Shit.
Chapter 16
“Where the fuck is your light, Loukar?” the star-skinned leader growled through the trees.
My troodons crouched low and froze like stopped hockey pucks in the deep shadows of the jungle, and I forced my breaths to leave my body in slow and controlled measures. All this guy had to do was step in a bit more, and we could get him.
Or he could step in more, stop time on all of us, and then we would be cooked over the fire.
“What do you see?” I heard Crumble grumble and then I saw his quartz-looking body lumber over to stand behind his leader.
“Light just went out, and I heard a scream,” Aytron said. “Hey Zibum! Got a job for you.”
“What?” the silver-haired man with the light-saber hands shouted back.
“Go into these trees and find out what happened to--”
“I don’t fucking care what happened to them,” Zibum growled as he walked over to stand beside the other two men. “They will either walk out, or they won’t. I’m not going in there.”
“You’ll do whatever I fucking tell you to do,” Aytron growled.
“Or, what?” Zibum huffed. “You’ll stop me? Who’s going to do the cutting? Eh? You’ll get Farkar to cover me with the nets, then maybe Crumble will just beat me to death? That your plan? How about I just cut my way out of Farkar’s net, then I put some holes in you before you can freeze me again?”
“Or, you can try to cut holes in the net, but I’ll have already put my spears through you, or I can kill you with a rock, or I can drag you to the ocean, or I can start a fire around you. Doesn’t fucking matter. I can hold you with my ability all night if I need to. So, be a good little servant, go into the jungle, and tell us what you find.”
“You both come with me,” Zibum huffed. “I’m not going in there without a light.”
“Your arms do the glow thing with the blades,” Crumble grunted. “Pretty lights.”
“Crumble has once again proven he is smarter than you,” Aytron laughed. “Just get your ass in there.”
“Fucking assholes,” Zibum hissed as he glared at the other two men, and for a second, I thought he was actually going to attack them.
Crumble and Aytron also seemed to think Zibum might try something, and they both faced him before they took a step back.
Then Aytron raised his hand toward the other man.
“Go ahead and try something,” the leader hissed. “I’ve got all the time, and it’s not like we need you.”
Then the seconds ticked by as they all stared at each other.
I ordered my troodons to crawl backwards as slowly as they could.
“Just do it, Zibum!” the blond man groaned from his seat by the fire.
“Fuck it,” Zibum finally hissed, and then the glowing light saber gladius shaped blades popped out of his hands, and he wacked at the edge of the jungle as he started to tip-toe in.
The man’s blades did give off a glowstick level of light, but Scoob, Shag, and Velma had already moved back around the tree and then began to spread out in the jungle so that they could attack the man at various angles if they needed to.
I also sensed Bruce drop off Daphne in the clearing behind us, and she ran over to join Fred further to our rear position. I really didn’t want my troodons to attack this light-gladius dude, since I’d seen his blades easily cut through the two-headed man not even an hour ago, but I might not have a choice.
He was walking right toward the ripped up corpses of his two tribe-members, and I didn’t know exactly what would happen after that.
I reminded myself to breathe as the silver-haired man’s blades illuminated the body of Loukar and the tentacle man. Then he let out a quick hiss and crouched lower to the ground as his eyes scanned the dark jungle surrounding him.
“They got deaded!” Zibum shouted. “Something killed them! One of the monsters! Their throats are gashed open!”
“Fuck!” Aytron growled. “Do you see the monsters?”
“No!” Zibum replied as he carefully started to step back. “I just see their bodies.”
I knew this wasn’t the best outcome, but at this point, I just needed the silver-haired man to return to the fire. Yeah, the rest of the men would be on guard, but eventually someone would have to take a shit, or go fishing, or something. I’d slowly pick them off that way. I didn’t have a ton of time, since I needed to return to my camp and start the move, but the worst thing that could happen is Aytron or the net guy using their powers on me.
“I want to see their bodies,” Aytron said, and my stomach dropped as their leader started to push through the jungle.
This was bad.
I set my chin on the branch, raised my legs, and moved my Cricket Bat of Doom so that I was totally obscured by the branch I rested on. This meant that I couldn’t really see what the three men below me were looking at, or where their position was, but they also wouldn’t see me if they looked up.
Or so I hoped.
“See?” I heard Zibum say.
“They were caught by surprise,” Aytron said. “Went for the throats too. Strange.”
“Why strange?” Crumble grunted.
“Look at Snakhay,” Aytron began. “He’s got some scratches on his chest, but whatever attacked him avoided his arms, which regenerate.”
“Are you saying these monsters are getting smarter?” Zibum hissed. “Fuck. I hate this place. On my world, we fight each other like men. We don’t hide in the shadows or fight creatures that--”
“We aren’t on your fucking world anymore,” Aytron interupted. “We just need to survive until my people come and pick me up.”
“But you don’t know when they are--”
“What’s this?” Aytron suddenly asked.
“Another blood splatter,” Zibum hissed.
“Must be what happened to Agg,” Aytron groaned.
“They are stalking us,” Zibum gasped.
“Looks like something dragged his body that way,” Aytron said.
“What do? What do?” Crumble’s voice actually sounded a bit panicked.
“We should go back,” Zibum said. “I’m not tripping around in this dark jungle looking for someone who is probably dead.”
“For once, you and I agree,” Aytron grunted. “Let’s get back to the fire.”
I heard the three men move, and then I leaned over the side of the branch to look down at them as I urged my troodons forward a bit. Then, almost as soon as they sneaked back around the men and just outside of the glow of Zibum’s glowing swords, I had them back off. I had hoped to take Aytron’s back before he could return to the camp, but both Crumble and Zibum walked behind him, and there was no way my troodons could kill both of those men before the star-skinned time freezer could use his ability.
“Fuck,” I whispered under my breath as the men reached the edge of their clearing again.
Then they were bathed in the light of their fire and out of my reach.
I waited on the branch for a few moments. Initially, I just didn’t want to follow too close behind the men in case they were trying to lure out whatever they thought was stalking them, but I also needed time to work on my next moves. I was still alive, and still in a good position to win this conflict, but the outcome up until this point hadn’t been what I had expected. Yeah, three on their side were dead, but the two players that I really needed to murder first were still alive, and now they knew that something was out in the jungle stalking them.
Should I just leave?
I hated the thought of not dealing with these guys right now, but I also didn’t like the idea of watching them for a day, or two, or three until one of them fucked up and got out of position so that I could ninja assassinate him. On one hand, if the next one I killed was their leader, it would be worth it. On the other hand, I could be here for a week or more and the leader and net-guy might be the last two motherfuckers left.
Every day Emerald and I stayed out here was a day I risked th
e distant tribe portaling to my camp and attacking my women.
Could I push up the timetable a bit with this group? I didn’t want to risk one of Emerald’s bodies, but perhaps the strategy of having her run toward the beach might work to expedite them making a poor decision. All of these dudes seemed pretty horny, so would they chase after her onto the beach?
They probably would have before I started killing them off, but now they would probably just ignore her.
Unless they were really motivated.
The flowers might still be the answer to my problems. If I could get them in the fire, then the men might get affected by the scent of them burning. They would chase after Emerald when they saw her, probably spread out a bit as they ran, and I’d be able to get the troodons or Bevis and Butt-Head to take them out. I didn’t know exactly what the bald guy with the tattoos on his neck had for an ability, but if the leader and net-guy were taken out, the only real threats seemed to be Crumble and Zibum, and both of them seemed to be more melee fighters.
I had wanted to take out the leader or net-guy first, but I started to feel like pressing forward with the rest of my plan was probably still a good idea, but since I hadn’t killed Aytron or Farkar, it was going to be a lot more dangerous for Bruce to swoop into the campsite and drop the flowers. I couldn’t risk losing myself or any of my dinos to these fuckers, so I needed a way to distract these guys so that Bruce could make the drop, and then they could get distracted again by Emerald.
“Ahh yes,” I whispered to myself as I started to unwind from the branch and climb down. “The classic double feint move. They will never expect to be distracted twice.”
The joke didn’t really help me feel that much better. My heart still raced as I snuck through the jungle back to the edge of their camp clearing, and my palms were really sweaty. I still moved slowly though, and soon I was back in my earlier position with my belly on the jungle floor and my troodons beside me as I spied on my opponents again.
“You all need to protect me,” Aytron said as he flipped back his long blue hair from the star speckled skin of his shoulder.
“You still haven’t said what you found,” the winged-footed blond guy said.
“Agg, Snakhay, and Loukar are dead,” Aytron said.
“The monsters are getting smarter,” Zibum said, and I pressed myself a bit deeper into the ground when his eyes scanned the jungle where my troodons and I were hidden.
“So, we are just going to stay awake all night?” Farkar groaned.
“I doubt they will come close to the fire,” the floppy-eared dude said as he held his hands out to the flame. “Only the big ones aren’t afraid of my flames, and we can hear them coming a hundred yards away.”
“And then I’ll stop them,” Aytron said. “You all need to remember that. I have the most useful power. I’m a god. That’s why I’m in charge here. You all would be dead without me. We just need to hold out until they come to rescue me.”
“Were they killed by the big monsters?” the blond guy with winged feet asked.
“We would have heard them moving through the jungle, idiot,” Zibum scoffed. “They had be the smaller ones.”
“I’m going to sleep,” Aytron announced as he stood from his rock. “You all will watch over the camp.”
“You can’t fucking sleep now,” Zibum groaned. “Those things could attack us.”
“Then you all will defend me,” Aytron scoffed. “Why do I have to point everything out to you idiots? I’m the most valuable god on this entire planet. It is your job to sacrifice yourselves to protect me.”
“Ehhhh,” Crumble grumbled. “Oh my world, I was the toughest of the warriors. I had all the women, and they didn’t break when I fucked them.”
“I was the best dualist,” Zibum sighed. “Everyone here was the best on their world. I don’t see why--”
“Because I’m a god,” Aytron scoffed. “You are just a mortal on a planet filled with mortals. Without my power you would all be dead, so consider that while you guard me.”
The star-skinned leader turned away from the other men and then walked toward one of the dilapidated huts, and I felt excitement flood my stomach was I watched him enter the structure. Shit just got way easier, but I wanted to wait for a bit to make sure he was asleep before I started killing the rest of his tribe.
I also wanted to make sure that he really was going to go to sleep, so I ordered Fred and Daphne to move from their position behind me and circle around through the jungle so they were on the outskirts by the leader’s hut. They were far enough away so that I couldn’t quite hear them hoot, but I could still sense their presence drift through the trees toward the north side of the jungle where the hut was located.
I continued to watch the men grumble by the campfire. Aytron’s arrogance reminded me a lot of Trel, but whereas the spider-woman had some charisma and cared about everyone else in the tribe, Aytron didn’t seem to give a shit about anyone other than himself.
None of the men seemed at all dismayed that three of their members were dead, and their behavior reminded me of how lucky I was. Maybe it wouldn’t have been useful to mourn the passing of one of our own, but I had felt the sting in my heart when Will-Lack had died, and I saw the pain in the eyes of his friends when they heard the news.
I didn’t think empathy and love made my people weaker. I knew it made us stronger.
“We are going to need more people in our group,” the blond man grumbled as he stared into the fire. “Another warrior would be good.”
“I’m all you need,” Zibum muttered. “It’s simple. Aytron stops them, Farkar nets them, I kill them. The rest of you are just here for a free ride.”
“I can break stuff,” Crumble grumbled. “I punch hard. My body is hard. I am hard.”
“Hard. Hard. Hard!” the bald man parroted.
“Scouting is important also,” the blond man said. “I can tell everyone when--”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” the floppy-eared man said. “You can look all around and shit. Well, I can control the flames. It keeps us warm and the predators away.”
“Ehhh, woman can keep me warm, too,” Crumble said. “We need to get more of them.”
“You have a very simple mind,” Farkar said. “It’s either women, or hitting things until they die.”
“Yeah,” Crumble laughed. “What I do best!”
The men continued to talk about who was the most useful of them, but my attention was pulled away by a feeling of alarm from Daphne. She was upset about something, and it took me a few moments to figure it out.
Aytron was actually crawling out of a hole at the back of his hut.
It was like my view of the men at the firepit was overshadowed by what Daphne saw. Kinda like when I closed one eye for a bit and then opened, but my brain saw both off center views for a split second before reconciling them. I could see the dark outline of Aytron moving out of the back of his hut while also seeing the fire, but then I focused on what Daphne saw, and the view from the campfire faded away in my vision to just a faint outline of color and movement.
The leader finished getting his hips through the small hole in the back of his hut, and then he wiggled a few feet until his legs were out. Then he came up on all fours and crawled toward the edge of the clearing behind his hut. He was actually moving right toward Fred and Daphne, so I ordered them to fall back into the deeper parts of the jungle, and my head swam as I rode along through Daphne’s eyes as she darted away.
Once they were in position again, they turned toward Aytron, and I could see him enter the darkness of the jungle.
What the fuck was this guy doing?
This seemed like the perfect opportunity to kill him, but something didn’t feel right, so I held back my desire to order Daphne and Fred to rip him to pieces and just watched him through my troodon’s eyes.
Aytron moved eastward at the edge of the treeline as if he was taking a leisurely stroll. It was in the direction of my position, but it would take him a
few minutes to get here, so I had Daphne and Fred slowly stalk behind him while I considered if I needed to move.
Did he know I was here? Why was he walking out of the protection of his crew and the fire light? He knew there were dinosaurs out here killing his people. Why was he risking his own life?
His actions made zero sense, but as much as I didn’t like the asshole, he didn’t seem like an idiot, so I figured there had to be a reason. Every animal urge in my body told me to command Daphne and Fred to just fucking attack him and be done with this so I could return to my women, but the strategic part of my brain was super worried.
Something just wasn’t right about his behavior, and I feared I was about to fall into a trap.
Then the breeze kicked up again, and I gasped as I realized that none of the dark jungle leaves around him moved in the breeze.
He was able to create a globe of time-freeze around himself and still move freely.
“Fuck,” I whispered under my breath as I used Daphne’s eyes to study the area around the fucker.
It was a bit hard to tell because of the darkness and his movement, but globe seemed to have a ten-foot radius around him. It was obviously an area-of-effect type power, since there were hundreds of leaves frozen when he walked through the jungle.
I had Daphne and Fred skirt along the outside of the globe around the man and try to get a look at him from the front. Again, the darkness didn’t really help me that much, but his sharp face didn’t seem stressed by the effort of using his powers, so I guessed that he wasn’t having problems maintaining the ability around himself as he walked. I recalled that he had to hold his hand out to send the power to the two-headed survivor that they had eaten afterward, but would he be able to maintain his globe around himself while he sent out, or did he just have one version of the globe and it could either be sent out or held around him?
He was moving closer to my hiding spot now, so I carefully crawled backward and then made my way as silently as I could to the shit-tree. Then I stepped over the corpses and continued to push back until Scoob, Shag, Velma, and I were deeper in the jungle and out of any potential view of Aytron as he patrolled.
Tamer- King of Dinosaurs Book 6 Page 26
