Tamer- King of Dinosaurs 5

by Michael-Scott Earle

  “Sorry Galmine, change of plans. I need you to stay here.”

  “Oh no, is something wrong?” she asked as she moved to slide down Tom’s side.

  “Hope won’t leave unless someone sits with her egg, would you mind--”

  “Absolutely!” Galmine cheered and clapped her hands. “I love babies! Do you think Hope would mind? I will wrap my arms around that beautiful egg and sing the sweetest songs to it!”

  “I think she’ll be totally fine with you,” I laughed and then walked with Galmine into the inner fort.

  As soon as Hope saw the rock woman, she let out a grateful toot, shifted her legs, and then stood to evacuate the nest. It was as if the two women understood each other, and Galmine let out a thankful sigh as she sat in Hope’s nest and wrapped her arms around the ottoman-sized egg. Hope nuzzled Galmine’s cheek, Galmine let out a giggle, and then Hope pranced out the door and rubbed her body along Bob’s as if she was a cat. Bob let out a low toot of joy, and then the two parasauruses leaned into each other like newlyweds. Before I could leave, I heard a chirp from behind me, and I turned to see Jinx run around the well and jump into Galmine’s lap.

  “You gonna help me babysit, Jinx?” she asked, and the little chocobo-bird let out a happy tweet as he nestled into Galmine’s stomach.

  I moved back to Tom, jumped up on his knee, and then grabbed Liahpa’s hand so that I could get up onto the saddle easier. Then I commanded my small army of dinosaurs to trot to the gate. Sheela pulled the doors open as we approached, and then she gave us a wave once we rode through. As we rode past, I realized that the cheetah-woman still had my Cricket Bat of Doom, but Liahpa had tied a few spears and axes to the saddle next to the baskets. I also had my full group of dinos along for the trip, so I doubted that I’d need to use a weapon.

  Then we were across the bridge and heading east into the redwood forest toward the lake.

  “You are worried about those black raptors,” Liahpa said after we had ridden a minute or so in silence.

  “Yeah,” I admitted. “I saw a group of them take out two massive long-neck dinosaurs at the lake around the time you and Emerald came to this world.

  “Can you tame them?” the red-eyed woman asked.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I tamed Grumpy, and he’s probably bigger than a carnotaurus, but we’ve ran into a group of them before, and my ability didn’t work on them.”

  “Hmmm,” she said. “Grumpy is the one you left at the river to the south of us?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “You’ll know why I call him Grumpy when you see him. He likes to be by the water, so I need to figure out a way to get him close to us. I also don’t really understand how I tamed him.”

  “Our abilities are strange,” Youleena said. “None of my people were able to do exactly what I can do with stone. Some of them could shape it to a limited degree, but the rock seems to obey my command completely.”

  “Yeah,” Liahpa agreed. “None of my people could make things heavier. It doesn’t make a lot of sense. The Eye-Q doesn’t explain how it works or what the leveling does.”

  “If it works like my power, then it should mean that you can do bigger stuff faster. What level are your abilities?”

  “Two,” Liahpa answered.

  “Three,” Youleena said. “It was one when I first got here, but every month or so it seems to increase as I use it.”

  “You have been here a long time,” Liahpa said.

  “It feels like a lifetime,” the willowy woman laughed as she pulled back her hair. “I’ve come to enjoy it though.”

  “Really?” Liahpa asked with surprise clear on her face.

  “My old life was somewhat complicated,” Youleena sighed over the wind.

  “I’m interested in the story,” I said.

  “Me too,” Liahpa said.

  Youleena didn’t speak for a moment, and I had to adjust the direction of the trotting dinosaurs to the north a bit. The change in direction caused both of the women’s hair to fly in my face, and I realized that I’d somehow taken both of the women with white hair on this adventure.

  We reached the eastern bend of the river, and I could tell that my dinos wanted to drink, so I ordered them to pause on the edge, and the crew all bent their necks down for some water. I didn’t want them to drink too much in case we had to retreat back from the lake, but I also didn’t want them to go without water in case we did have to retreat back from the lake and scurry with our tails between our legs all the way back to our fort.

  I had a small army of dinos now, but I knew we couldn’t stand against a small army of Utahraptors.

  “I am one of the rulers of my people,” Youleena finally said, and both Liahpa and I turned toward her.

  “Don’t look so surprised!” the white-woman laughed.

  “It’s not that,” I chuckled. “You just don’t seem like the ruler type.”

  “What is the ruler type?” she asked as she raised a white eyebrow.

  “As Victor often calls them: assholes,” Liahpa laughed.

  “Where the waste comes out of our body?” Youleena asked with confusion.

  “It’s slang,” I laughed. “Just means someone that is unkind or full of themselves, or-- well, you get it.”

  “I was descended from a long line of Stone Priestesses,” Youleena whispered, and Liahpa and I leaned in close so we could hear. “When I came of age, my birth mother was forced to retire, and I was tasked with leading our people and selecting mates to breed with.”

  “Yep, sounds terrible,” I laughed.

  “There were no decisions to make though,” Youleena sighed. “We just dug out our cities and worked. I wasn’t even allowed to work, of course. So my only decision came down to which male to mate with.”

  “Now that sounds horrible,” Liahpa laughed, and then she surprised me by poking me in the side with her elbow.

  “It was just dull,” Youleena sighed, “and I sound like an idiot for saying this, since my home was safe and secure. There were a few other families on our world, and if we ever met them, we might war over cavern spaces, but there was nothing to do but work, breed, and then work some more. We had few artists, and I loved to look at their designs, but they were not respected in our community, and the pastime was judged as immature and wasteful by the majority.”

  “You felt trapped,” I said, but it wasn’t really a question.

  “Yes,” Youleena agreed. “I was afraid when I came here, but Quwaru, Emta, and Will-Lack took me in. It is good that we joined with you. I can already tell this will be a better life for us.”

  “That’s my goal,” I said. “I want us to all be safe and try to prosper.”

  “That is what Quwaru said.” Youleena smiled at me and then looked at the dinosaurs drinking in the river. “All these creatures you command really help.”

  “They do,” I said, and then I commanded them to stop drinking so we could continue across the river, through the jungle, and up the hill that separated our valley from where the lake was.

  I slowed the caravan down when we reached the base of the hill and took a deep breath. “Okay, if we see the Utahraptors, we are just going to turn and run. If we don’t see the Utahraptors, we still might run, but we’ll pay attention to any other dinos that might be drinking.”

  The two women nodded, and then I pushed the group of dinos up the slope so that we could peak over the crest. The position was kind of shitty because it meant that anyone who looked in this direction could see all of us on the side of the hill, but this area was somewhat thick with trees, so I reasoned that anyone behind us would have to be a few hundred yards away to see us in any detail.

  The lake below looked like a large hand with long “finger” parts that spread out on the side closest to us. I didn’t see any of the black feathered raptors, or the corpses of the two brontos they had killed here a week ago. Hell, had it only been a week? I was losing track of the days on Dinosaurland, but it felt like it must have been at least ten days
ago.

  “It looks pretty clear,” I said as I ran my eyes over the beach. I could see all of the coast from our position on the top of the hill, and the only creatures I saw were a group of four trikes on the second finger of the hand somewhat near us, a herd of a dozen parasaurs on the far side of the lake where they usually ate, and three of the big turtles sunning themselves on the beach halfway up the coast on the left side.

  The turtles actually looked like they might be good hunting for my crew of troodons and raptors.

  “Let’s head down,” I said as I pushed the group quickly over the hill’s crest and down the jungle covered slope. As we walked, I looked up in the sky and commanded Bruce to do a quick loop around the water and let me know if there was any danger he could see. The pteranodon must have guessed I was nervous because he didn’t let out his usual honk. Instead, he just swooped down the side of the jungle and then soared over the lake with his large wings spread to catch any stray air waves.

  We made it to the edge of the lake, and I commanded everyone to head over to the finger where we used to get our clay. The boot prints I had once seen here were long gone, but now that I was looking, I did see a large boulder sitting about thirty feet from the shore by the edge of the jungle.

  “Okay team,” I said as I stood up and grabbed a few baskets from the trunk area of Tom’s saddle. “The herbivore dinos are going to eat some lake algae and drink some water. The carnivore dinosaurs are going to hunt those turtles up on the side of the lake’s beach to our left, Youleena is going to try to make the handle out of the boulder over there, and Liahpa and I are going to get a bunch of clay.”

  “The boulder by the edge of the jungle?” the white-woman asked nervously as she glanced at where I had pointed.

  “I’m going to put the stegos over as a guard,” I said as I commanded Mike D, MCA, and Ad-Rock to move in that area. “They’ll eat some of the jungle, and then get their water when you are done. Do you need help with the design?”

  “No,” Youleena said as she took the ring from Liahpa and took a step toward the boulder with the stegos. “Your idea is good, I should be able to complete it in an hour or two, but it will be heavy.”

  “The weight won’t be an issue,” I said as I smiled at the floating woman.

  “I hope not,” Liahpa laughed, and then she grabbed a pair of baskets and pointed toward the clay.

  “Yeah,” I said, “I’m going to have the troodons and balaurs attack those turtles, but go ahead and get started on the clay.”

  “Will do,” she replied, and I turned my attention to the three dinosaur turtles up the coast from us.

  I guessed that each of the creatures were about the size of a loveseat style couch. They were sunning themselves on the beach, but facing the jungle as if to stay alert for predators. It was a smart move on their part, and I guessed their plan was to retreat into the water if they needed to flee something on the land.

  I’d have to make it so they couldn’t escape.

  “Alright Scoob, Shag, Fred, Velma, and Daphne, you five are up,” I said, and the orange tiger-striped troodons let out hoots of excitement before they ran into the jungle on my left. The lean predators seemed to melt into the jungle, and I marveled again at how well orange and black striped feathers could meld into a green backdrop.

  As soon as I sensed that the troodons had reached a good fifty yards up past the three turtles, I made them sneak to the edge of the jungle and turned to the balaur bondocs.

  “Alright Chandler, Joey, Ross, Rachel, Monica, and Phoebe, you all ready to get a meal?”

  Chandler let out an affirmative hiss that the other balaurs echoed. These raptors looked a bit like the troodons, but their feathers were shades of white, cream, and light brown. They were also yoked like bodybuilders, and I knew they were strong enough to fuck up the slightly larger green feathered deinonychus that had once plagued our camp.

  The balaurs weren’t speed demons though, and they weren’t sneaky. All they had was a strange military discipline and legs, arms, and chests that looked like they came from a Utahraptor. Together with the troodons, I guessed I could hunt most human or Volkswagen bug sized quarry on Dinosaurland.

  And that was exactly what we did.

  The balaurs began to sprint around the side of the lake’s finger and up the coast of the lake toward the turtles. As the raptors moved, and I started to sing the theme song to “Friends,” the troodons slithered out of the jungle and across the sand like snakes. I knew exactly where they were, but I was about three hundred yards away, and I really couldn’t see them move across the sand.

  I didn’t need to see them though, all I needed was them to get into positon before the turtles spotted the balaurs.

  I held my breath, and then everything played out as I thought it would.

  The troodons made it to the edge of the water behind the turtles about five seconds before one of the shelled reptiles saw the balaurs charging up the coast. I didn’t know if this guy was male or female, but it turned on its legs with surprising quickness and tried to head toward the water.

  But Scoob, Shag, and the rest of the gang was waiting, and the lead turtle was suddenly falling back as the troodons tried to dig his face out of his shell. The other two turtles had tried to flee, but more troodons attacked them, and then the balaurs hit the shelled reptiles from the flank.

  The turtles were still turtles, and I saw each of them retreat into their shells. This tactic might have confused normal raptors or troodons, but I was controlling my attack squads, and the male balaurs quickly bent under the edge of one of their prey and heaved up with a coordinated effort. The first turtle flipped over, and the reptile’s legs franticly pedaled through the air with confusion.

  Then the troodons tore off the legs and moved on to the next turtle that the balaurs were car-flipping over.

  The hunt was over a few moments after the third turtle was flipped, and I allowed the crew to eat. I was a bit concerned that they might bicker over the meat like they did the last time they hunted together, but I watched them feast for a few minutes, and it seemed like the two groups of predators were getting along.

  I turned back to the clay and saw that Liahpa was working on her third basket. The mud over here was as dull gray color that contrasted interestingly with her silver-colored skin, and I gave her a nod as I walked over and began to scoop the wet clay into my own basket.

  “What happened to your shirt?” she asked as her red eyes looked at my bare chest.

  “Gee burnt my shirt by accident,” I answered.

  “Ahhh,” Liahpa said, and then we were silent for a few moments as we scooped up more clay.

  “Soooooo,” she started to say finally, and I looked up from my work to see her watching me. “Are you going to go get more of that green stone?”

  “If it is copper, I think we should. It will really help us.”

  “I would like to go with you,” she said.

  “Sure.” I shrugged and then picked up my filled basket so that I could take it back to Tom.

  “Ahhh, what would you say to a duo trip?” she asked as she picked up her own basket and followed me the few steps to Tom’s side.

  “Duo trip?”

  “Yes, just you and me.”

  “Wait, you and me?” I asked as I tried to figure out what she meant since there was no way in hell Liahpa would want to spend two days alone with me.

  “Yes,” she said. “You and I have only had a chance to be alone by the river that one time.”

  “Uhhh, yeah,” I said, “and I showed you what you wanted to see. Then you got to play with it, so I--”

  “Look, Victor,” she sighed. “I’ve been terrified of the legend of man my whole life. They are supposed to be terrible and ugly monsters with sharp teeth and penises that will tear through a vagina before impregnating a woman with a thousand more male spawn.”

  “Yeah,” I sighed, and it took every ounce of willpower I had in me not to roll my eyes. “I know. I know.
I know. Men are terrible and women are wonderful.”

  “You aren’t terrible,” Liahpa said as we went back to scooping up clay.

  “Thanks,” I laughed.

  “No, no, no,” she laughed and shook her head. “I like spending time with you. It’s helping me get over my fears. You aren’t ugly, and your penis was soft.”

  “Actually it was really hard when you played with it,” I laughed, but the expression on her beautiful face indicated that she didn’t get my joke.

  “The thought of being alone with you for a day or two makes me terrified and excited,” she said. “How dangerous was the trip here?”

  “We got attacked by a group of carnos, and we almost were attacked by some spinos.”

  “Spinos?” Liahpa asked.

  “The biggest baddest dinos around,” I said. “At least, that’s what my people have always thought. There might be bigger ones out there. We don’t have a lot of fossil records.”

  “Ahh,” she said as she nodded. “So only one dinosaur attack, and then the men that you killed who… ahhh… had Tannin?”

  “Yeah, those fuckers,” I growled.

  “That is what my people would expect of men,” Liahpa said with a shrug.

  “So I’m supposed to prove them wrong?” I asked.

  “You already have.” She smiled at me and then picked up her filled basket. “It sounds like a relatively safe trip. You made it with your three new dinosaurs and the big flying one.”

  “Their names are Mike D, MCA, and Ad-Rock,” I said as I pointed my finger over to where the three stegos stood guard around Youleena. “The flying guy is named Bruce, but I also had Grumpy.”

  “Those are strange names,” Liahpa said as she looked at the stegos.

  “It’s a group of singers from my world named ‘The Beastie Boys,’ the names work really well for them.”

  “So we can bring them, Bruce, grumpy, and the trikes. It will be safe.”

  “Look, Liahpa,” I sighed. “I can understand that you want to conquer your fear of men, and I understand that you love taking on challenges, but we need to figure out if those rocks can be turned into copper first. If they can, I’ll go get some more, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense for us to go alone.”