Tamer- King of Dinosaurs 4

by Michael-Scott Earle

  The fish tasted wonderful, and I complimented Galmine on her culinary skills as I passed her back my plate. Then I ran back to the pile of dirt and got back to throwing it on the sled. The pile was only a quarter gone, but the sled was about half full, and I’d still have to unload it at the dump spot.

  I didn’t want to rain to hit the dirt while it was still inside the inner fort, it would make a huge mess and probably end up sliding into Hope’s stable. I realized I was going to need some help, so I walked around to the well.

  “Hey,” I said. “We’ve got some rain coming. I kind of want to get the dirt out before--”

  “We are done.” Sheela was waist deep in the brown water and she smiled up at me as she passed the last basket of mud up to Liahpa.

  “Great,” I said as I took the basket and set it on the ground. Then I grabbed the shovels, helped Sheela climb out, and then lowered my hand to Liahpa. The silver-skinned woman didn’t even think twice about touching me now, and I pulled her up easily.

  “Trel will be happy,” Sheela said as the three of us looked down at the well.

  “Yeah,” I said. “We’ll have to build something around the edges so no one accidently falls in, and we’ll need her pump, but this is a great start.”

  The three of us went to work on the dirt with Shag, and the sled was quickly filled up. Then we all unloaded it at the second well site before taking it back to the doggie door.

  Just as we were loading the last of the dirt on the sled, the first drops of rain begin to fall, and we hurried to offload it at the new site. By the time we cleared the sled, the rain was coming down in sheets, and the three of us were soaking wet. I untied Bob from the sled hitch and commanded him to go rest. Then we all ran back to the campfire work station so we could enjoy the heat of the fires and the roof.

  Around the cooking fires, Kacerie was mixing soot and fat in a bowl, Galmine was washing the lunch plates in the rain, and Emerald was making cordage. Liahpa, Sheela, and I took our usual seats by the fire, and I shot a glance over to the redwood tree.

  Scoob was still standing in the rain looking up into the leaves faithfully. I sighed and then called all the raptors and troodons over so that they could cram under the roofs that we had made by the fire.

  “When is she going to come down?” Liahpa whispered, and everyone turned to look at the tree.

  “She said for dinner,” I sighed and then looked over to the kilns, they were still burning, but I didn’t know the status of the various plates and filter funnels Trel was working on. Could the clay overcook? I guessed that Galmine would know, but I hesitated to ask, since I didn’t want our conversation to turn to working on the project without Trel.

  My heart ached for her. I knew she wanted children, and I had tried to warn her that it wouldn’t work out between us, but now I hated that I had been right. I didn’t really want to be a father yet, but I loved the haughty genius, and I would have given her anything she wanted to make her happy.

  “Victor,” Kacerie called out, “my first batch of new soap is curing. It could use another week or so, but I’ve just rubbed some on my hands and it feels fine. How about that shave?”

  “Shave?” Sheela asked with concern.

  “Yep,” Kacerie said as she stood with the bowl in her hand and stepped over a sleeping Jinx so she could kneel next to me. “His beard is getting out of control. His hair also, but I’ll do the beard first. I just put some water next to the fire so that it could heat up.”

  “Sounds good,” I said. I knew that we had talked earlier about maybe her shaving my face in private, but I was a bit too worried about Trel right now to think of spending the night with the beautiful pink-haired woman.

  “What will you use to shave him?” A voice called out, from the direction of the kiln, and we all turned to see Trel step under the roof. Streams of water poured down her perfect body, and she twisted her lips into a smile as she stared at Kacerie.

  “Uhh, some of the obsidian,” the hair-stylist said. “It’s plenty sharp enough.”

  “Good,” Trel replied. “I prefer to see his handsome face. You can proceed.”

  “Are you alright?” I said. “Do you want to talk?”

  “Yes, and yes,” Trel said as she looked around at everyone. “I’m afraid I have terrible news for all of you.”

  Chapter 11

  “Terrible news?” Galmine gasped.

  “Yes,” Trel sighed. “Everyone, please sit down.”

  “Uhhh, we are all sitting down,” Kacerie pointed out.

  “Then you should sit down more,” Trel huffed.

  “How can we sit down more if we--”

  “Trel, just tell us the news,” I interrupted Kacerie as I touched her shoulder.

  “Yes,” Trel sighed again, and then turned her black eyes to me. “I’m not with brood. I am sorry everyone.”

  “Oh Trel, you don’t need to be sorry,” Liahpa said as she reached out to touch Trel’s hand. I thought the black-haired woman would actually pull away, but she surprised me by wrapping her fingers around Liahpa’s and smiling down at her.

  “No, no, no,” Trel sighed. “You see, as first wife of Victor and leader of our tribe, I need to follow through on my commitments. As I said earlier, the only use a woman has is to create beautiful offspring. I have failed this time, so we will not have any helpers until the next time that I ovulate. I promised you all a brood, so I am sorry.”

  “Trel,” I said. “No one was relying on you to have children.”

  “Oh, I know,” Trel moaned as her head rolled back on her shoulders. “You told me that you didn’t think we were compatible, but I know what the actual problem was this time.”

  “Uhhh, the problem?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Trel said. “We didn’t have enough sex. You only inseminated me six or so times when I was ovulating. What we need to do next time is go for three inseminations a day for the full period when my eggs are ripe for your seed. Then there will be no question that I will bear your brood.”

  “I still don’t think that--”

  “Also,” Trel interrupted me. “We need to practice much more between now and then. You had healthy orgasms with full ejaculations into my womb, but I want to spend more time learning the best way to make you climax. Then you will deposit more of your seed into me during each of our three daily sessions.”

  “But if our species aren’t--”

  “We also need to work on our diets,” Trel said as she tapped her lips with her finger. “You were eating too many berries and not enough fat and meat. We weren’t eating enough varied meats. Next time I ovulate, we will need to have much more protein and fat so that we have all the proper energy and stamina. Sheela, you will have to hunt more for us.”

  “I will do it,” Sheela said with a serious expression on her face.

  “Trel,” I started to say, but then she interrupted me again.

  “The sleeping arrangements will need to improve as well. Neither one of us got enough sleep during the nights. We should spend every moment when we are not having sex relaxing while the tribe takes care of us.”

  “Trel,” I said as I stood, “Stop. Please.”

  “Stop?” she asked. “Victor, I am just trying to plan for our babies.”

  “I know you are,” I said, “and I love you for it. I will have as much sex with you as you want. I’ll lie around in our hut all day and make it so that we get all the food and rest you want. I’ll do anything you ask me to make you happy, but I’d like you to realize that there might be a possibility that no matter what we do, we won’t be able to have children.”

  “Because of us being different species?” Trel asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “Yeah,” I replied.

  “Ha!” she laughed and then tossed her wet hair over her shoulder. “I have already thought of that, my dear Victor.”

  “Uhh, you have?” I asked, and everyone turned to look at me before turning back to Trel.

  “Yes,” Trel said as h
er lips curled up into a wide smile that showed off her sharp canines. “I will prove you wrong.”

  There was silence for a few moments as everyone tried to fight the confused look on their faces.

  “How are you going to prove him wrong when--” Kacerie started to ask, but Trel wiggled her fingers at the pink-haired woman kneeling next to me.

  “It is simple, really,” Trel said. “Victor does not think he can impregnate me because we are from different worlds, but he has not spent enough time proving that hypothesis.”

  “How do I prove that-- oh,” I said as soon as I understood what she was saying.

  “Exactly!” Trel laughed, and it sounded a bit like the sound a cartoon villain would make. “You must begin inseminating everyone. Then, when they all bear offspring from your seed, we will know that you were wrong, and I was right.”

  “Ahhh,” Liahpa began to object, but Trel shook her head and indicated that she wasn’t finished.

  “Victor has been inseminating Galmine, Sheela, and I, but he has only done one of us a day. Have either of you two ever been ovulating when his seed fills your womb?”

  “No,” Galmine said after a moment of thought.

  “No,” Sheela said. “I am actually concerned that getting pregnant would be--”

  “It just isn’t enough to test the theory,” Trel interrupted. “You will all need to allow him to inseminate your womb when you are ovulating. Starting with Kacerie.”

  “Me?” Kacerie gasped.

  “Yes, you,” Trel said as she turned her dark eyes on the other woman. “You look similar to Victor. I will bet that you will be most likely to become fertilized with his seed. When are you ovulating?”

  “Uhhh, okay,” Kacerie laughed as she glanced at me sideways. “Is this a joke or some--”

  “Why would I joke about making babies?” Trel scoffed. “It is the only thing we can do that idiot males can’t do, other than not be idiots.”

  “But I really don’t want to have a baby,” Kacerie said after she cleared her throat.

  “Why not?” Trel sighed. “Didn’t we already talk about this? It is our job to have beautiful babies. You are beautiful. Victor is very skilled at love making. It will feel wonderful when his sperm fills your womb, and then you will have a beautiful brood a few weeks later.”

  “First of all,” Kacerie started, “Didn’t we have a rule about not mentioning Victor’s sperm every day?”

  “Pfft,” Trel raspberried. “His sperm is important, we should talk about it every--”

  “Second of all, it takes forty-four weeks for my people to have a baby. Third of all, we normally have one child at a time.”

  “Then you should start immediately,” Trel said. “Are you ovulating?”

  “Fourth of all,” Kacerie continued, and her voice was getting louder with every word. “It’s dangerous! If I’m pregnant, I can’t just run around or ride on dinosaurs. Also, the baby is a liability. Babies need constant attention until they are around ten or so years old. Taking care of one is a full time job for one or even two people.”

  “That is fine,” Trel said softly. “We will take care of you when you are gestating. We will love the baby and cherish it since it is yours and Victor’s. Don’t you see how important this is?”

  Kacerie stared at Trel with disbelief, and then she turned to look at me.

  “Look, Trel, maybe we all need to relax on the sex talk for a bit,” I said. “I love you, Sheela, and Galmine. We don’t need to--”

  “All the women here desire you,” Trel said as she gestured to Kacerie.

  “Wait--” the pink-haired woman began, but Liahpa beat her to the outrage.

  “I do not ‘desire’ Victor,” the silver-skinned woman hissed.

  “You are being foolish,” Trel scoffed. “Also, I see you looking at him out of the corner of your eye when he walks by. Your planet filled with boring women has a silly game where you lift balls just because you yearn for a male's testicles to play with. Victor will pleasure you beyond anything you have ever experienced before. You can stop with the childish games. It is time to be a woman now, and women have sex with the best men they can acquire so they can produce beautiful offspring.”

  “Ahhh,” Liahpa sighed as she put her palm up to her face. “I don’t even know what to say to her right now. I feel like my head is going to explode.”

  “Trel,” Kacerie said, and the spider-woman turned to her. “I am very sorry you aren’t pregnant, but maybe we don’t have to rush into Victor having sex with everyone? These kind of things should develop over time. Uhh… organically, so that both people know they like each other.” Kacerie turned slightly to face me as she spoke, and I nodded at her words.

  “Fine,” Trel sighed. “Nothing has to happen tonight anyway. I will practice with Victor unless any of you want to--”

  “Can I help you with your filters or plates?” I asked so that she couldn’t continue.

  “Ahh!” she gasped. “They should be done baking. No, let Kacerie remove that beard, I will work on my projects until dinner. Then we will have an early lovemaking session.” Trel darted over to her kilns and then gasped with delight at the far one. We all watched her grab a bit of clay and start rolling it on the work table, but then she saw us looking at her, and she motioned with her long black fingers in a manner that made it clear she wanted us to go about our business.

  “If she thinks that I’m going to let Victor put his--” Liahpa began.

  “Didn’t you want to go with him to get water tonight?” Kacerie asked as she turned to the other woman.

  “I… well, yes, but--”

  “Huh,” Kacerie laughed. “That’s interesting.”

  “So,” I said as I cleared my throat to get everyone’s attention. “How are the weapons coming along?”

  “We have put all the obsidian spear heads onto the hafts,” Sheela said as she gestured to the inner wall. I could see that six of the spears now had black glass tips, and they looked sharp enough to perform surgery with.

  “We can knap more obsidian and carve more spears and arrows,” Liahpa said. “Oh, we don’t quite know what to do with this thing.” the woman with the white floating hair reached down next to her seat and lifted up the soul ring. It sparked a bit from the light of the flames coming from the fire, and a strike of lightning cracked through the sky a second before thunder boomed.

  “Is there a weapon you can make out of it?” I asked.

  “We have thought about an axe,” Sheela said, “but all the outer edges are sharp, and I cannot think of a safe way to mount it to a handle.”

  “You couldn’t just wedge it through a piece of wood and use it like an axe?” I asked.

  “No,” Sheela said as she shook her head. “The outside edges are unbelievably sharp, a handle wouldn’t last.”

  “We need some way to anchor it in the middle so it is stable and then attach a handle that way,” Lihapa said as she held her hand through the open spot of the ring, “but it would mean that the blade would be perpendicular to the haft. We could use it like an adze, but it would not be much of a weapon.”

  “Hmm,” I said as I looked at the ring again. Both of my friends were correct, the only safe place to hold the soul ring was in the center, and that would make mounting it to a haft almost impossible.

  Unless we could get something made out of metal and shaped to fill the center.

  “Wait!” I gasped. “I have an idea!”

  “What is it?” Liahpa asked.

  “We can use stone! Youleena can shape it for us. Put it on the ground and I’ll show you.”

  Liahpa set the soul ring on the ground by the campfire, and I stepped around Kacerie so I could crouch next to it.

  “Stone will fill the inside,” I said, “and push against it so that it won’t wiggle around when it hits something. Then from each side an arm will come down and then meet into one handle.”

  “That will be a lot of stone,” Kacerie said.

  “It wi
ll be heavy,” Sheela sighed.

  “It will, but I know someone who is crazy strong.” I looked up at Liahpa and smiled.

  “You would want me to use it?” she asked as she brought her fingers to her chest.

  “Yeah,” I said with a shrug. “It makes the most sense. Trel doesn’t think the metal will dull easily, or ever. So we need to have someone using it for chopping wood or anything else that fucks with us.”

  “I do not really know how to use such a weapon,” she said as she blinked her red eyes at me.

  “I will teach you,” Sheela said.

  “We need to get it made first,” I said. “I’ll take it with us when we go to bring them their plates and cups.”

  “Will they do it though?” Liahpa asked as her eyes drifted toward the weapon. I could tell she was excited about my idea, and she was having a hard time keeping the smile off her face.

  “They’ll do whatever I tell them to do,” I said, and she nodded at me.

  “Victor,” Kacerie said. “The water should be hot enough right now. Are you ready?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Where do you want me to sit?”

  “Back where you were,” Kacerie answered as she reached for the clay pot.

  I sat on the rock, and the other women watched with interest as Kacerie took some soap she had made and mixed it in another bowl with the hot water.

  “Normally I’d have you in a comfortable chair where you could lean back,” she said as she set the jug of hot water and the bowl of soap on the rock next to me. “You’ll have to try to close your eyes and relax while you still keep your body upright.”

  “I think I can manage,” I said, but then she pulled some obsidian blades from her pocket and set them on the rock by the jug and bowl, and I started to get a bit nervous. “You sure this will work?”

  “Of course,” she said as she poured some hot water on her hands and reached for my face.

  My beard wasn’t super long, but this was the longest time that I’ve ever gone without shaving, so her finger had to search through the hair to find my jaw and cheeks. Her fingers were warm and wet from the water, and I closed my eyes as she began to massage my face.