by Simon Archer
Thera must have noticed the Ant Queen’s ascent because she pointed at Queenie and nudged me. “What is the Ant Queen doing, Garrett?”
“She’s going to see if she can find the Rexes. Then it will be easier to keep an eye on them,” I replied as Queenie took off in a circle that seemed to spiral ever outward from our camp.
“It is good that you have the ability to send someone to look at them who has no fear of death nor the likelihood of experiencing it at their hands.” Thera shivered. “I have only met a Rex in battle once.” She touched a spot on her chest and shut her eyes for a moment, and I realized she was praying. “If I never have to do it again, it will be too soon.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said as I summoned a few Ice Spiders to hang out in the area around the camp so they could, theoretically, slow down the Rexes before they attacked. “We’ll be okay.”
“Part of me believes you, but most of me wishes you would make us great walls.” She laughed. “Though that much noise would surely summon the Rexes to us and defeat the purpose.”
“Well, I mean, they are only, what, forty feet tall.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “I could probably build a wall high enough and strong enough in, oh, a day or two. Assuming, of course, no one sang.”
“We will be long gone by then.” Thera kissed me. “And I think there are better things we can do with our time, no?” She got to her feet and took my hand in hers. “Come. Every moment we have together is a luxury I did not ever think I’d experience, and I will not waste any of it worrying about death. Not when I have something much more enjoyable to be doing.”
“I hear that,” I said as I let her lead me toward the crude tent she’d had erected near the edge of the encampment. While most of the others in her clan were sleeping either under the cover of the big communal tents she’d had set up or under the stars themselves, Thera had her own tent, and now, I suspected I knew why.
“It will be dark soon, Garrett, and we really do need to sleep tonight, so I hope to be good and exhausted by then,” Thera said as she pulled the flap of her tent back, and I saw the floor was covered with something that looked like a bear-skin rug only from a beaver that must have been man-sized. It made me shiver at the thought of how big the things front teeth must have been.
“What made that?” I said as Thera pulled me onto the thick fur. “The rug, I mean?”
“It is from a Castoroides. It is a large river creature, maybe two meters tall and weighing about two-hundred and fifty or so pounds.” She paused a beat. “It was what my father gave to my mother when they were joined, to prove that he was a capable provider. It is said that he killed it with his bare hands.” She blushed. “Admittedly, I brought it to impress you.”
“You don’t need to impress me, Thera,” I said as I kissed her deeply and fully. “You are one of the most impressive women I have ever known.”
“That is the thing,” she said as her fingers danced down my chest as they headed lower. “I am ‘one of the most impressive women,’ yet you are the most impressive man I have ever known, and I suspect will ever know.” She bit her lip then. “Know that I am not jealous or possessive, but sometimes, I feel inadequate. After all, Queenie can fly.” She shrugged. “I just… I want to be a bit more for you.”
“Thera,” I said as I took her chin in my hands and turned her face, so I was looking into her eyes. “You are already special to me just by being yourself. You’re strong, and capable, and a great leader.” I kissed her deeply. “And you are very, very impressive.”
41
Titania
The silly human thought I did not know his plan to come for me. He thought I did not see him tame the Quetzalcoatlus and leave for my great volcano. He thought I would allow him to step foot on my hallowed ground.
But he was wrong.
I knew everything, and I had prepared for it all. After all, I was the Queen of the Hot and Bright, the ruler of summer itself. And I would not be thwarted so easily.
Yes, he had stopped my first attack, but it would have been incredibly boring if he had not. Truthfully, I’d have been disappointed with my sister, Mab, had he fallen to a bunch of Diplodocus and the Orange Fire Callers.
Now, though?
Now, it was time to get serious. To see what this Garrett Andrews could do. I watched as he took the chieftainess to her tent, which was as expected as it was dull. Of course, he would take every opportunity to pound her into the ground. After all, she was quite attractive and under different circumstances…
I wiped the thought away before it could draw too much of my attention. There would be plenty of time to make her kneel before me and do anything I wished. I cast an idle thought to the way I would bind her in the gilded chains of summer. Breaking her spirit would be marvelous, and then, when my touch was all she craved, I would cast her aside. The exquisite agony she experienced then would be my true reward.
Instead, I turned my vast insight to the forest around me as the light began to fade. There were only a few minutes left before the light of the sun disappeared, and once it did, I would be weaker than I was now. Not that it mattered, I was still a god among insects. Even when dealing with one like Andrews.
Besides, I doubted I’d need to face him directly, anyway.
Already the Orange Fire Callers I had created surrounded the area. Some were disguised in their version of ghillie suits, and as they moved forward to surround the camp disguised as debris and detritus, I couldn’t help but be amazed by how difficult it was to see them. That and a little bit of fairy glamour all but ensured they would not be seen until I wished them to be seen. Still others were spread out just beyond the felled trees of the forest they had cut down to make their huts and boats.
It almost made me laugh. All that work to make something that could be turned to ash with the flick of a wrist. Ah, well. Perhaps, next time, they would build with sterner stuff.
Though there would be no next time if they failed again. I would scour this world so completely of their presence that it would be as though they never existed.
That just left my final task. Waking the Rexes. I stepped through one of the last fading rays of sunlight and reappeared beside the giant beasts. They were massive creatures, and currently, they lay nestled together in a heap beside one another.
They were long, and the bigger of the two, the female, was nearly forty-two feet from tail to snout and weighed close to nine tons. The smaller male was no slouch either, weighing over eight tons himself, and coming in at thirty-eight feet.
That was probably why they had claimed so much territory, and normally, I would have applauded Andrews and his female tribe leader for their choice of camp. It was well within the territory of the Rexes, and such, there would be no other predators to speak of, and yet, because the place was so large, they would be unlikely to deal with the Rexes.
Unfortunately, that wouldn’t do for my wishes. I strode up to the Rexes themselves, and as I was about to drop my glamour and reveal myself, I spotted something flitting through the sky high above. I turned my head toward it and saw that stupid flying ant that accompanied Andrews everywhere. I nearly cursed aloud.
I kept destroying her, but somehow, someway, she kept coming back. It was infuriating. Worse, Andrews seemed to know when she’d been hurt or destroyed, and that made dealing with her difficult. Now, if I woke the Rexes, he would know. Unless…
I took a moment to extend my magic outward, casting a glamour over the Rexes. Their massive bodies shimmered and shone for a moment as my spell settled over them, and a moment later, I snickered as the ant looked down at where the Rexes would have been. Then she flitted off like the stupid insect she was.
I waited a few more moments for her to fly good and far, even though it wasted a few more precious moments of daylight. Then I turned my attention back to the massive dinosaurs and smiled.
“It is time for you to feed, my darlings,” I said as I placed my hands upon them and drew them through one of the last ray
s of sunshine.
42
“I have seen the Rexes and what appears to be a woman, though I cannot be sure because she shielded herself upon my arrival. I do not believe she knows I have spotted her and the Rexes because she has not made them invisible to my senses,” Queenie’s words hit me as Thera and I were getting ready to settle down for the night after a couple of rounds of fevered, desperate lovemaking. “What would you like me to do?”
“Wait a few moments, and then fly away,” I replied as I felt grim focus and determination start to flow through me. No doubt the fairy queen was up to something. “I’ll tell you when to leave.”
“Very well, master. I will act as though I am searching the area until you order me otherwise,” she replied as I quickly looked out her eyes.
Sure enough, there didn’t appear to be anything in the large clearing. Only there definitely should have been something because it was very… nestlike. Something was there, something big, and more than likely a couple of somethings.
Once I was done, I turned to Thera and roused her from sleep.
“Are you ready to go again, Garrett?” she said sleepily. “I am somewhat surprised you have more seed within you.”
“It’s not that,” I said urgently. “We’re about to have something happen.” I quickly relayed what Queenie had seen.
“What do you wish to do?” Thera asked urgently. “If we leave now, maybe we can outrun her attack.”
“Well, do we really want to do that?” I asked the chieftainess. “Like, this whole journey has been to find her, so if we flee…?”
“I see what you say, Garrett, but how do we ensure that we actually find her?” Thera asked. “And this is different from what we thought we’d face. After all, there might be Rexes coming toward us right now.”
“Right,” I rubbed the back of my neck. “And, honestly, there are probably Oranges out there somewhere, ready to capitalize on the attack like when we faced the Diplodocus.”
“You know what are good at finding hidden prey?” Thera’s teeth gleamed in the fading light of the sun that filtered into the tent. “Troodon.”
“You know, I like the way you think,” I said as I relayed our plan to Queenie. Then I asked her to wait a few moments before flying away as slowly as possible to buy us a bit more time. Once she was underway, I summoned a bunch of Troodons and set them loose. I ordered them to find anyone out there, and report back, but not to engage unless they could make their kills silently without alerting anyone to their presence.
“Once I have flown away, do you wish me to return to camp?” Queenie asked as I took one last look through her eyes.
“Yes, return as quickly as possible because I’d wager there is going to be a hell of a fight,” I told her. “And if we’re fighting Rexes, please focus on them.”
“Affirmative, master,” Queenie replied before breaking the connection so she could carry out her part of the plan.
“Ready your people, Thera,” I said as I got to my feet and pulled on my clothing, as well as my newly improved Hand of the Destroyer King. Then I pulled the Sword of the Destroyer King from my inventory and tightened my grip on the hilt. “Because we’re about to get into a fight. And while we didn’t pick it, we’re damned sure going to finish it.”
“What are you going to do, Garrett?” Thera asked as she opened the tent flap and stepped outside before holding it for me. “How will you ensure Titania shows herself?”
“I am really hoping we have an answer for that,” I said as I pinged the catgirls back at the Halls of Research, and when Melanie answered, I asked her that same question.
“Well, yes and no, Garrett,” Melanie replied sleepily. “See, there isn’t a way to make her actually stay there. However, everything we read,” her voice got quieter, “even in the other volumes we purchased the license for,” her voice returned to normal, “there doesn’t seem to be a reliable way to trap a fairy queen. At least via magic. Cera says she could do it given a few days of prep work, something they did to Zaxcs apparently, but I’m assuming you don’t have time for that.”
“No. We have maybe a few minutes at best,” I said as I took note of Queenie’s current location. She was still relatively close to where the clearing had been spotted, and while I wasn’t sure if Titania would wait until she was out of earshot, hell, for all I knew, she didn't need to wait, I was hoping she would stay there a bit longer. “So, what’s the yes part, Mel?”
“The yes part is that once you issue the challenge, she cannot leave until it is over. So, if you get her to face you, she has to stay.” Melanie sighed loudly. “I recognize that’s sort of a chicken and egg thing.”
“I’ll be honest, I’m surprised you know what a chicken is.” I smirked. “And that’s fine. It just means I’ll have to get all up in Titania’s grill, and I wanted to do that, anyway.” I tightened my grip on the Destroyer King’s Sword. “Thanks for everything.”
“Wish we could do more,” Melanie said as I stepped out into dusk on Thera’s world. “We’ll keep looking. Cera did spend a bit of time working on the AI system, so the searches should be better in the future. Who knows? We might get lucky.”
“I hope you do,” I replied and took a moment to check all the Troodon pings. Several of them had found prey, and more than a few had engaged silently. It seemed they had found the Oranges by looking for places they seemed like they would be, like where the grass was crushed and shouldn’t have been.
Honestly, it didn’t seem like they needed my help, so I just left them to their job. I almost felt a little bad for the Oranges out there as they were picked off one by one. The pack-hunting dinosaurs had been really good at the whole kill everything job before they had a mental link with each other, but now? Now, it was scary.
Still, that was one less worry. Instead, I turned my attention to the Quetzals and relayed the orders for them to take to the sky if Rexes showed up. Then I reached out to all my Scout Ants and did a quick survey, and I was both annoyed and surprised I couldn’t see any of the Oranges out there. The magic Titania used to hide them must have been really powerful.
I suppose that should have scared me, and on some level it did, but I knew that it didn’t matter. All I had to do was issue my challenge and everything would change. Then I’d just have to trust in my training to take her on. Hopefully, that would be enough.
“Preparations are complete,” Thera said as she moved beside me. “The non-combatants have been moved to the backs of the Quetzals, and we’ve more or less broken camp without being obvious. The rest are waiting in their sacks with weapons drawn.” She looked at me. “When do you think they’ll come--”
And that’s when a pair of very pissed off Tyrannosaurus Rexes with bright red nameplates just fucking appeared in the center of the camp. The massive dinosaur kings whipped around as they got to their feet, all gnashing teeth and whipping tails.
“Attack!” Thera cried, leaping into action with her club and smashing it into the leg of the smaller Rex before he could fully get to his feet. There was a spray of blood as she brought the weapon around for another attack. That was the last time I saw her because the camp burst into commotion.
Gouts of flame erupted from all around us as the Oranges we hadn’t seen made their move, only to be met by the spears of the Blue Palm clan. My Spiders launched icy nets, binding down the Fire Callers so that the Troodons could do even more damage while also throwing nets to keep the Rexes from rising. It was working, barely.
Me?
Well, I took a gamble. I pulled in a massive, Aura-infused breath, and let out a cry at the top of my lungs. “The Knight of the Court of the Cold and Dark wishes to take the Queen of the Hot and Bright.”
The world exploded into fire and fury as Titania was literally pulled from invisibility, and her nameplate was so violently red that it actually hurt to look at.
Fire streamed around her in a whirlwind of flame as it ripped from her screaming throat and cascaded outward with a howl. Titania�
��s body bucked from the force of it as she erupted like a bursting volcano, spewing fire and magic high into the air like a geyser.
Then it was over, and she collapsed to her knees in front of me, chest heaving. She was shorter than I’d expected after meeting Mab, standing barely four feet tall, and was kind of cute in an angry super-bitch sort of way. Like Rhapsody, she had a smattering of freckles across her nose, but unlike the Forger of Worlds, Titania’s green eyes seethed with malevolence.
She stood then, her full lips twisted into a disgusted sneer as she began to bind her silver hair into an updo with one of the rubber bands around her wrist. And, crazily enough, that’s when I realized she was naked as the day was long, and under other circumstances, such a development would have made me drool. Her body reminded me of those kickboxer girls I’d trained with when I’d learned Muay Thai, all hard, lithe muscle, only unlike them, her breasts were large, almost ridiculously so given her size with nipples that jutted outward like cut glass.
“Why are you naked?” I asked before I could stop myself.
“Clothes are the demesne of winter. Summer is all about sweat and glistening bodies.” She cackled as her angry eyes met mine, and the shadow of something huge and monstrous loomed behind them. “Why? Does my form make you uncomfortable? Had I known, perhaps I’d have shown myself earlier.”
“It doesn’t make me uncomfortable,” I said with a shrug. “Just surprised.”
“Truthfully, I am surprised as well.” She looked around at the fight going on. “You seem to have anticipated my attack, but it will not matter.” She waved a hand, and the icy webs binding the Rexes shattered into a million scintillating shards. Thankfully, only one was able to take advantage of that as the other one couldn’t seem to get to its feet, not with the horrible leg wounds Thera had given it. “Even in this weakened state, and it is truly pathetically weak, I will crush you like one of your many ants.” She sighed. “Though this would be more fun if you were stronger.” She cackled. “You’re so weak, I can barely think in this form.”
