfortable, but we have to start somewhere with shirts and pants that we can all wear. Then we need to figure out how to skin all the animals we are killing.”

  “I’ll lead that project,” Quwaru said as she raised her hand.

  “I can help,” Keefaye said. “I have used a loom before. I’m not handy with building, so I don’t think I could craft one, but I understand the principles behind weaving. If Trel can help us, I think we can design a few.”

  “I will,” Trel said.

  “Then that just leaves you,” I said as I turned to Trel. “Help everyone else out with getting their projects started, and once they are going, start work on your look out station in the tree. I’ll let you pick the two people you want to work with.”

  “Urka and Tannin,” Trel said without even seeming to think about it. “We were just getting to know each other, and they have both told me that they are not afraid of heights.”

  “Alright,” I said as I turned back to the group. “Everyone else can figure out who they want to work with, but remember this is for after Liahpa and I leave tomorrow. As soon as the sun rises in the morning, I’m going to take most of you to the bamboo forest by the river. We’ll cut down everything we can, load it on the stegos, trikes, and parasaurs, and then get back here. Then Sheela, Liahpa, Gee, Quwaru, Emerald, Urka, and I are going to collect a bunch of ferns so you all won’t need to do it while I’m away. As soon as Trel and everyone else has figured out the set up for the stegos, Liahpa and I will leave. Any questions?”

  Everyone shook their heads and gave me smiles that seemed brighter than the fire from the cooking pits. For half a moment my head swam a bit, and I asked myself again how in the hell I had ended up on a dinosaur world with so many beautiful women in my care.

  “Alright,” I said as I stood. “I’m going to go get some rest. I’ll see you all tomorrow as soon as the sun comes up. Good night.”

  “Good night, Victor!” they all said in somewhat of a unison timing, and I made eye contact with Kacerie as I turned to walk back toward the inner walls. She gracefully stood up from her tree stump seat and then came to walk with me before I ducked under the door.

  Neither one of us spoke as we entered my hut, but as soon as we walked inside, our lips hungrily tasted each other’s mouths, and we were moaning with passion. Our kiss ended with gasps, and then my mouth went to her neck while I unbuttoned her shirt. Her hands found my belt and undid my pants before I got her shirt off, and then my tongue tasted her nipple as I peeled her skin-tight jeans off her perfect ass and legs.

  Then I tasted the rest of Kacerie while she whispered my name seductively.

  Chapter 13

  I somehow woke up just as the first golden rays of sunlight flickered in through the opening of my hut. Kacerie’s naked body lay draped across me like a blanket, and her bright pink hair tangled around my head to form a pillow that I had somehow fallen asleep on.

  I tried to slip out from under the beautiful woman without waking her, but as soon as she felt my warmth leave, her light blue eyes blinked open, and she smiled at me.

  “All work and no play? Is that what your people say?”

  “I definitely played a lot with you last night,” I chuckled as I put my underwear and pants on.

  “Hmmmm, no,” she sighed as she ran her fingers across her breasts, nipples, and then down to her taut stomach. “You worked me. Very diligently and thoroughly.”

  “Glad to be of service,” I laughed as I put my socks and boots back on.

  “I don’t want you to go,” she said as I stood.

  “It will only be a couple of days,” I replied.

  “I wish my Lance was reset. Then I could go with you.”

  “It’s not even that,” I said. “I need you here to organize everyone. I think we both know that Trel can’t do it.”

  “Yeah,” Kacerie sighed. “The problem is that she thinks she can, but then she makes people mad when she orders them around, and then she gets distracted by her own work and forgets about what everyone else is doing. If she was in charge, then we’d all be working on the lookout station up in the tree, and you’d come back to nothing else having been done. She’d then tell you that it was the most important job, anyway.” Kacerie laughed. “Trel is great at managing individual projects and teaching us better work methods. I don’t necessarily want to have the responsibility of leading everyone when you are away, but I understand why you are picking me.”

 
; “I’m not really picking you,” I said with a shrug. Her blue eyes looked confused, so I explained more. “You just end up taking charge and directing everyone. I’ve seen it happen. People don’t mind doing what you ask them to do since you are nice and organized about it.”

  “Thanks,” Kacerie said, and I saw a bit of a blush come to her cheeks and bare shoulders. “It means a lot to me when you say that. It’s funny, but on my world, everyone was assigned their roles, and no one was ever given compliments for traits that fell outside of their professions. I was expected to do what is required of a hairstylist who owned a salon. My place was one of the best run in my city, and we had many high-end clients, but no one ever complimented me about it, so when you tell me I am good at something, it makes me really happy.”

  “I like making you happy,” I said as I smiled at her.

  “I think Quwaru is like me with the leader traits. She’s pretty good at getting people to do what she wants without them even realizing it.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “I need to spend more time with her. I need to spend more time with everyone, but it makes the most sense for me to go with Liahpa. Then everyone else can continue to improve the fort.”

  “She is in love with you,” Kacerie said as she reached for her clothes.

  “I know,” I said.

  “You know?”

  “Yeah,” I said as I shrugged. “She doesn’t want to be though.”

  “That’s for sure,” Kacerie laughed. “You know Victor, the more time I spend with you, the more I realize how incredible you are.”

  “Me?” I laughed as I helped her stand up from the mat. “I’m just doing what I’m good at. On my homeworld, I wasn’t much of anything at all.”

  “They must have not known what you were capable of,” she said. “That sounds stupid.”

  “We don’t have the computer systems that can measure potential like your world has,” I said with a shrug. “Everyone just kind of finds a place in the world.”

  “But you didn’t find your place?” she asked as she raised an eyebrow. “How can you go from what you say ‘wasn’t much of anything at all’ to this?” she pointed at me and giggled as her eyes roamed over my chest. “You are most definitely something now.”

  “It’s probably that most people on my world don’t have to face the sort of adversity we deal with on a daily basis in Dinosaurland, so it’s rare for someone to find out what they are truly capable of.”

  “You are capable of amazing things, Victor.”

  “Awww, thanks for the kind words,” I said as I felt my cheeks heat. I still wasn’t used to having women interested in me, let alone these women who seemed to enjoy taking turns as my lovers, so I really didn’t know what else to say.

  Or what else to feel except gratitude that I was here, with them, and we were all alive.

  I just needed to keep working so we all stayed that way.

  “Let’s get going,” I said as I gestured to the door of my hut. “Lots of work to do today, tomorrow, the next day, and so on.”

  “It doesn’t feel like work anymore,” Kacerie said. “It feels like my life’s purpose, and I look forward to each day with you and our friends.”

  “Yeah,” I said as Kacerie’s eyes met mine, and then I pulled her against my bare chest so I could kiss her deeply one more time.

  Then we got to work.

  Most of the group was still waking up when we exited our tent, and we quickly got everyone grouped together in front of the cooking fires. After a quick training session with Sheela where we reviewed our fighting stance, we had a quick meal of the fish that Bruce caught for us. Then Galmine, Youleena, Emerald, Adeela, Nomi, Tannin, and Keefaye stayed at the camp to work on more adobe, while Sheela, Liahpa, Kacerie, Trel, Quwaru, Emta, Gee, Urka, and I took the stegos, parasaurs, and troodons out to get bamboo.

  The trip out to the south area on the other side of the river was uneventful, except for the ten or so minutes we all spent at the shore when I introduced the women to Grumpy. The big dino-croc was in his usual mood, but he closed his eyes and let out a purr of pleasure when Trel petted his head and complimented his massive length. I didn’t give him the order, but he decided to accompany us to the bamboo, and he even climbed up the bank to rest on the edge of the short cliff between the bamboo and water while we worked.

  Between Liahpa’s new axe, and Gee’s fire whip, we soon had a large pile of cut bamboo stacked and tied neatly on the back of Mike D. As we got used to the process and cleared out a side alcove into the forest, our production time got quicker, and it only took us another few hours to get MCA and Ad-Rock loaded up. I was going to get even more bamboo on the parasaurs, but Trel confirmed that the three massive stacks on the stegos would be more than enough to make trunk-saddles for them, so we decided to head back home.

  Once we returned, Trel and Kacerie began their work on the stego saddles with the crew that we had left behind to make more adobe while Sheela, Liahpa, Quwaru, Emta, Urka, and I grabbed more baskets, headed out into the redwood forest, and harvested ferns.

  After I had set a perimeter guard of troodons and balaurs, Sheela came to work next to me, and we drifted a bit out of ear shot from the rest of the fern harvesting group.

  “Victor, do you recall the first times we gathered ferns?” the blonde woman asked as she smiled slightly at me.

  “I was just thinking about that,” I chuckled. “This feels a lot different, and it’s hard to believe it was just a few months ago. Every time we left the cave, I was worried that we were going to die, and we were constantly looking over our shoulders.”

  “Yes, those were also my thoughts,” she said. “It is not even mid-morning, and we have gathered enough bamboo to last us for many weeks of projects. Even though we just started gathering ferns, we have four baskets filled. Our progress is amazing.”

  “Everything is working out great, but there are still threats.”

  “Of course,” she said with her stoic nod. “I know you worry, and I am glad that you are setting time aside for us to train every day, but I do not want you to ignore your own accomplishments.”

  “They aren’t mine,” I chuckled. “They are ours. Everyone has worked together to get to this point, and we have a lot more to do.”

  “That is where we disagree,” she said.

  “With the amount of work to do?” I asked with surprise.

  “No, that they are not your accomplishments. They are. I have no doubt in my mind that Trel, Galmine, and I would be dead right now if not for you.”

  “Naw,” I scoffed. “You all would have figured out--”

  “I know I keep my emotions in check,” Sheela whispered as she turned her golden eyes to me, “but when you came to us, I was terrified. I was exhausted. I did not know what to do next. Trel would not help me. Galmine could not help me. You gave me hope, and every day got better. Now our tribe has grown from your actions, and we are all exponentially safer now. I appreciate your modesty, since that is part of the man I love, but before I came to love you, I respected you. Please allow me to place these positive results on your shoulders.”

  We stared at each other for a few moments after she spoke, and I felt happiness fill my chest. Sheela had thanked me before, but this time her words spoke to me of her love and devotion.

  Before I could respond, I heard a hoot sound out from where Scoob was standing guard. Both Sheela and I turned to look over at him, and the rest of the women gathering ferns froze.

  “It’s okay,” I called out. “He just sees a small animal that he wants to hunt. Go get ‘em, buddy.”

  Scoob let out another hoot of pleasure, and he and Shag sprinted away from us. The other troodons and balaurs widened their ranks a bit to accommodate for them, and then everyone turned back to their work.

  “How did you know that?” Sheela asked, and I turned to see her staring at me intently.

  “Hmm?”

  “That he wanted to hunt?”

  “What do you mean?” I
asked.

  “Scoob called out, but there was no way you could see what he was looking at from where you and I are standing. How did you know that was what he wanted?”

  I stopped my obsidian blade mid cut as my mind pulled back to a few seconds ago. I could have sworn that I saw a small dog-sized rat scurrying between the trees. I even remembered seeing its black fur and the cream stripes near its underbelly. But now that Sheela mentioned it, I realized that I hadn’t actually seen the varmint.

  “I think I just got it from the sound of his hoot,” I said as I tried to push the feeling of uneasiness from my stomach. “It didn’t sound like he was warning us, so I figured he wanted to hunt something.”

  “Ahh, that must be it,” Sheela agreed, and then she went back to cutting the ferns from the ground.

  Our group worked fast, and it only took us another fifteen minutes to fill all the baskets we had with ferns. As we loaded everything on the back of Bob, Sonny, and Tom, Scoob and Shag returned. The troodons trotted up next to me, and then Scoob laid down a giant rat at my feet. The dead creature looked like it must have been at least ten, maybe even fifteen pounds.

  And its fur was black with cream strips on the stomach.

  “Ahhh, thanks, Scoob,” I said as I scratched the Troodon on the head with a shaky hand. “You can eat that if you want, make sure you share it though.”

  Scoob let out a happy hoot before scooping up the giant rat in his mouth, then he totally surprised me and trotted over to Chandler. As soon as he stood in front of the muscular balaur, the two guys rubbed heads together affectionately, and then Scoob lifted his mouth up to the raptor. Chandler grabbed hold of the bottom half, tore it from Scoob’s mouth, and then the two parted ways so that they could bring the meat back to their respective groups.

  “Your dinosaurs get along very well together,” Quwaru commented, and I turned around to find her staring at me with her silver eyes.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Everyone gets along. That’s how we are all going to survive.”

  The red-skinned succubus looking woman nodded at me, then she smiled sweetly and turned back to help load the last of the baskets on to the dinosaurs.