“Because she loves me she can love herself?” I asked.
“Sure,” Galmine said with her usual sweet smile. “She is allowing herself to love someone. Sometimes, that is what it takes to free a soul from its prison.”
“I’m happy we are all together,” I said.
“Me too,” Galmine said. “I think Dinosaurland wanted us to find each other. You make us all whole, and we give you something to fight for.”
I nodded at Galmine’s words and then focused on steering Tom out of the dense jungle while I balanced the bamboo on the seat between us. The sun was close to setting behind the western hills, and the river was bathed in a golden light that made it look like a stream of pennies.
We made our way southeast along the shore again back toward the spot where we could ford the river. The air was still oppressively hot, but I still didn’t have my shirt on, and Galmine’s naked body was cool against my skin. Her fingers continued to roam over the muscles of my shoulders, back, chest, and stomach, and I felt my mind begin to drift to a relaxed state.
Part of me still couldn’t believe where I was. Yeah, the whole ‘being abducted by aliens and put on a planet filled with dinosaurs’ was insane, but it almost seemed crazier that I was riding a triceratops with a group of raptors and troodons as an escort while one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen in my life ran her hands across my muscular body and told me about how wonderful I was.
I heard a hoot up ahead, and the troodon call yanked my thoughts back to the mission at hand. The call had come from Fred, and it didn’t sound like a warning hoot, so I called him back to me.
“What did you see?” I asked him as the group of troodons ran to Tom’s side.
Fred looked up at me with obvious excitement on his face, and he hopped up and down as he let out three hoots.
“He must have found something wonderful,” Galmine said.
“Yeah,” I replied as I commanded the troodons and raptors to close in closer around Tom. Then I pushed the trike slowly down the shore of the river toward our usual spot where we got water.
We were still a good five or ten minute ride from where we had forded the water, but I saw why Fred had gotten so excited after we continued on our path for another minute: A group of large deer were drinking at the shore of the river.
I counted ten of them, eight didn’t have horns, so I guessed that they were female, but the other two had massive antlers which looked almost like tumbleweeds. I thought that the massive stag I had killed the other day by myself had been large, but I now realized that one had probably been of average size. The largest male of this group was about the size of a Clydesdale, and even the smallest female looked large enough for me to ride.
“Hmmm,” I whispered as I studied the group.
We were a good hundred yards from the deer, and our position was higher up on the ridge of the river shore. We also had some low growing jungle ferns in front of us, so the deer really couldn’t see us. The troodons and balaur bondocs could sense the prey though, and I sensed a wave of excitement pass from Fred to the rest of them.
“It looks like I might not have to worry about feeding these guys tonight,” I whispered.
“You want them to eat one of those deer creatures down below?” Galmine asked.
“Yeah,” I said as I glanced back at our saddle storage area. “We aren’t going to be able to bring any of the meat back, so I’ll just have them kill one of the deer and then eat it here.”
“But they are so much larger than Scooby’s gang and the other raptors you just tamed,” Galmine whispered with concern. “Won’t it be dangerous?”
“I’m going to control them,” I said as I started to think through the plan.
Galmine was partially correct. The troodons and balaur bondocs were golden retriever size, and I guessed that the two massive stags would probably be able to do some serious damage to my pets if they all tried to attack. However, I had eleven of the smaller bipedal predators, and I knew that I could leverage each of their strengths.
The troodons were fast, cunning, and sneaky. I doubted that the five of them would be able to take down one of the stags by themselves, but I guessed that the much more muscular balaurs would be able to. However, the cream colored raptors were probably too slow to chase down any of the deer.
I was going to have to herd them into an ambush.
Scooby, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, and Velma sank into the jungle like ninjas, and I mentally ordered them to circumnavigate the deer so that they could come at them from the opposite side. I knew the tiger-striped group was stealthy, but the sound of the river was also covering any noise they might make moving through the dense jungle.
The two stags seemed to be taking turns looking over the females, and I ordered the troodons to stop moving when one of the stags jerked his head around toward where they were hiding. I felt my breath catch in my throat, but then I exhaled slowly when the stag turned back around and drank from the river.
The main problem with the group were the stags. I didn’t know exactly what they would do when the troodons attacked, but there were really only two possibilities: The first was that the stags attacked the troodons to protect the females, the second was that they all turned to run.
If there was a large predator, like a carnotaurus or allosaurus, then I could see the stags running with the females, but I didn’t believe they would flee from just a group of smaller predators. I guessed that they would try to defend their females, so I had to plan around the stags’ aggressive movements.
I moved the troodons to the edge of the jungle and then made them pause when the other stag turned to look around at the jungle. Then he went back to drinking, and I put my plan into motion.
Chandler, Joey, Ross, Rachel, Monica, and Phoebe sprang from the jungle ferns at our location and charged down the slope of the river shore toward the pack of deer. They hissed as they ran, and I saw the stags’ heads jerk up to assess the situation.
As the balaur bondocs charged, Scooby and Shaggy swam through the water toward the backside of one of the males while Fred, Daphne, and Velma slunk toward the others. I doubted that the troodons could swim through the water completely silently, but the two stags were distracted by the muscular raptors hissing and charging down the hill at them.
The stags didn’t know the troodons were in play until it was too late.
The tiger-striped dinos were masters of the hamstring chomp, and they executed the maneuver perfectly on the two stags. The one that Scooby and Shaggy chomped screeched with surprise and tried to twist so he could slice my pals up with his antlers, but the troodons were already retreating away, and the stag collapsed as his rear legs couldn’t hold his weight.
The other stag tried to run as soon as Fred, Daphne, and Velma were on him, but that only helped the trio bite into his legs, and the Clydesdale sized stag did a jumping stomping type maneuver that reminded me of a bronco trying to throw a rodeo cowboy.
The stag’s bucking might have injured one of my troodons, but they had followed my orders perfectly, and retreated just like Shaggy and Scooby did. The second stag made a few more angry kicks in the air, but then he came down on the right rear leg wrong, and the limb buckled as the hamstring finished tearing. The creature went down with a cry, and I ordered all five of my troodons to circle back around to it.
The female deer turned to run away from the charging balaur bondocs, but then they saw that the two males had been toppled and they panicked. Four ran to the south, and crashed through the jungle like steam rollers, and the other six turned north and sprinted into the redwood forest. The delay in their decision almost allowed my pack of raptors to get one of the females, but I was focusing on the stags instead, and I ordered them to move over to the deer that the troodons were circling.
The first stag let out an angry bellow and then tried to use his front hooves to claw his way up to standing. I actually hadn’t wanted to kill both of the stags, but I worried that one of them might attack
if I didn’t take them both out. I didn’t want to risk losing any of my troodons or balaurs during this hunt, so I figured that more meat would be fine.
The second stag knew he was fucked, and he twisted his neck around frantically as he tried to thrash either troodon or balaur bondoc. I didn’t want the creature to suffer too long, so I had my troodons move a bit closer. The second stag took the bait and twisted his neck toward them. Then I ordered the Friends to take the stags back, and both Rachel and Ross tore open the deer’s throat with their twin toe claws.
My group moved back to the first stag as the second one bled out, and I saw that the deer had somehow gotten his two front legs under his torso again and was making a solid effort to get up.
The troodons fixed that with their usual efficiency. Velma and Daphne jumped at his left leg, sliced their claws along its length, and then dove out of the way before the stag could impale them with his antlers. Then Scooby and Shaggy did the same with the stag’s right leg, and the massive animal fell back down on his belly. The balaurs were ready for him to fall, and they jumped on his back like a blanket of white feathers and tearing claws.
Then the hunt was over, and we had successfully taken down two massive stags.
“Damn,” I said as I exhalled thankfully and ordered the group of eleven dinosaurs to start eating.
“That was amazing,” Galmine said. “They work so well together.”
“Yeah,” I said as I watched the troodons and raptors tear into the stag corpses. “Sorry it’s a bit gruesome.”
“Oh, it’s fine,” Galmine said as she smiled sweetly at me. “It is the circle of life. Our friends need to eat, and I understand that they get the most nutrition from meat. The sight of them enjoying their meal does not upset me.”
“Yeah,” I said as I turned back to watch Velma tear a big chunk of bloody meat from the stag’s neck and swallow it. “They must have all been hungry because-- Hey!” My shout interrupted Chandler hissing at Scooby as they ate next to each other, and they both turned to me and lowered their heads obediently.
“Be nice!” I barked, and then both of the dinos sank their heads lower so that they were resting their chins on the deer. They stared at me for a few moments. Then I nodded, and they went back to eating.
I moved Tom down the rise of the river bank until we were closer to the group. The sun was rapidly moving down the hills, and I figured we only had thirty minutes before it would turn into twilight. We were probably another fifteen minutes away from getting back to the fort, and while we could make the journey once the sun had moved past the hills, I didn’t like the idea of it.
“You were saying that they were hungry?” Galmine asked.
“Yeah,” I said, “but I think we need to get moving. I don’t want to be caught out here when it is dark.
“It won’t be dark for another hour or so,” Galmine said as she turned to look at the fading sun.
“It will be dark enough once--”
“Ahh, Victor,” Galmine sighed as she fluttered her eyelids at me. “We will be okay out here. You should let our friends enjoy their meal. It will make them strong.”
“Yeah but--”
“Can you have Tom lay so that we can get down,” she interrupted me.
“Sure,” I said as I commanded the triceratops to lay. Then I helped Galmine get down from the saddle.
“Ahhh! The air is cooling down.” She stretched her arms over her head. The movement caused her large breasts to lift up deliciously, and I saw the rock-looking parts of her skin move away from her nipples so that I could see them. “How long will it take for them to eat?”
“Maybe fifteen minutes,” I said. “Hard to tell but--”
“So we have plenty of time,” Galmine said as she reached her hands out to touch my belt.
“Galmine, we really have to get--”
“Shhhhh,” she whispered as her sparkling green eyes focused on my mouth. “We are safe out here surrounded by our friends and our love. Sheela can have you later tonight, but can I have you now? I am melting for your hard and soft touch.”
I opened my mouth to answer her, but she was already kneeling in front of me on the sand and opening my belt. I’d been hard pretty much this whole trip, so I easily sprang from my underwear when she pulled them down.
Galmine looked up into my eyes as she took me in her mouth. A satisfied moan escaped her lips as she licked me, and then I didn’t really care about getting back to the camp before the sunset anymore. All I cared about was pleasuring this beautiful woman who had taught me so much about gratitude.
And I spent the next half an hour doing that next to the river while the sun faded from the sky and the river sang its song.
Chapter 7
The purple sky of twilight had faded almost to black by the time Galmine and I made it back to our fort. Katie was guarding the door, and I commanded her to use one of her horns to help me lift the doors up and away from the entrance so that Tom could come through. By the time we had done that though, Sheela had already joined us with her spear clutched in her sharp fingers.
“I was worried,” she said as she glanced down at my bare chest. I had put my shirt back on, but only buttoned the lower two, so most of my upper body was easy to see.
“It took a little longer than expected,” I said as I gave her a hug.
“Much, much longer than expected,” Galmine sighed contently from her seat on top of Tom.
“We got a bunch of antiseptic herbs, some bamboo, and I fed the raptors and balaurs.” I gestured up to the back of Tom’s saddle, and Sheela smiled.
“This is good news, and I am glad you are okay.”
“I’m going to let you all unload everything,” I said. “I’ll send Tom over to the cooking fires while I start the fire that will burn Will-Lack’s body.”
“Would you like help with that?” Sheela asked.
“You all have a lot to do,” I said as I shrugged. “I’m just going to light the fire, say a few words to the wind, and make sure he burns all the way. If you all want to come say something, you can, but none of you knew him.”
“Fair enough,” Sheela said as she vaulted up Tom’s back and sat next to Galmine. “We will wait for you by the cooking fires. Dinner should be ready soon.”
“Great,” I said and then I commanded the balaurs to guard the gate with Katie while Tom and the troodons went to the covered area where I saw Kacerie, Trel, Liahpa, and Emerald working.
Then I walked over to the pit Emerald and I had dug for Will-Lack.
It was almost too dark to see, but I had started hundreds, or maybe even thousands of fires in the few months that I’d been on Dinosaurland, and didn’t need my vision to set up my hand drill and tinder. My palms and fingers were covered with calluses now, and it only took a few practiced spins of the hand drill before I had a small coal burning.
I tipped the coal into the soft tinder, picked it up in my hands, and slowly blew on it. The pinpoint of orange light quickly turned into flame, and I carefully set it down into the shallow pit next to Will-Lack’s large body. Then I added a few handfuls of kindling until the fire was healthy. I watched it spread to some larger pieces of wood for a few minutes, and then I stood at the foot of the shallow grave and cleared my throat.
“I, uhhh--” My voice cracked a bit, and then I jumped when I felt something soft press against my leg. I was Jinx, and he let out a sympathetic squeak when I looked down at him.
“Hey, buddy,” I said. “Thanks for coming.”
Jinx rubbed against my leg like a cat, and I reached down to scratch him under the chin where he liked.
“I didn’t know you that well, Will-Lack,” I said as I stood again, “but the people of your tribe appreciated the sacrifice you made. I would have done the same for my friends, so uhhh, yeah. You really have my respect, and I hope that the next part of your journey is peaceful. Maybe we will meet again someday, and we can develop a real friendship.”
I didn’t know what else to say,
so I wiped some sleep from my eyes, gave the growing fire a last look, and then turned back to the cooking fires where my friends were gathered.
They all smiled at me when I took a seat next to them, but they stopped their conversation and shot glances back to the pit where Will-Lack burned. We all sat in silence for a few moments, but then I cleared my throat and nodded at the cooking meat.
“How’s dinner looking?” I asked.
“It’s ready,” Kacerie said as she moved to cut a chunk off the roasting raptor with her new obsidian knife. Liahpa had a plate ready, and the silver-skinned woman handed it to me.
I turned to give the plate to Sheela, but the warrior shook her head and held up her hands. “Please, Victor, you should eat first. We all decided.”
“That’s okay,” I said. “I don’t need to eat first. I can wait for you all--”
“Just appease us and eat the food, Victor,” Trel groaned. “You try to be too nice sometimes.”
“Okay,” I said as I took a bite of the smoking meat. It was a bit tough and chewy since the balaur bondocs were so muscular, but the salt really helped with the flavor. The six women all stared at me as I chewed, and I felt my cheeks start to turn red.
“It’s really good,” I said after I finished chewing, and they all exhaled.
“What’s that all about?” I asked when they smiled and started cutting more meat off the roasting dinosaur.
“As Trel said, we just wish to take care of you, since you take care of us.” Sheela took a plate of food, smiled at me, and then bit into it delicately.
“We are all equals here,” I said. “I don’t need special treatment.”
“But we wish to treat you well,” Galmine said as she smiled at me. “That is being an equal. You would eat last if you could. You would take the smallest portion if we were out of food, and you would go a week without sleep to take care of us.”
The rest of the women nodded, and I was a bit surprised to see that Liahpa nodded along with them. The red-eyed woman caught me looking at her, and she smirked at me.
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