“So let’s tie this clay and then you can steer. No more complaints or fear. I’ll be right behind you to help you learn how to steer. Also, I can control Hope from on the back of whichever beast I choose to tame, so it really won’t be that risky for you. Don’t worry, you’ll do great.”
I lifted the basket of clay onto Hope’s saddle and then Sheela helped me tie it down with a few lengths of cord. As soon as it was secure, I jumped up to the rear part of the saddle and gestured for her to sit in front of me. The beautiful blonde woman frowned as she looked at Hope’s reins, but then she took my hand and I pulled her up.
“Tap the heels of your feet against her sides to make her go forward,” I instructed, and Sheela followed my directions.
Hope moved forward slowly, and I wrapped my arms around Sheela’s tight stomach. My friend seemed to relax when I held onto her, and I felt her exhale.
“Pull on the reins to make her stop. Try it now.”
Sheela pulled gently on the reins, and Hope stopped. Then she let out a happy toot, and I heard Sheela gasp with surprise.
“That’s okay,” I said. “She likes you. Don’t be afraid. Make her move forward again.”
Sheela tapped her heels on Hope’s flanks and the parasaur walked along the shore of the beach.
“How do I make her go faster?” Sheela asked.
“Ha!” I laughed. “I just taught you how to start and stop and you already want to start speeding. Typical.”
“You are mocking me,” she chuckled.
“Naw, I would never mock you, Sheela. Let’s try turning though. Press with one heel into her side and then pull on the reins to point her head in that direction.”
Sheela did as I instructed, and Hope turned away from the shore of the lake and pointed toward the jungle.
“Now turn her back around,” I said, and Sheela did so.
“You are a natural at this,” I said.
“Thank you,” she replied. “Perhaps it is the teacher?”
“Naw, although it could be the steed. Hope’s a good girl. Aren’t you girl?”
Hope replied with a happy toot, and I laughed.
“Okay, so tap a few more times on her sides and she’ll increase speed. She’s good at sensing how fast you want to go, and if you lean forward, it’s easier for her to understand you want to go faster.”
“I will try,” Sheela said as she tapped her heels against Hope’s sides three times. The parasaur turned her walk into an easy trot, and we were soon moving across the beach at a comfortable lope.
“Some speeds are more comfortable than others,” I said. “This is kind of like a slow jog. Feel how jarring it is?”
“Y-y-y-yes,” Sheela said as she bounced against the saddle and my chest.
“Go a bit faster and she’ll put her head down and run smoother,” I said.
Sheela followed my instructions and Hope’s speed increased. The parasaur’s strides grew longer, and the ride smoothed out a bunch.
“Great job!” I shouted over the wind that was now blowing Sheela’s long mane of blonde hair in my face. Her hair smelled like sandalwood mixed with a bit of pine, and I pulled a bunch of it out of my face so it lay over my shoulder.
“Thank you,” she replied as she steered Hope toward the outskirts of the lake.
“Turn her so you go on the left side of that log,” I said into Sheela’s ear, and she pulled on the reins. Hope did as Sheela told her, and we turned away from the shore of the beach.
“Now go right around that palm tree. Then left around that boulder!” I pointed ahead, and Sheela yanked on the reins. We twisted through a few more obstacles easily, and I felt like my friend had gotten the hang of handling the magnificent parasaur.
“Alright, take us over to the herd,” I said.
“Yes, Victor,” Sheela replied, and she kicked Hope’s sides to increase our speed. I expected the movement, but I still tightened my arms around Sheela’s stomach.
It took us a good five minutes to circle the lake and come around the other group of parasaurs. A quick count gave me thirty-four in the herd, and I identified ten males in the group. They stood maybe two feet taller than the females and glanced at us suspiciously as we approached.
But they didn’t signal the herd to run.
“Slow down a bit,” I said, but Hope’s speed had already decreased so that we were moving at a fast walk, and I wondered if I’d accidentally controlled her.
The closer we got to the herd, the more I realized how much of a runt Hope was. The males of the group weren’t as bulky huge as the triceratops on the other side of the lake, but they were actually a two or three feet taller at the shoulder when on all fours, and they were a good twenty-five feet tall when they reared up on their hind legs. If hope was a big bed truck, then these were all semi’s. I was going to need a step ladder to get on the back of any of these beasts, or I was going to have to make the leap while standing on Hope’s back.
I knew I could tame one of these crest-headed dinos. I’d already done so with Hope. I didn’t know for sure that I could tame a trike, and something about the three-horned dinos made me think I’d be trying to punch too high of a weight class if I tried. I still hadn’t really used my tame ability, so I needed to practice it on a few more dinos, get the hang of it, and then try it on a triceratops.
“Which one do you think will be the best?” I asked Sheela as we slowly approached the herd.
“There is a group on the opposite side that appears to have smaller ones,” Sheela said as she pointed.
“Yeah, I see them, but they actually look really young. Hope’s young too, but I have a feeling they kind of kicked her out because she wasn’t growing fast enough.”
“The others do seem much larger than her,” Sheela agreed.
“What about the male closest to us?” I asked as I pointed. He was probably the smallest male of the group, but he still stood about twelve feet tall at the shoulder and had a tail that was probably just as long.
“He is still quite large,” she whispered.
“Yeah, but we need a boyfriend for Hope,” I said as I fought against the laughter in my stomach. “I already have a name picked out: Bob.”
“It sounds like a fine name, Victor, but--”
“It’s actually a great name,” I giggled. “Let’s do this. Bring us closer.”
Sheela kicked lightly against Hope’s sides, and the parasaur moved toward the water where her kin drank, washed, and ate. The male we were targeting had a reddish-brown hide, and he let out a long, low-pitched toot when we got within twenty feet of the first female of his group. Sheela’s body tensed, but Bob didn’t run away or attack, so Hope kept walking toward him.
He was knee deep in the water of the lake, some thirty yards from us, and Hope pushed into the ring of females that gathered around him.
“Hey, buddy. How’s it going?” I whispered as the massive dinosaur turned his eyes to me. They were actually a light shade of brown, and they looked at me without any hostility. Any sort of fear I might have had about approaching the magnificent animal faded. This guy was meant to be my pal, and I knew we’d have a great time together.
“I’m Victor,” I whispered as Sheela guided Hope closer. “You are a good looking boy. Look at your skin! It’s quite handsome. You’ve got great muscles too. Look at all the women around you. Are these all your girlfriends?”
Bob let out a low pitched toot, and I felt my rib bones vibrate. It was like a tuba being played into a train tunnel, and a tiny bit of my fear came back.
“I’d like you to come back with me and be my pal. I promise I’ll take good care of you. We’ll feed ya lots of great food, and I’ll take you on adventures every day. Sound good?” We were ten feet from the side of the massive male, and I felt my heart start to hammer in my chest. Or maybe I was just feeling Sheela’s heart hammer so hard in her chest that I thought it was mine.
“Whoooooa boy,” I said as he took a big step away from me. “It’s okay. I’
m not going to hurt you. I’d just like to pet you. You are such a good looking boy. Awww. There we go.” Sheela had stopped Hope right next to the male’s left side, and I reached out to touch the massive parasaur’s flank. His scales felt just like Hope’s, but each one was almost twice the size as what was on her hide.
My Eye-Q was already open, and I turned my head so I could look into his gentle eyes.
“I’m gonna get on your back now, and you are going to come with me,” I said with confidence that actually surprised me.
Nothing happened for a few seconds, and then Bob sank down lower in the water.
Parasaurolophus Walkeri tamed. Flashed across my vision, and my heart leapt into my chest.
“I did it,” I whispered to Sheela as I let go of her stomach. I held my hands on her shoulders to help me balance when I stood, and then I leaned over so that I could touch the top of Bob’s back ridge. I grunted, leapt, and then pulled myself up on his back.
The ridge on his spine jutted up about four inches, and there wasn’t really a great place to sit without squeezing my nuts, so I kneeled on either side of the ridge and then mentally commanded the massive parasaur to stand up on his hind legs. He shifted backward as he stood up from the water, and I leaned forward so that I could clamp my fingers around the ridge at the base of his long neck.
“Sheela, do you see this?” I asked her.
“Yes, Victor,” she replied as she looked up at me. Her eyes glowed with the light of the sun, and she held the reins tightly against her breasts. “You look magnificent. I am very impressed.”
“Ha!” I laughed loudly, and a few of the parasaurs stepped away with surprise. “Nothing impresses you, so I’ll take it.”
“Not true,” she replied. “You impress me every day, Victor.”
“Awww, thanks. Well, I feel the same way about you.”
“Oh?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah, let’s get out of the water.” I thought about Bob walking to the shore of the lake, and my mount took a big step through the water. The females moved aside to let him pass, and we soon made it back to the beach.
Riding Hope had been amazing, but being on Bob’s back was a whole new experience. I was at least sixteen feet off the ground when he stood on his hind legs, and I towered over all the other dinos. It felt almost like I was riding on a tank, and every step Bob took felt like it equaled three of Hope’s.
“Wow, wow, wow,” I said as I thought about him spinning around on the beach. He was a bit slower to obey my command than Hope was, but I figured that it was because we hadn’t spent as much time together. He still pivoted as gracefully as the smaller parasaur, but I could tell he wasn’t used to making such acute movements.
“Let’s go home, buddy. I want to introduce you to Trel, Galmine, and Kacerie.”
Bob let out a low happy toot, and I patted his shoulder gently.
“Sheela, you ready?” I asked.
“Yes,” she answered as she looked up at me. The clay basket on her saddle looked almost too big, and I knew we’d be able to carry three times as much on the back of Bob. Hell, I could carry Galmine, Trel, Kacerie, and a bunch of baskets on the back of Bob if I commanded him to walk on all fours.
But now I had him on his back legs, and I wanted to see how fast he could go.
“Giddyap, Bob!” I hissed as I tapped my heels against his flanks.
My new parasaur took a long step forward, then another, and then a third before he found his jogging pace. It immediately became apparent that he couldn’t accelerate as quickly as Hope could, but it only took another six steps for me to figure out that his top speed was way faster. The wind almost instantly began to make my eyes water, but I didn’t care. His long lopping steps set down perfectly on the sandy beach, and there were almost no jarring bounces. He was actually a bit easier to ride than Hope, and I turned around to see Sheela chasing behind me.
“Is that as fast as you can go?” I shouted at her as I willed Bob to pick up some more speed. My new pal obeyed me, and he bent his neck down a bit so that he could really bring his tail into play.
Then his engine opened up like a race car.
“Shiiiitttt!” I growled as he seemed to go from thirty to seventy in two steps. I clamped my fingers harder around the ridge on his neck and ducked my head low so that I could see through the wind. I really had no idea how fast Bob was going, but the wind was pushing on my chest like crazy, and it took every ounce of willpower to keep my eyes open. I thought about him slowing down a bit, and he made a few more steps at a much slower pace.
Then he let out a quick bass toot as if to tell me that I should be careful about what I wished for.
I turned around and saw that I’d put a good hundred yards between Sheela and me. She wasn’t riding Hope as fast as I normally did, but she was moving at a good clip; Bob was just a big lumbering drag racer.
But I guessed he also had a good tractor engine. He must have weighed four tons, and I imagined his wide lizard feet would really be able to grab onto the ground. He probably couldn’t haul as much as a triceratops, but he was going to be a great help with our future build plans.
“He is fast!” Sheela shouted as she pulled Hope up alongside me.
“Yeah! I’ll go a bit slower. Try and keep up! We’ll do a quick ride around the north side of the valley.”
Sheela nodded, and I kicked Bob’s flanks lightly so that he’d pick up speed. The big parasaurs let out a French horn sounding note and then floated across the sand on his massive legs. We ran past the same few obstacles I had Sheela steer Hope around, and I practiced steering Bob around the palm tree, past the boulder, and over the downed log. He was big enough to just step over the log without even jumping, and I let out a short laugh.
The green raptors weren’t going to be much of a problem for Bob. They might be able to nip at his legs, but a single stomp from his foot would squash one, and I’d be able to spear or rain arrows down from the safety of his high back.
I glanced back to ensure the Sheela was still following me. She was, so I angled Bob toward the side of the jungle where the hill slope met the beach. My new pet plowed up the slope with no perceived loss of speed, and I angled him up to the higher parts of the hillside. I was soon racing across the wide path on the ledge, and I turned to look back down on the lake.
Then I saw the smoke and ordered Bob to stop.
It was hard to tell how far away the fire was. Or even if it was a fire. All I could see was a thick plume of black smoke lifting up into the eastern sky.
“Sheela!” I hissed when she rode up next to me, and my friend turned to look where I was.
“It is far away,” she said. “Perhaps over fifteen miles.”
“There hasn’t been any sort of storm recently,” I said. “So I don’t think lightning caused it.”
“I agree,” she said.
“It is probably another camp,” I said. “Maybe they are clearing the forest for space.
“Victor, I do not think that is the reality.” She shrugged.
“Yeah,” I sighed. “It’s probably something bad. Either dinosaurs attacked someone’s camp, and a fire got out of control, or…”
“Or a tribe of survivors is attacking another tribe of survivors,” Sheela finished my sentence.
“Let’s do as I planned. We’ll do a quick ride around the valley’s crest. Keep an eye out for any fires or trees that we didn’t clear. Got it?”
“Yes, Victor,” she said. “Will you tell the others about this once we return?”
“Hmmmm. Let’s not. Whoever is fighting is far away, but I think we need to consider that the dinosaurs aren’t the only threat here. We need to put a priority on building our walls and saving people that come with the teleport beams.”
“So you will not mention this to Trel, Galmine, or Kacerie?” Sheela asked.
“Definitely not Kacerie,” I said. “She’s having enough problems dealing with the menial tasks. If I tell her there are survivo
rs out there that might not be friendly, she could freak out even more. I’ll tell Trel and Galmine tomorrow. Today, we need to celebrate getting Bob, and cut out as much sinew as we can.”
“Understood,” Sheela said.
“The problem is that this creates even more pressure on us,” I said. “It’s only a matter of time before someone finds us. If they are cool, then it will be cool, but I’m guessing they aren’t going to be cool, so it’s not going to be cool.”
“You use that word often,” Sheela said.
“It’s cool.” I winked and got a half-smile out of the cat-woman.
“There is much more work to do.”
“Yeah, and on top of learning how to survive, we might also need to learn how to fight. Good thing we have a badass warrior woman that can train us.” I smiled down at my friend, and it seemed as if the skin beneath the fur on her cheeks reddened a bit.
“I would enjoy teaching you all,” she admitted.
“Let’s do our patrol.” I gestured to the side of the hill and thought about all the tasks we had to do. If there were other tribes out there, and they were aggressive, they weren’t going to wait around for us to get our shit together.
We had a lot of work to do, and no time to do it.
Sheela and I both kicked our parasaurs into sprints that took us over the crest of the hill and into our valley.
Chapter 8
Sheela and I had already made a few trips on the north hillside of our valley and hadn’t seen any sign of other survivors, so I wasn’t expecting to see any on this trip. However, I was a bit more concerned about the possibility of getting attacked by things that were not dinosaurs, so I paid closer attention to the trees we rode past. I also looked at the side of the hill for any signs of passage while we rode our parasaurs down the shores of the river we had to ford to make it to the lake. We didn’t see signs of anything humanoid, but we still made a wide loop around the redwood grove that circled our camp clearing before we rode back toward our fort.
The clearing was pretty much how we left it. There were still a few hundred corpses on the grass, the pile of dead raptors, and a small pond of blood off to the side of our fort. The pond was about half the size it was before we left to get clay, so I figured it would all soak into the ground in the next hour.
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