“You didn’t eat any of your dinner,” I said as I pointed at her plate.
“I am hungry for other things now, my dear Victor,” she whispered, and then she pushed her plate aside and crawled over to me on her human knees.
Our lovemaking wasn’t as intense as it was yesterday. Trel was still mostly in control, and she still rode me with urgency, but we spent a lot more time kissing, whispering pleasures to each other, and cuddling. We both climaxed when she was on top of me, and she did her usual inverted hang to ensure that all of my sperm went into her womb. It was kind of a turn on to see how much she wanted my seed, especially after almost of a month of her antagonizing me.
Our second round was doggie style, but we did it standing with her spider legs bracing against me. The position allowed me to fondle her perfect ass while we made love, and Trel really seemed to enjoy it. She let out a long growl when we both climaxed again, and I relaxed on one of our sleeping mats while she hung inverted over my mouth. We kissed for a few minutes while we came down from our euphoria, and then she lowered herself into my arms so we could bask in each other’s embrace.
“Our children will be beautiful,” Trel said. “They will be brave and intelligent. Our work will be much easier once they are born and reach maturity.”
“How long will that take?” I asked, even though I still doubted she could get pregnant.
“Five or so years,” she said. “But they will be able to do work after six months.”
“Damn, that is fast.”
“Is it? How long does it take your species to reach maturity?”
“Uhh, we have both physical and emotional maturity. Most people are physically mature at eighteen years.”
“Eighteen years?” Trel gasped. “Why so slow?”
“That’s just how it is,” I said. “I’m surprised your kind ages so fast.”
“How old are you?” she asked.
“Twenty,” I said.
“Perhaps the measurement of time is different on our world,” Trel said. “I’m six years old in my own time, but our ages seem similar.”
“Could be,” I said. “Probably doesn’t matter. I doubt we’ll be going back. All I know is that I’m happy you are in my arms right now, and I’m glad we have a good plan for tomorrow. We are a good building team.”
“Yes,” she whispered. “I do enjoy this. I am sorry again for being so difficult when we first met. If I’d known how much I would enjoy being your lover, I would have just--”
“It’s fine,” I said as I hugged her tighter. “We have a lot of work ahead of us. I’d love to lay here with you all night and drift off to sleep, but I think we all need to work on baskets and cordage. Let’s go get the others and get back to work.”
“Yes, Victor,” Trel said as she leaned her mouth up to kiss me. Her lips reignited my passion again, and we made love one more time before we went back to work.
Chapter 12
The next day was a whirlwind of constant work.
And that was saying a lot since Trel, Sheela, Galmine and I were used to some pretty grueling work.
We’d finished making two more clay baskets last night as well as a lot of cordage. Galmine’s task for the day was to make another basket for clay, craft more arrows, and continue with the cordage. She also had to take care of all the meal preparation. The beautiful woman informed me that she had enough bird for today, but we’d have to get more food tomorrow.
Sheela was our resident axe expert, and she went to work clearing the branches from the trees that we toppled during the last two days. She worked tirelessly with her tools, but she avoided looking at me during most of the day.
Trel spent the day organizing the trees we toppled so that they were aligned to make a tight fit. This meant I had to use Hope to push the logs around, but the other three parasaurs were the better diggers anyway, and the loss of the smaller dino didn’t really impede their progress.
Once Trel had thirty logs aligned the way she wanted, she used an axe to start on the spot where she would make the fire holes. To make sure she was setting these correctly, she asked me to make Hope spin them around a bit so that she could eyeball the sides. At first, she asked Kacerie or me to use an axe and trim some of the trunks so they would fit better, but Trel was quickly frustrated with Kacerie’s lack of axe chopping skills, so she ended up doing the task herself.
Kacerie was our floater. She helped Sheela clear the cut branches from the trunks, selected branches that might work for dowels and put those in another pile for Trel to inspect, and sharpened our axes during her downtime.
The axes ended being a bit of a problem for us. We had built them like traditional ones with the blade’s edge parallel to the handle. Trel’s new plan for the wall meant that the logs had to be shaped a lot more, and we quickly realized we needed axes with a blade mounted perpendicular to the handle. That way we could stand on top or astride the log and cut downward to shave the trunk. Trel didn’t really know the name of the design, but I recalled the name “adze” from an old boat crafting documentary I once watched on YouTube.
Building our first adze was surprisingly simple. I told Kacerie that she needed to find an arm-length branch with some sort of knot or junction at the end. We had plenty of branches lying around, but the material was still green, and I thought it wouldn’t be suitable for a handle. She still found a dried branch on the ground during her other tasks, and it had a junction like I wanted.
I used one of our axes to trim the pieces off the end and then carved a slot by the junctioning piece. A few hours later Sheela stumbled across a rock that would work for the blade, and I pounded into the slot before I wrapped it to the nub of the branch at the junction. The tool ended up resembling the number 7, or like a gardening hoe, and I tested a few chops against the bark of a tree. I was able to get some good leverage with the tool, so I gave it to Kacerie so she could shave the handle and sharpen the stone blade.
I probably had the easiest day of the group. I did chopping and gathering work when the parasaurs were busy with the tasks I commanded, but rotating the logs with Hope required most of my concentration. Bob, Sonny, and Cher ended up taking down their sixtieth tree a bit after lunch, and I switched their tasks around so that they focused on pushing the fallen trees closer to the central spot where we were working. These trees were hard to muscle around because the roots were still attached, but we’d cleared a significant part of the younger growth the two hundred yards from our processing center. I didn’t want Trel, Sheela, and Kacerie working that deep in the forest, so I made the dinos do the grunt work of bringing them closer to us.
While the three parasaurs moved the recently fallen trees, I attached the dragging harness to Hope and had her pull the logs Trel marked into the fort. The set up worked well since the smaller parasaur could fit through the door, and I had all thirty of the logs Trel marked inside of the fort by the time the sun was low in the sky.
“I just need the clay,” Trel said when I returned to our log-processing site with Hope. “All of these trees are marked, and we should be able to get them all burning tonight if you can get me the clay soon. Then we’ll be done out here and we can start on the ones inside of the fort.”
“I’m on it,” I said as I surveyed the site. Sheela and Kacerie were chopping the indents that we would use to lay the fire in, and Trel also had an axe in her hand. I kind of wanted to bring someone with me for safety, but I didn’t want to pull them away from their tasks.
“I’ll be quick,” I said. “I’ll take Bob. Sonny and Cher can stay here for defense. If you guys need to get back into the fort quickly, take Hope.” I didn’t actually know if Sonny and Cher would defend my friends, but I sent them a thought, and it seemed as if the two parasaurs went from munching on the grass and leaves to glancing around the site with an unnatural alertness.
“Got it,” Trel said. “Be careful.”
A moment later I was back at our camp and attaching the five clay baskets to his saddle. Then
I gave Galmine a quick kiss, updated her on our progress, and then turned to leave.
Before I could exit, Jinx nuzzled against my leg. I reached down to pet the little guy, and he surprised me by jumping into my arms.
“Aww,” Galmine gushed. “He loves you so much. You should take him with you.”
“Hmmm, yeah. I think I will.” The cat-sized chocobo-looking dino weighed a bit under twenty pounds, so I couldn’t quite keep him on my shoulder like a parrot, but I could just carry him up onto the saddle.
I took Jinx out of the fort and then commanded him to run up and perch on the front of Bob’s back. He let out a confirmation chirp and then did as I asked.
A few moments later, my little pal and I were riding across the clearing past the piles of corpses that sat at the edge of our clearing.
The smell was all sorts of terrible.
We’d been a bit lucky all day, since the wind was blowing from the direction of the forest where we worked, but now that I moved to the edges of our domain, the scent of dead dino corpses was almost overwhelming, and I had to fight against my gag reflex. There were tons of scavengers feasting on the bodies, but the only big dinos were the vulture-like ones I’d seen yesterday. There weren’t any carcasses near our work site, so the creatures hadn’t bothered us. I just hope the smell didn’t bring something massive and dangerous to our clearing.
The sooner we had these walls up the better.
Jinx let out an angry squawk when we rode past a group of white feathered dinos that looked like forty pound versions of him, and I guessed the creatures were his distant cousins. They looked up at us when we passed, but they were too busy chomping on a rotting body to care about our passage.
Just to mix things up a bit, I took a slightly different path toward the lake. It wasn’t the shortest way, so it meant I spent a bit more time in the jungle, but I was worried that my consistent habit might be something an enemy could track, and I didn’t want to get caught off guard by someone waiting to ambush me.
Maybe I was paranoid, but the distant smoke in the jungle hadn’t been caused by a dinosaur, so I knew there were other tribes out there.
Passage through the jungle was slow, and the crowded trees felt a little claustrophobic, but I was soon cresting the hill toward the lake. The smoke in the distance was now gone, but I still spent a few moments at the edge of the slope with my head just a bit above the top so I wasn’t making much of a profile.
The trikes were back at the lake, but the spot where the parasaurs were normally at was vacant. I saw a trio of red feathered raptors on the far side of the water, but they looked as if they were smaller than the green ones that we had been fighting, and they were a good ten minute run from where I would pick up my clay. Other than those two groups of dinos, the lake was deserted, so I crested the hill quickly and pushed Bob down the other side.
“We have to do this quick,” I said to Jinx as soon as Bob got to the edge of the finger part of the lake where the clay was. I paused for a few moments before I got off and paid attention to the two dinos’ heads. Neither one of them seemed nervous about their surrounding, so I commanded Bob to kneel, and then I untied all the baskets.
Bob took a quick drink from the edge of the lake while I scooped the clay into the baskets as quickly as I could. I decided to tie each one back on the saddle as soon as I finished, instead of filling all five and then doing the job. It was a bit less efficient, but I didn’t want to leave everything behind if I had to run. I didn’t know why I felt so nervous, but it was probably because I was out here alone, and it was getting close to dusk.
By the time I filled the fourth basket with clay, I’d started to calm down a bit. Jinx was a good watchdog, and he seemed happy enough to run around the beach and attack a group of small frogs he found. I soon had the fifth basket of clay tied up on Bob’s saddle, and I called my buddy back to me so we could go back home.
“But before we go…” I said as I turned to look at the trikes. It looked like the same male and two females that I’d observed for the last three days. They were two lake-fingers over, and it would only take me a few minutes to ride over there.
My Tame ability was a level three now, and triceratops had three horns. Perhaps it was a stupid justification, but I felt confident I could tame one of the giant dinos, and I hadn’t really felt that way when I was level two.
“What do you think, Jinx? Can I do it?”
The blue bird let out a chirp that sounded a lot like “Sure, Victor. You are the fucking man. Go get some new dinos!” So I tapped my heels on Bob and steered him around the finger parts of the lake.
As I got closer to the trikes, a small sliver of doubt began to worm into my stomach.
These things were huge. Yeah, Bob, Sonny, and Cher were huge, but the smallest trike female was about three to four feet taller at the shoulder than Bob, and it was just as long. The horns looked to be almost as long as I was tall, but that could have just been me exaggerating a bit because they looked so fearsome.
The legs were thick, broad, and the front foot ended in distinct toes that looked like horse hooves. The rear legs were even bulkier than the front and more toe-hooves. Each of the hooves was just as large as my chest, and I imagined that the beast’s shits were probably bigger than me.
“Maybe this isn’t such a good idea,” I said as I fought against my fear. The male of the group probably outweighed Bob by five times, and I guessed it would have no problem pushing one of its horns through my mount’s chest. Parasaurs really didn’t have any weapons besides their size, and they looked like children compared to the squat and powerful triceratops.
If I fucked this up and got impaled, my friends would never know what happened to me. Maybe they would figure it out, but they would have a really hard time surviving.
I pushed the negative thoughts out of my head and focused on my task. There was one female in the water, but the male and second female were standing on the beach and munching on algae. The male was the closest to me, and there wasn’t really a way for me to get around him. I’d either have to tame him first, or I’d have to wait for him to wander away so that I could go after one of the females.
“That will probably just piss him off,” I muttered as I looked at the male. He looked like the kind of guy who would cut a fool who messed with his women, so I took a deep breath and prepared myself to go for the big score first.
“Hey big fella,” I said as I urged Bob toward the male. He was looking out over the lake, and he didn’t turn around as I approached. That could have been good, or it could be terrible since he might get scared when he finally noticed me.
“You are one handsome fella,” I said as I urged Bob a bit closer. My steed didn’t seem to think this was a good idea, but I quieted his fears by rubbing my hands on his neck.
“Your scales look really good, and your horns are all sorts of magnificent. No wonder you have two ladies, I’m honestly surprised you don’t have more babes hanging out with you.” I was some thirty feet from him now, and the creature’s size was becoming more impressive. He was practically a house with horns and an armored crest.
“I’ve got a good camp the next valley over,” I said as Bob crept closer. “You’ll like it. You can bring your two friends with you. I promise to give you plenty of food, water, and some fun stuff to do. Right now we are building a wall. We could really use your help. What do you say?”
The trike snorted and stomped his foot. I felt my chest constrict when he turned to glance at me, but then he shifted his beaked mouth back to the algae he was eating and seemed to pretend like I wasn’t there.
“Yeah, I know,” I whispered as I tapped my heels against Bob’s flank. “Being bored sucks. What do you do all day? Just eat algae? I’ve got something way more fun for you to do. You should come back with me. We’ll have a great time.”
The trike snorted, stomped, and then shook his crested head like he was a dog that was adjusting his collar. Bob wanted to stop moving forward, but I
knew the trike’s movements weren’t aggressive. He was just getting used to me being there.
“That’s a good boy,” I said as I rested my hand against his scaled flank. His back seemed fifty percent wider than Bob’s, and it was going to take Trel a shitload of cordage to make a saddle.
“Let’s go, buddy. I want you on my team.”
Triceratops horridus tamed.
I almost shouted with joy, but I didn’t want to scare the two females, so I commanded the male to keep eating while I circled around on Bob. The closest trike female was a bit skittish around me and edged closer to her male, but I was confident in my ability now, and it took me only a few complimenting words to get her tamed.
“Damn, I’m on a roll,” I whispered as soon as the update message came across my Eye-Q. I wondered if there was a limit to how many dinos I could keep tamed, but I didn’t know a way to test it other than just taming every single dino I came across. But if there was a limit, could I untame dinos to get access to others? I didn’t want to waste all my slots taming the orange birds if I could only do a maximum number that never increased.
I slowly rode Bob through the water toward the last trike. This female surprised me by turning toward me. She lowered her horns a bit and let out an aggressive sound that reminded me of a truck engine firing up. It was apparent that she was about to attack, so I did the only thing I could think of doing.
“Stop,” I ordered. “You are coming with me now.”
I was a good twenty feet away from her, but the tame message still scrolled across my eye. The words kind of shocked me because I hadn’t touched her, or said any soothing words. I’d just told her in a commanding voice that she was coming with me, and the female instantly fell under my control.
Was I getting more powerful? Or was that just how my ability worked? Were all the nice words unneeded? Could I just control dinos from afar with a quick order and press of my will? I was excited to test it out, but that would have to be done tomorrow or the day after. I had to get back to camp now since we still had plenty of work to do.
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