Tamer- King of Dinosaurs Book 6

by Michael-Scott Earle

  First, I studied the area where Emerald had indicated that the men went when she thought they were going to shit or piss. It wasn’t lit at all, so I knew I’d be able to hide in the bushes around there and have my troodons attack the leader or the net-guy when they left the light of the camp.

  That just left the nine other guys to deal with. I liked Emerald’s idea of using the flowers, but I didn’t quite know how to get them into the camp or into the fire.

  Then I thought of a way, and the rest of the plan fell into place.

  “Okay,” I started as I moved back a bit from the ledge, grabbed a small stick, and began to draw in the dirt, “this is going to sound a bit crazy, but I think it will work. Here is the campfire, here is the beach, here are the trees surrounding the camp, this is the river. Got it?”

  The Emeralds nodded as I drew the rough map.

  “We can cross the river together here, and then I’ll take the trail back up to their northside before coming back down on their east side. That’s where you say they are going to shit, right?”

  I would guess it is so from the frequency they travel into the woods alone in that direction.

  “I’ll take Scoob and the Gang with me, and maybe one of the pachys,” I continued as I sketched out a line on the map. “Then we’ll lie in wait for either the time freeze or the net guy to make an appearance to shit. The troodons will do their thing and take him out. When they start wondering where their friend went, someone else will come to investigate, and I’ll kill them as well.”

  Eventually they will become suspicious and everyone will charge into the forest or they will clump together and defend.

  “Yep,” I agreed, “and that is when you will come in.”

  What will we do?

  Both Emeralds tapped their chests as their full lips curled up into vicious smiles.

  “You both will wait here,” I said as I pointed to the west side of their camp by the river. “If I’m lucky, then we’ll be able to kill three or four of these fucks as they go to the bathroom, but like you said, that probably won’t work for everyone. Once they start to freak out, I’ll have Bruce grab those flowers in his beak, dive bomb the camp, and drop them into the fire. I’m not sure what exactly is going to happen, but if the effect is anything like the brief smell of them I had a few days ago, then they are going to go crazy when they see you.”

  So, after Bruce drops the flowers, we will go into the camp?

  The Emeralds asked as they gestured down toward the distant fire, and I could see a bit of confusion on their faces because I had earlier told them that I didn’t want them to get raped.

  “Yeah, but just one of you, and you are going to be on a pachy,” I clarified as I drew a line in the south east direction. “You just need to get their attention. It should cause the group to run after you and out onto the beach. You’ll ride toward the ocean in this direction. Grumpy will be waiting in the water, and I’ll also be heading that way with Scoob and the Gang. We’ll take care of the stragglers that aren’t paying attention behind them. By the time you make it to the ocean, we could have killed everyone.”

  What about the one of us who stays here?

  One Emerald tapped on the spot on the map near the river on the west side of the camp.

  “You’ll stay with Nicole,” I said. “She’ll defend you if someone randomly decides to run in that direction.”

  Could we not ride Nicole after the group chasing after our body on the pachy?

  “Maybe,” I said as I tapped my chin and considered her words. “My worry is that there are a lot of these guys. Even if I kill three or so when they try to take a shit, that still leaves seven chasing after you toward the ocean. I don’t want to risk both of you getting hurt.”

  Your desire to protect me is comforting. Still, I will worry if I am not involved.

  “You could just stay on the cliffs here,” I chuckled as I gestured to where we stood. “Then you can watch it all go down.”

  No.

  They both shook their heads.

  “I figured you didn’t want to sit and watch, but do you see any holes in my plan? My main concern is that I really need to get down there now, since they are probably going to be heading to sleep in about an hour, but I’d really like to take an extra day to observe them. My worry with waiting is that it will cost us an extra day, and we still might not learn anything about what the other men in the camp can do.”

  You are not well rested and have not eaten enough.

  One Emerald said as she rested her head in her hands after she pointed at the dinner I’d only half eaten.

  “It has to be done.” I shrugged. “I’ve gone without sleep and food before. What about the rest of the plan? Tell me what could go wrong.”

  Your first assassination attempt at the latrines might fail, and then they will know where you are and be able to hunt you. If that does not happen, it is possible that the flowers will not have an effect on the men. Also, if either the leader or the orange-haired man are left alive when I ride across the beach, it is possible that they could snare me. One of the men might have a quick movement ability, and could catch up to me before I get to the beach.

  “Those are all shitty outcomes,” I replied as I tried to think of ways to mitigate them. “If my first assissination attempt fails, I can just have Bruce drop the flowers quicker and make my escape. Worst case, I just flee eastward.

  We don’t know the range of their leader’s time freeze. He might be able to stop you from a great distance.

  “Yeah.” I shrugged. “Nothing I can do about that besides not fuck up my initial attempt to kill him. Obviously, he’s a better target than the net-guy.”

  What if the flowers do not have an effect?

  “If that happens, the worst is that they don’t chase after you. Hopefully, I’ve still killed their leader, we can just skirt around them and then continue back to our camp.”

  They might follow us.

  “They might.” I shrugged. “They won’t be able to keep up with Nicole though, and we’ll have Grumpy, Scoob and the Gang, and Bruce to keep tabs on their location if they chase us across the beach.”

  If they catch me on the beach before I can lure them into the ocean where Grumpy waits?

  “That’s a problem,” I admitted. “I can try to make my way to you as quickly as possible, but--”

  It is not much of a problem in reality. Both of these bodies carry your seed in their wombs. As long as one lives, my existence will continue, and I will still bear your offspring.

  Both of the women rested their hands on their taut bellies when they finished gesturing and gave me identical smiles.

  “You are confident you are going to get pregnant,” I said.

  You are my Mate. It is my purpose to breed with you, give you strong offspring, and then conquer this world.

  “Purpose?” I asked as I raised an eyebrow. “Do you mean like… uhhh… genetic breeding purpose, or--”

  Why were we brought here? We have many hypotheses, but what if the reason is more benign? Perhaps our captors want the strongest male and female mixed to create the strongest offspring. Imagine what this world will look like in a hundred years. The most powerful will have survived and bred. You will have hundreds of offspring, each born to you from a woman suited to breed with you. These scions will rule this world and dominate all others.

  “That’s one theory,” I said, “but if you don’t get pregnant, it means you are wrong.”

  Perhaps. I may be wishing for what I want to be the truth of the situation.

  “That’s called projecting,” I chuckled. “Anyways, we’ll have time to talk about that after we deal with these fucks. Anything else you think I should worry about?”

  I will know it is my time to start once Bruce drops the flowers?

  “Yeah,” I said. “Then we’ll--”

  The leader is heading into the trees!

  One of the Emeralds had been standing closer to the edge of the cliff, and s
he gestured frantically down toward the camp.

  I dove to the edge with the other Emerald and looked down toward the enemy fire. Sure enough, the dude with the long blue hair and sparkly star skin was slowly walking eastward across the camp clearing and toward the treeline. As he walked, he pulled on his pants and scowled in a way that made me think of a dude who regretted putting too much hot sauce on his nine tacos.

  “Fuck,” I groaned. “I should already be down there.”

  Maybe we can make it in time?

  “No way,” I sighed. “We’ve got to push down through this thick jungle, cross the river, then climb up the side of the cliff, wrap around, and then cross through more jungle to get into position. All while it’s dark. Shit. Maybe I should wait until tomorrow.”

  It is a shame that the water is so dangerous, if you jumped from the cliff and swam across you would be there in less than five minutes. He will probably still be emptying his bowels.

  “You are a genius!” I laughed as I kissed the Emerald that just gestured. “That’s a great idea!”

  I sprang to my feet, spun around to where Bruce had landed a few dozen feet away from us, and then gestured for my friend to hop over to me.

  Wait, I believe I understand what you are going to do, and--

  “I’ve done it before,” I laughed as I searched the ground for the Cricket Bat of Doom. It was a few feet away on the ground near the spot where the Emeralds and I had made love, and I quickly scooped it up and wrapped the cord over my shoulder so that the business side of it hung down.

  Your original plan involved taking all the troodons. This is safer because their leader might be able to freeze you, but not all of them. Just going alone will--

  “You’re right,” I finished for her, but the troodons had already picked up on my plan, and they had made their way over to us.

  Bruce let out a soft honk and then shook his head.

  “No worries, bud,” I laughed. “You aren’t going to be taking all of them at once, but this way will be much faster. You’re the real MVP here.”

  This is extremely risky.

  I worry we do not have all the pieces in place yet.

  This is, however, an opportunity to kill their leader.

  You’ll have to ensure you fly to the north side of their camp over the trees so they don’t notice a shadow pass directly overhead.

  Then you should circle around to land.

  How will you do this quietly?

  Both Emeralds were gesturing frantically, and I knew I was missing about half of the statements they were making, since I was also looking at Daphne and Velma.

  “You make great points,” I said. “I’ll make sure we land as best we can, but he’s about to get into the trees, so I have to do something.”

  Velma jumped into my arms, and she let out a soft hoot as I moved her up so that she was wrapped around my shoulders like a tiger-striped-death-shawl. I guessed she weighed about fifty pounds. Which was probably still going to stress Bruce’s carrying capacity, since he could only really glide as he held onto me, but I guessed that she was a few pounds lighter than Daphne.

  “Bruce is going to make trips back and forth to pick up each of the troodons and drop them off where I land,” I explained as the big pteranodon began to beat his wings and lift off the ground. “You take everyone else down the hill, cross the river, and get into position. Bruce will land by you when he has to pick up the flowers. Then you’ll know it is time to get moving.

  I will do it.

  Both of the Emeralds gestured.

  I have faith that your plan will lead to the destruction of these men. You are my Mate and destined to have dominion over this planet. All male survivors will kneel before you or die, and all the females will bear your powerful offspring.

  “Let’s just worry about these guys for now,” I chuckled, but even as the words left my mouth, I felt my stomach flip-flop a few dozen times as I reached up for Bruce’s feet.

  This might have just been my craziest plan ever. I was about to paratroop into enemy territory and ninja the fuck out of ten super-powered men.

  And just a few months ago, I was worried about paying my apartment rent.

  Bruce let out a soft honk as soon as my hands grasped his legs, but it wasn’t him complaining. My pal was ready to do this thing, and he wanted to make sure I was ready.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Let’s do this!”

  Then I trotted toward the edge of the cliff with Velma wrapped around my shoulders and leapt from the side as Bruce opened his wings.

  Chapter 15

  Even though I was ready for it, my stomach still lurched as soon as my feet left the lip of the cliff. It probably didn’t help that Bruce dipped under the combined weight of Velma and I, but the big pteranodon adjusted his massive wings a half a second later, and the three of us started to glide down over the river and toward the enemy camp.

  But after a few more moments, I could tell that our glide was angled too low to the ground.

  “Uhhh, Bruce?” I asked up as loud as I could without yelling. “We gonna make it?”

  My big flying friend let out a regretful honk that sounded a lot like “Both of you assholes are too fucking heavy,” but then he made a few massive rows with his wings, and we angled up a bit more.

  Velma let out a happy hoot when we crossed over the dark river, the troodon rubbed the top of her feathered head against my cheek. It was a minor movement, but it kind of made Bruce lean a little too far to the right, and he had to slam down both of his wings to correct his angle of approach.

  “Almost there,” I whispered to both of them as we glided over the trees on the west side of the enemy camp and angled northward. The moons were hitting at an angle from the south, so I hoped that our passage over the group eating by the campfire wouldn’t alert them.

  Bruce leaned to the left a bit more, and we circled up north, then he leaned a hard right, and we came back facing the beach. The ocean water was an endless mirror that reflected the millions of stars like freckles and the two moons like eyes. It was beautiful, this entire world was, but it was also incredibly deadly.

  And death was my purpose tonight.

  I raised my feet up into an L-sit position when Bruce glided over a tree that was a bit too tall, and then we both seemed to see a small fifteen-foot wide clearing in the jungle to our left at the same time. He banked toward it, swooped down some between the tree branches, and then he let me go as soon as I released my grip.

  The fall was only about ten feet, and Velma sprang from my shoulders a second before my toes hit the soft grass. I grasped my Cricket Bat of Doom’s handle so I wouldn’t get cut and then rolled across the grass.

  Then I came back up on my feet, and Velma was instantly at my side.

  Step one of Ninja Night Assassin Mission completed.

  I moved west into the jungle and tried to form a mental picture of how far away I was from the edge of the enemy camp. I guessed about fifty, maybe seventy-five yards, and I hoped that I could make it through the thick trees and find the leader before he finished taking his shit.

  “Go find him, girl, but don’t get caught,” I cooed to Velma, and she let out a whispered hoot before she dashed silently through the trees ahead of me.

  I wasn’t nearly as silent as the troodon, but I still managed to get through the trees without making much noise. It was crazy dark out, but I was used to it, or my new eyes were better, or whatever, but I made sure that my booted feet stepped only on firm stones, big roots, and actual dirt, instead of dried twigs or leaves.

  The thick jungle was actually a comfortable temperature, and I was reminded again that the season seemed to be cooling. I pushed thoughts about surviving the coming winter out of my mind, though, and focused on the task at hand as I crept toward where I guessed the enemy camp was.

  A minute passed as I slowly wound through the trees, then I thought I saw an orange flicker of light ahead, and a moment later I confirmed that it wasn’t my imagination
, but I also sensed Velma returning to my side.

  My smallest troodon knew we were in ninja mode, so she didn’t give me a hoot of greeting. Instead, she twisted her head a bit to my two o’clock, and we both began to move in that direction.

  Then I froze when I heard a massive fart some fifteen feet ahead of me.

  “Fuuucckkkkkk, yeahhhh,” a gritty voice groaned, and I was able to focus on a spot in the trees where I saw a shape move slightly.

  I heard another fart as I moved closer, and then a nose sniffed.

  “Uhhhh, yeahhhh,” the voice groaned again, and the sound of a turd leaving an asshole and plopping on some leaves reached my ears.

  He was about ten feet ahead of me and crouched against a tree.

  I silently pulled the Cricket Bat of Doom from my back and readied it in my left hand and then pointed with my right hand at Velma. I probably didn’t even need to gesture, since she knew what I wanted and began to circle around so that she could take him from the other side.

  My heart hammered in my chest and brain. It felt so loud that I thought the dude must have heard me, but he groaned again, and I heard another explosion out of his asshole.

  I smelled his shit and piss now, and I tensed my muscles as I held the Cricket Bat of Doom over my left shoulder. It was going to be an awkward swing, but it would be the only way I could hit him, since the tree was on my right.

  “Is someone the--” he started to grunt, but I stepped around a root, swung my weapon, and felt the obsidian blades connect with his throat.

  His words turned into a wet gurgle, and I yanked my blade out sideways across his neck to free it. Dark blood sprayed across the tree where he was shitting, and his corpse started to thrash as he tumbled sideways. I couldn’t quite make out his face, but just to make sure he was dead, I brought the blade side of the Cricket Bat of Doom on his skull with an overhand strike.

  His head crushed inward like a watermelon, and then I crouched down low in the shadows just in case someone from the camp had heard the sound of my bat whacking him.

  I held my breath, tried to calm my pounding heart, and waited.