Tamer_King of Dinosaurs 3 Read online

  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

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  End Notes

  Tamer: King of Dinosaurs 3

  Michael-Scott Earle

  Chapter 1

  The early morning air rose cold and steaming from the river like twisting snakes seeking a meal from the sky. I shivered, chilled by the ankle-deep water in which I stood and the brisk air that had passed over me as I rode Bob to the river for our morning water retrieval.

  This was normally a job Sheela did, but the beautiful blonde woman was still sleeping inside of our now very cramped hut, and I hadn’t wanted to wake her. Hell, I shouldn’t have even been awake. It had been non-stop work to get the new fort built, and just as we finished it last night we saw a pillar of light come down only a half mile or so from our camp. My tribe and I rode there on the backs of the dinosaurs I tamed, killed four of the scary-as-fuck Utahraptors, and then saved two women who had just been brought to Dinosaurland.

  I wanted to sleep, I needed to sleep, but there were too many tasks spinning around in my head that demanded attention, and I wanted to get a start on the day as soon as possible. There was too much to do and not enough time to do it.

  Two new recruits would help though. The strange floating silver-woman had seemed terrified of me one moment, and then angry at me the next. I hadn’t really spoken to her on our trip back, but she had asked me if I was a “man” half a dozen times, and couldn’t seem to believe my answer. The green woman with the scales and gems on her face hadn’t spoken, but she smiled at us and seemed grateful that we rescued her.

  I’d been too exhausted to explain the situation to them, but between Trel, Kacerie, Galmine, and Sheela, the two new women had been given a brief summary on our ride back to the camp. Then I’d passed out in the hut, woken up in time to take over the morning watch shift from Kacerie, and decided to just get the day started before the sun had even risen past the distant eastern mountain range.

  The sound of rustling leaves pulled my attention to the shore of the lake some fifty yards to my right, and I froze in place with my water jug still submerged in the water.

  The bushes beside the shore of the river parted, and a deer walked out onto the muddy shore.

  Maybe “deer” was the wrong word for the creature. This was Dinosaurland, and everything that survived here was on fucking steroids. This thing was to a deer like Dwayne Johnson was to my skinny ass. I had never seen a moose in real life, but this deer was probably just as big, maybe even bigger, and it had antlers with more points than I could count quickly.

  The stag took a few broad steps into the river, turned to look at me, realized I wasn’t much of a threat, and then bent his massive neck down to drink.

  I couldn’t guess at how much he weighed. Maybe over a thousand pounds, but I knew one thing for sure:

  I was getting pretty tired of eating those orange birds.

  I had enjoyed a few venison burgers in my life. They were pretty lean, and maybe a bit gamey, but it didn’t taste at all like chicken or turkey. I couldn’t remember the last time I had red meat, and my mouth started to water just looking at the muscular stag.

  I slowly rose from the water and took a hesitant step toward Bob. The deer glanced in my direction, but then he went back to drinking, and I let out a slow breath before continuing toward the back of my parasaur steed.

  Bob knelt as I approached, and I fastened the water jug I had just filled to his back. I still needed to fill up three more, but we also had four more filled back at the camp, so it wouldn’t be that big of a deal to return with only one filled. I grabbed the spear from the saddle holster slung around the parasaur’s shoulders and turned back around to stare at the massive stag.

  The easiest and safest way for me to do this was to tame the critter, have him follow me back to the camp, and then kill him there. The issue I had with that plan was twofold. The first issue was that I didn’t know exactly how my Tame skill still worked. Yeah, I could probably just speak a few gentle words to the guy, and he’d do what I wanted, but I was suspicious that I only had so many times I could tame animals. If I could only control a few dozen total, I didn’t want to waste a single use of the skill on something I was just going to turn into food. It was possible my power didn’t work like that, and I could tame as many animals as I wanted, but I didn’t want to risk using my power this way until I was sure I already had a bunch of dinos that I could use for fighting or building tamed.

  The second issue I had with taming the buck and then having him follow me back was that it just kind of felt wrong. I really liked animals, and while I also wanted to eat, I didn’t want to befriend one, kill him, and eat him. It felt kind of wrong in my stomach, and I knew I’d never be able to do it. I could understand a bit where vegans got their perspective on eating animals since I did love them too, but I also knew that humans were omnivores, and we had to eat meat to be healthy.

  And that meant animals had to die.

  I held my spear in my hands and took a slow step toward the side of the massive stag. A thought crossed my mind that I was probably all sorts of stupid for trying to take out this massive deer with just my spear, but it wasn’t like I had a hunting rifle on me. All I had was the spear, the axe hanging from my belt, and the drool coming out of my mouth when I thought about how good roasted venison would taste for breakfast.

  The big stag didn’t seem to notice me as I got nearer, or maybe he didn’t give a shit, either way, I was soon at the edge of the river and stepping into the water. Part of me actually hadn’t expected to make it this far, and I was a little surprised he didn’t just run away. I started to wonder what I would do if I actually killed the thing. I probably wasn’t strong enough to drag him over to Bob, but then I remembered I could just command the parasaur to pick up the deer in his front hands. If that didn’t work, I could just chop the corpse into workable pieces and then strap them onto Bob’s saddle. Either way, getting the meat back home wasn’t going to be a problem. Killing the thing was, so I needed to focus on that first.

  Just as I finished my thought, the deer snorted, turned around, and shot me a look that was pretty much a red-hot glare.

  Whoops.

  I thought it would turn to run, but instead, it lowered its massive antlers and let out a loud commanding snort.

  Double whoops.

  The deer suddenly seemed twice the size as he had only a few moments ago, and I saw his shoulders, neck, and back legs tense as he pushed himself forward through the river water. His movement caused the water to churn as it pooled around him, and I lowered my spear as my heart skipped a beat.

  For a second, all I saw was a hundred antler spikes, but then I jumped to my left and stabbed my spear forward. My timing had been perfect, and the point of the spear took the giant stag right behind the right shoulder. The spear jerked back in my hands, and I pushed the butt of the weapon down into the ankle-deep water. My weapon anchored on the riverbed there, and the stag let out a bellow of agony as its momentum forced the spear deeper into its chest.

  I twisted out of the way as the stag tried to take my head off with its antlers. Fortunately, the spikes all missed me. Unfortunately, the combination of twisting and turning through the water caused my boots to catch up with each other, and I tripped over myself. I fell down into the shall
ow part of the river, and the icy current filled my lungs as I tried to kick myself away from the thrashing stag.

  I choked on water, twisted through the current, and then stomped down against the bottom. My motion shot me up to my feet a good two yards from where the stag was thrashing, and I yanked my stone axe from my belt.

  The deer was grunting urgently as it bucked its head, but each movement seemed to drive the spear deeper into its chest. It was obvious to me that the stag had a mortal wound, but it didn’t seem to realize it was dying, and it turned to face me again. The creature’s glare was full of dark hatred, and I realized that the stag actually did understand that it was about to die.

  It just wanted to take me to hell with it.

  I dove to my left as it charged at me once more. The spear was still partially stuck in the mud of the river, and the weapon’s long shaft probably saved my life by preventing the stag from charging at me as fast as it normally would.

  I landed in the icy water again, rolled over like a spinning log, and then came up with a gasp of shock. The deer was trying to shake the spear free, and now the weapon looked like it was actually about to tear loose from the stag’s chest.

  I thought about running, or maybe diving back into the river to escape the thing until it bled to death, but that meant the stag would die a slow and painful death. I had intended to kill it quickly, and I didn’t want to torture it.

  Before I could think about what I was actually doing, I sprinted forward, raised my axe high over my head and then slammed it down on the back part of the stag’s skull. My weapon dug surprisingly deep into the creature’s bone, and it fell into the shallow water instantly.

  “Damn,” I gasped with a surprise. I had hoped that my axe chop would take out the stag, but there had also been a bit of doubt in my mind. I pushed my boot into the stomach of the deer to make sure he wasn’t playing dead like some sort of crazy deer-possum, but it didn’t move, and the realization that I’d actually hunted and killed the thing filled my chest with warm pride.

  “Alright,” I said as I turned my head to Bob. “I’m gonna need your help over here, big guy.”

  The large parasaur was munching on some ferns where I had left him, and he looked over to me with what I could have sworn was a lazy eye roll.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know you are tired. You’ve been working hard for the last few days. I get it. I’ve been working hard too.” I pushed my axe back into my belt, yanked my spear out of the stag’s flank, and then tossed the weapon onto the shore so that both of my hands were free. Then I grabbed the massive array of antlers and began to pull the carcass out of the water.

  The sucker was heavy, and he probably would have been impossible for me to drag across dry land, but the water and river stones were pretty smooth, and I was able to get him to the shore with only a few minutes of work. Bob was waiting there for me, and the parasaur nuzzled the side of my head when I took a moment to catch my breath.

  “Awww,” I said as I scratched under his chin. “You’re a good guy, Bob. I’m glad we are friends.”

  Bob let out a short low toot, and I replied with a chuckle as I pointed down to the stag. “We are going to be heroes when we get this back to the women. You think you can pick it up? It’s heavy, but look at these guns.” I reached my arm way up to tap on Bob’s biceps. “You are so strong! I bet you can lift the stag up with one arm.”

  Bob let out a toot that sounded a lot like “Yeah, whatever, dude. You don’t have to butter me up anymore. I’ll carry your breakfast back home,” and then he bent down lower on his front arms so he could scoop them under the carcass. He didn’t even grunt, or hiss, or give any indication that the load was hard for him. He just stood up on his back legs.

  And I swore he kind of smirked at me.

  “You are such a joker,” I said as I grabbed my spear, reached up to his knee, hung on to the top curve, pulled myself up, and then climbed the rest of the way onto the saddle. “Just like the real Bob Hope. He was a comedian, you know.”

  Bob let out two quick toots and then turned around to walk away from the shore of the river.

  “Oh? You do know? What is your favorite one-liner? How about movie?”

  Bob tooted and then shook his head.

  “Fancy Pants? For real?” I asked, and Bob half snorted and half tooted.

  “Oh, don’t get me wrong, Lucille Ball is great. I just thought you were going to say The Ghost Breakers.”

  Bob made a low toot and started to pick up speed a bit so that he was kind of power walking.

  “Me? Jeeze. That’s a tough one. Probably My Favorite Spy.”

  Bob tooted and then shook his head a bit.

  “What? Come on man. Hedy Lamarr? She’s gorgeous. Reminds me of Trel. She’s also a genius like Trel. Hedy invented the radio technology that we use in cell phones. Did you know that?”

  Bob tooted and picked up a bit more speed so that he was actually jogging. His speed created a bit of a breeze, and it cut through my soaking wet clothes like an ice dagger.

  “The movies are all pretty fun. I even like the bad ones,” I said over the breeze as Bob cut through the giant redwoods toward our new camp.

  He made a tooting noise that sounded like a question, then he followed it up with a short and higher pitched one.

  “I used to watch those movies with my parents,” I replied. “That’s how I know about them.” The words stung in my throat as soon as I said them, and Bob let out a melancholy toot.

  “Yeah. It’s alright, Bob. I have a new family now, and I’m going to take care of them.”

  He let out what sounded like a happy toot, and we broke through the tree line and into the clearing that surrounded our new camp walls. The sun was just starting to peak over the tops of the massive redwoods, and the valley we called home was filled with a golden light.

  Bob ran toward the gate without me ordering him, and he paused at the gate doors where my three triceratops sentries, Tom, Nicole, and Katie, were waiting. The three trikes were alert, but they rested down on their bellies like dogs that were waiting for their master to throw a ball.

  I jumped down from Bob and walked over to the gates. They were a bit too heavy to lift by myself, but Nicole stood up, set one of her spikes under the wood of the first door, and then lifted while I kind of moved it to the side. Nicole helped me move the other one, and then Bob ambled through after he gave a toot that sounded a lot like “Thanks, gang.”

  Once he was through, we moved the gates back, and then I jumped on Bob and made the short trip across the new grassy courtyard and to the inner walls of our original fort. Once we were there, I jumped off again, and walked under Hope’s doggie door style gate. The smaller parasaur was sitting in her pen, and she let out a softly whispered toot when she saw me.

  “Hey girl,” I said as I scratched her chin and nose. “They still asleep?”

  Hope let out another soft toot that sounded like confirmation, but then I heard someone walking up behind me.

  “Hey, Sheela,” I said as I turned to the tall, athletic woman. Her tattered bikini barely covered her breasts, but I was getting better at not ogling them.

  “Where did you go?” she asked.

  “I got some water, but--”

  “Without me?” She raised an eyebrow over one of her yellow-gold cat eyes.

  “I’m a big boy,” I said with a laugh, but then I shivered, and her expression turned into one of concern.

  “You are wet?” she asked as she reached to touch my long sleeved khaki shirt.

  “Yeah, I fell in the river,” I said as the chill suddenly sank into my bones. My teeth started chattering.

  “It is warm inside the hut, you should take your wet clothes off and go rest. Your body needs sleep.”

  “I can’t,” I said. “I have something to show you.” I gestured for her to follow me out of the gate, and I was rewarded by a very un-stoic-like gasp from the cat-woman.

  “How did you--”

  “I killed
it with my spear and axe.” I couldn’t quite keep the smile from my face even though I was really starting to shiver.

  “Impressive,” Sheela said. I couldn’t tell if the hunger in her eyes was meant for me or the big slab of breakfast, lunch, and dinner I’d just brought back. I knew Sheela would appreciate skilled hunting more than any of the other women, so I was glad I had been able to show her first.

  “So, I can’t go to sleep,” I said. “I have to skin this, gut it, and--”

  “I will do it,” she said. “You were supposed to sleep all night. You have not slept for many days.”

  “I’m fine,” I said, but my body seemed to disagree with me, and I shivered again. This time my teeth actually chattered.

  “Please go into the hut, remove those wet clothes, and sleep,” Sheela said. “Allow me to be your wife and tend to this meat while you rest. Then, once you wake, I will have a feast prepared for you.” I could see the desire in her eyes, and I knew that I didn’t want to fight this minor battle with her. Yeah, I could have stood my ground and not gone back to sleep, but the chill in my body really was making me feel tired, and I didn’t think I’d even be able to help her cut up the carcass with my hands shaking as bad as they were.

  “Alright,” I said. “Wake me up in a few hours though. Got it?”

  “Yes, Victor,” she agreed, and then I turned away from her to walk under the door and into the hut.

  The inside of our shelter was only about eight feet in diameter, and it was a really tight fit with the low burning fire in the middle. Trel and Galmine slept on one side where I normally would have laid, and the two new tribe members rested on the other. The silver-skinned woman refused to tell me her name last night, and the green-scaled woman had been so in shock that she hadn’t talked either. They both were sleeping next to each other, with Jinx curled up beside the spider-woman. I quickly stripped down to my underwear and crawled down on the mat between Trel and Galmine.

  “Where did you go?” Trel whispered in my ear as soon as I lay beside her, and I felt one of her claw-like fingers gently caress the skin on my back.