Table of Contents
Title Page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
End Notes
Michael-Scott Earle
Chapter 1
“I’m going to come down, so we can talk face to face,” I said to Quwaru as I gestured down the wall of the cliff. “Can you bring all of your people out so that I can meet them?”
“Hmmmm…” she hesitated and then turned back to the carved entrance of her cave. “Is that necessary? We are a private bunch as I’m sure you and yours are.”
“Look, Quwaru, I just saved your ass, and I’m going to need to know who everyone is in your tribe so that I can figure out how you all are going to pay me back. Will-Lack followed me back to my camp, and I bet he took a count of all the people I had there, so I’m just asking to be on an equal footing.”
“You are right, Victor,” she said. “We will all come out to meet you. I want to be friends with you, and I’m thankful that you came to help us. We’d all be dead or slaves if you had not come.”
“Yeah,” I said as I commanded the troodons to move around the west side of the gorge so they could meet me when I climbed down. “I’ll be right there.”
“Will you bring your friends?” Quwaru called.
“I’ll think about it,” I said, and then I slid back away from the edge and stood up. The angle of the cliff meant that she couldn’t see me anymore, and I turned to my friends with a smile on my face.
“You should not go down there alone,” Sheela said, and her golden cat-eyes were filled with concern.
“I’m not going to be alone,” I chuckled. “I’ve got the whole dinosaur gang down there.”
“I agree with Sheela,” Liahpa said. “We do not know these people, and they might attack you.”
“I want you all to stay up here and cover me from above,” I said as I looked at Sheela’s quiver. She only had a few arrows left, but I knew that the warrior woman could put one into someone at our range. “They aren’t going to do anything because they know they need my help.”
“But people are stupid,” Trel objected. “They might decide to be stupid and attack you.”
“Then my dinos will rip them up,” I said as I smiled at my friends. “Look, I know why you are all worried about me, but these folks just saw us take out over a dozen of these Burner fuckers. They don’t know that we blew all of Kacerie’s powers, or that we are almost out of ammo, or that we don’t have any more rocks to throw. They don’t know anything, but having you all come down there with me might push the conversation to them asking what you all can do, and I want to keep that hidden for as long as possible. We might need all the leverage we can get.”
“It makes sense,” Kacerie sighed.
“Yeah,” Trel moaned, but then smiled at me. “This is one of the many qualities I love about you, Victor, you are always thinking a few steps ahead. I will help carry you down the cliff face.”
“Yeah, that might go faster,” I said. “Then when my talks with them are over, I’ll raise my hand like this and then head out on the trail toward the ocean. I’ll wait for you all to meet me back by the black lava flow. Got it?”
The four women nodded, and then I walked with Trel up north to the top of the C shape of the cliffs. She wrapped her arms around my chest when we got there, and I felt my stomach drop a bit when we both stepped off the edge. I shouldn’t have been worried though, her spider legs expertly grabbed onto the vertical rock, and we descended at an even pace.
“Be careful,” Trel said when we reached the bottom. “I don’t want to lose you.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said, and then I wrapped my hands around her narrow waist and gave her a long kiss. Trel moaned when our mouths touched, and she pressed her almost naked body against mine passionately.
I turned around to find my tiger-striped pack of troodons waiting for me, and we all wound our way south beside the cliff face until we connected with the grassy slope that led into the gorge where Quwaru’s people were.
My troodons were covered with the blood of the men they had just killed, and they hooted with excitement when we made it to the clearing. They were a bit like dogs in nature, and they ran over to the corpses of the first Burner we came to, hooted again, and then looked over to me as if to say “Hey, Dad, look at this fucker we killed. Aren’t you proud of us?”
“Yesssss,” I cooed back at them as I scratched each of their heads and appraised the bodies of the men they had taken down. “You all did such a great job. I’m so proud of you.”
The troodons collectively cooed, and then they each took turns pushing their heads into my stomach and hips so that I could pet them.
“Awww. I love you guys too. Let’s keep going. We have to talk to our new friends.”
Scoob let out an authoritative hoot, and the others fell in formation around me as we continued up the grassy hill.
My other dinosaurs were on the other side of the hill standing near the cliff where Quwaru’s clan had the one side of their rope bridge still attached. The triceratops Tom, Nicole, and Katie were closest to the cliff, and the biggest of my three parasaurs, Sonny, Cher, and Bob were back some fifteen feet snacking on the long grass that grew by the base of the cliff where my friends and I had launched our attack on the burners.
I looked across the gap toward the entrance to Quwaru’s cave and saw a small group there. A quick count gave me six others besides Quwaru and Emta.
“You should come over,” I said as I pointed at the trail to their right side that wrapped around the “C” shape of the gorge and came out in the grassy field where I stood.
“So you can sic your creatures on us?” Emta hollered. “No thanks.”
“Uhhh, I came all the way out here to help you all. I’m not trying to hurt you. Calm the fuck down.” I crossed my arms and shook my head at the olive skinned woman.
“You calm the fuck down,” she hissed. “Just because you showed up doesn’t mean that--”
“Stop!” Quwaru growled at Emta, and the larger and more muscular woman stopped talking. The red skinned woman with the horns and silver eyes turned her head back to me and nodded. “We’ll come over, Victor. I don’t think you’d hurt us, since you risked your life and the lives of your tribe to help us.”
“Nope,” I said, and the group of eight talked for a few moments before they cautiously moved to the side trail. It was only wide enough for them to go single file, so I got a good chance to look at them as they walked around the south and east side of the backwards “C” shaped valley.
Quwaru went first. Her long legs, perfect hips, round breasts, and long black hair looked like something out of a pin-up poster. She wore a bikini that made Sheela’s look like a burka by comparison; since Quwaru’s didn’t really cover much besides her crotch and nipples, and her graceful strides made me think about a model on a catwalk. Her red skin, the small horns, and her silver eyes gave me the impression that she was a succubus, but she didn’t have wings or a tail.
Behind Quwaru, the purple skinned creature walked on the trail. I hadn’t gotten that great of a look at it earlier, but now I had time to examine it as it moved. The skin actually looked like it was short fur and not skin, and while the shape and movements of its tail made me think of a monkey, the creature walked tall like a human, and its arms were proportioned about the same as a human’s would be when compared to torso leng
th. The creature didn’t wear any clothes I could see, but I didn’t really see breasts, so I guessed that it was male. Then it turned to me as it walked along the path, and its face looked somewhat fox-like. There was a bit of a long pointed mouth and nose, along with ears which came up to small points.
Behind the purple fox-monkey-creature, a willowy woman wearing a thin white dress walked. She looked totally human, from the side, but I could only see her feet, the slight outline of her legs through her lace dress, and her long snow colored hair. Her skin was only a slight shade pinker than her dress and hair, and she walked with a slow grace that reminded me of someone moving under water.
Behind the white-haired woman was a person who at first looked like a child. The figure had bright azure colored hair that stood up at least a foot from the kid’s head like it had five pounds of hair gel in it, and it wore heavy looking dark gray overalls and a red long sleeve shirt under the shoulder straps. As I stared at the kid, I realized that it wasn’t a child at all. It was a short and thin woman with small breasts, big feet, and a long nose. She looked kind of like a gnome archetype from the various fantasy games and books I’d read, but then she glanced toward me, and I could see that she had two sets of eyes on her otherwise human-looking face. Both sets of the eyes seemed to glow with the same blue light as her hair, and she frowned before turning her attention back to the walkway.
A woman with a human looking body followed behind the short blue-haired gnome. It looked like she wore tight fitting pants made out of a rainbow hued scale fabric, but as she walked, I could tell that her long legs were actually scaled, and she had long beta fish-like fins on each side of her shapely thighs. Her upper body looked human, and she had a green bikini top over her pert breasts. Her hair was long and blood red, and it immediately made me think that she was a mermaid who had somehow transformed her tail into legs that could walk on land. Her beautiful green eyes were almost too large on her face, and their placement gave her an exotic beauty that made me think of those Japanese anime shows.
The next member of Quwaru’s tribe was another female. She also looked humanoid and had a magnificent mane of golden hair that fell back off her head like a waterfall and almost touched the ground. She wore a tight black bodysuit that looked like what cyclists would wear, and there was a foot long sparkly gold horn coming out of her forehead as if she was some sort of human-unicorn hybrid. Her eyes actually glowed gold also, and she stared at me the entire time she walked around the narrow path.
The second to last member of Quwaru’s tribe looked like the crazy woman from that “Ring” horror movie. She had long black hair covering her face, pale skin, and she moved with jittering steps, as if she had to fight to control her body. She even wore a messy gray robe just like the character in the film had, and she didn’t bother to look at me. She just placed a hand on the shoulder of the golden-haired woman with the unicorn horn and allowed herself to be led around the narrow path. The exchange made me think that she must have had a very powerful ability since she seemed so fragile.
Emta brought up the rear. She was almost as tall as Sheela, and had a lithe, toned body which reminded me of a volleyball player. She wasn’t as muscular as Liahpa, who wasn’t as muscular looking as Sheela, but body types were a bit deceiving on Dinosaurland, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if the olive-tanned woman with the two ork tusks coming out of her lower jaw could break me in two if she wanted. She turned to glare at me as she walked, and her snake-like hair thrashed around her shoulders as if they were controlled by her emotions.
Besides the purple-furred fox-monkey looking creature, Quwaru’s clan looked to be made up of all women. I didn’t know exactly what to make of the finding, but I spent the few minutes it took the group to walk around the cliff trail thinking about the implications of the two sexes surviving on this world. The Burners had been all men, and seemed like a bunch of assholes, and Quwaru’s tribe seemed to be mostly women and agreeable. My tribe was also mostly women, and we all got along. I was probably looking too much into the situation, but the small sample size of men I had encountered so far on this world seemed to lean toward being total assholes.
“These are my friends, Victor,” Quwaru said as soon as the group of eight reached the end of their cliff trail and stood in a line before me. Their eyes all stared at me intently, and I was suddenly a bit nervous. The woman with the long black hair hanging in front of her face was giving me the heebeegeebees, and the purple fox-monkey creature was odd, but the other six members of the tribe were absolutely gorgeous, and for a few moments I felt like I was back at Lacey’s pool party. Even the short gnome looking woman with the azure hair and four eyes was really pretty in a totally disconcerting way.
“Hi all,” I said to them after I cleared the frog out of my throat. “I’m Victor. Uhhh. Nice to meet you.”
“We know who you are, dumbass,” Emta hissed.
“It’s okay,” Quwaru scoffed at the other woman. “Victor is being nice. We have not met many nice males on this world. I will introduce everyone, and then we can talk about how we can pay you back for saving us.”
“Sure,” I said as I nodded to the red-skinned succubus.
“But what about Will-Lack?” the woman with the white skin and long white hair asked. Her eyes were dark pools of black, and they made her look less human than I would have expected.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “He made it to us, and he asked for our help, but then he died. He had a bunch of arrows in his body.”
The white-haired woman’s face seemed to crack, and she gave a slow nod as her shoulders slumped. The other members of the tribe looked pretty distressed by my news, but none of them seemed surprised.
“He was a good man,” Quwaru whispered. “We saw him get hit by the arrows when he was leaving our cave, but--”
“He has passed on,” the white-woman with the black eyes interrupted. “I am thankful to have known him.”
“Me too,” the woman with the too big green eyes and mermaid legs said.
“Yes,” the blue-haired gnome agreed.
“I will think of him often,” the woman with the golden hair, eyes, and horn said, but she stared at me intently when she spoke, and her unblinking gaze was starting to creep me out a bit.
“He was my brother,” the purple-furred creature said in a voice that sounded deep and masculine. “He gave his life to protect us, and I will always honor his name.”
“We disagreed about much,” the woman with the black hair in front of her face whispered, “but I feel sorrow that he has passed. I am glad that he made it to Victor’s tribe, and that they were able to come and help us.” The woman’s voice was delightfully musical, and I was starting to feel a little less creeped out by her appearance.
“He was a good one,” Emta said as her eyes narrowed at me. “We haven’t met many good ones as of late.”
“Hey, Emta, if you don’t like me, I can just take my friends here and go home, but next time you need help, I’ll just mind my own business.” I crossed my arms after I finished speaking, and Tom let out an annoyed huff from his spot behind me.
The group I spoke to glanced at him, back to me, and then turned to Emta.
“She does not speak for us,” Quwaru said quickly. “We are thankful for your help.”
“Okay,” I said with a shrug. “So back to the introductions. Can you each tell me what your name is and what your Eye-Q ability is? I’m Victor Shelby and I can control these dinosaurs.” I gestured to the group of troodons who were sitting behind me, and Shaggy let out a happy hoot that Bob echoed with a low tuba sounding toot.
The group glanced at the red skinned woman for a few moments, and I could tell they were a bit hesitant to tell me their abilities, but then their leader nodded and stepped forward out of their line a bit.
“You know my name is Quwaru,” the succubus woman said as she touched her fingers to her bare chest above her cleavage. “When I touch others with my hand, I can sense their thoughts and emotion
s.”
“Ahh,” I said. “That is why you wanted to shake hands with me earlier.”
“Yes,” she admitted as she held out her hand. “Will you touch me now?”
“Hmmmm,” I said as I looked at her fingers. “I’m a bit worried about it.”
“You do not trust me?” she asked as she smirked a bit.
“Maybe after we get to know each other a bit more,” I said.
“This would expedite the process,” Quwaru replied. “I would know if I could trust you.”
“I’m not worried about you knowing if you should trust me or not,” I said with a shrug. “I came here and killed a bunch of your enemies and saved your clan. If you can’t trust me, then you can’t trust anyone. I don’t know if I can trust you yet.”
“I suppose that is fair,” Quwaru sighed as she lowered her hand, but the mermaid woman and Emta frowned.
“This is Zoru,” the succubus said as she pointed to the purple-furred fox-monkey creature.
“Greetings, Victor,” he said as he stepped forward. “Thank you for coming to our aid.”
“You are welcome,” I said as I smiled at him. “It’s nice to meet another guy. The last few I’ve met have been assholes.”
“Guy?” he asked, and a confused expression came over his fox-looking face.
“Oh, male,” I said.
“Ahh!” he gasped and then let out a laugh. “You have assumed my gender.”
“Ahh, shit, uhhh, did I get it wrong?” I asked as my stomach sunk, but then I realized that there weren’t any social justice warriors around to scream at me.
“Yes and no,” he said as he chuckled a bit more. “Before coming to this world, I had no idea there were multiple genders. There is only one type for my species.”
“Huhhhh,” I said slowly, and my brain tried to figure out what I should say next so that I didn’t offend the alien.
“We are both male and female,” it said.
“Yeah, ummm sorry,” I said as I pulled at the collar of my khaki shirt. “I meant no offense, your voice just sounded deep so I thought you were a man.”
Tamer- King of Dinosaurs 4 Page 1
