“What is that?” Trel asked as she stood up from her work.
“This is Bob!” I said proudly. “He’s Hope’s new friend!”
Trel’s pretty mouth was opened with surprise, and she craned her head to look up at me.
“Wow,” Galmine said. “Victor, he is amazing! I am so proud of you for taming him! He will really help us build quicker. It looks very safe up on top of his back.”
“Yeah it is, but we are going to need to build a bigger saddle, and a bigger door, and probably a bigger fort, but we already planned on that last one.”
“Yeeeaaaappp,” Trel sighed as she looked up and down the large dinosaur. “Did you have to get one this large?”
“Of course!” I said. “Go big or go home. That’s what they say.”
“Who says that?” Trel huffed. “This isn’t efficient at all! Even if I build a door, he’ll take up every square inch Hope and the hut don’t occupy!”
“Then you’ll have to fix it,” I said as I smiled down at her.
“But you want me to build platforms, and I have to help with baskets, and then we need to cut down trees, and--”
“Hey, Trel,” I interrupted her and held my hand down. “Come climb up here.”
“What? On that thing? No. Thank. You. I was just beginning to tolerate Hope’s smell and oafish demeanor.”
“Come on,” I said as I beckoned with my fingers. “You’ll like this.”
“Like what?” she asked with a sour expression on her face.
“Just climb up here and sit behind me!”
“Fine!” Trel stepped toward Bob as I thought of him crouching down so she could climb easier. He followed my wishes, and the spider-woman skittered up his legs before she stood behind me.
“Kneel down,” I said.
“The ridge on his back is uncomfortable,” she hissed.
“Just kneel like me. You’ll need to make a padded saddle that can account for the spine.”
“Ugh. He smells worse than Hope.” Trel’s shapely human legs coiled underneath her hips, and I gestured for her to wrap her arms around my stomach. She didn’t squeeze me very hard, but as soon as I ordered Bob to push forward, Trel let out a small gasp and grabbed me tightly.
I steered him around the walls of the fort and then toward the spot on the south side where I had saved Kacerie a few days ago. I didn’t put much speed down because of all the corpses, but as soon as I made it to the redwood tree line, I told Bob to go a bit faster, and we plunged into the canopy like a speeding monster truck.
“Yeeeeeeee!” Trel howled when the parasaur picked up more speed and dipped his head down. I let out a light laugh and then twisted him around the base of a big redwood before pointing him toward the small river where we got our water. We made it to the massive hollowed out tree in only a handful of seconds, but I thought Bob was too big to fit inside without freaking out Trel, so I just ran parallel to it until we reached the river.
“The riv--” she started to shout as soon as we reached it, but I only slowed Bob down a little, and he plowed through the water like a bulldozer. Massive waves sprang up on each side of his thick torso, and Trel let out a shriek as she pushed her face into my back. The water just misted over us though, and we hit the other side without slowing down much.
Bob let out a happy sounding toot as soon as we reached the other side of the river, and he gave a little wiggle to throw some of the water off his legs. The movement wasn’t enough to upset our seats, but Trel still gasped while her spider legs all braced down on his back so that he wouldn’t throw us.
“Cool, huh?” I asked as I slowed him down. “I feel invincible up here.”
“It is terrifying!” Trel hissed. “Please let me get down.”
“Naw,” I laughed. “I can’t let you down here. For one, it’s too dangerous. Also, you don’t like it yet. We need to keep going until you are laughing.”
“Victor, I am not going to enjoy--” she started to say, but the words caught in her mouth when I ordered Bob to start sprinting again.
I ran the parasaur around the river until it wrapped all the way around the north side of the valley. I found the spot where we usually crossed to get to the lake, and then we forded the water with another magnificent splash. Trel screeched again when we did this, but she didn’t push her face into my back.
I tore up the slope of the north hill and then picked a path up near the crest. I didn’t want to get all the way up for fear of potential enemies being able to see us, but I felt safe enough staying on the sloped side that faced our small valley. I made Bob stop up close to the top, and I pointed out toward where the clearing to our camp was.
“This is our territory. Pretty cool, huh?”
“Yeah,” Trel agreed. “I will admit this is a good view.”
“Will you also admit that you like riding on Bob’s back?” I turned my head so I could smirk at her.
“Hmmmm.” Our faces were a few inches apart, and her dark eyes stared into mine. “It is not as bad as it first was, but there is another male I would prefer to be riding.”
“As soon as we get back,” I said. Then I kissed her softly and found her mouth eager for mine.
“You have been putting me off,” she whispered after our lips parted. “I have never been so frustrated. You frustrated me the moment I met you.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said. “I found you attractive, of course, but you weren’t taking any of my hints.”
“Uhh. Hints? You were really mean to me.”
“Yes, but you should have realized that was because I wanted you. Ugh. Yes, I’m sorry I was mean to you, but it’s kind of your fault.”
“Let’s put it behind us,” I said. “Can you make a saddle for Bob? I’d also like to tame a few more of these so we can each ride one.”
“I can make one, of course,” Trel said. “But I still have to do the platforms, and we will need to hurry with the new wall so that we have space. If you want a dinosaur pet for each of us, we should push the wall out even more. Perhaps we need two acres.”
“It will be too much,” I said. “We still need more people, and--” as I spoke, I saw a pillar of light descend on the other side of the hill to our north. It was a pale orange color, but I couldn’t really tell how far away it was without cresting the hill. Normally, the pillars seemed to appear in groups, but I didn’t see any others descend from the sky.
“Hmmm,” I said as I turned Bob around so that we faced the light.
“It looks far away,” Trel said. “We shouldn’t bother, let’s go back to the camp. You promised me that we’d have our time together. I will stop ovulating the day after tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” I said as I smiled again at the dark-haired beauty. There was too much to do. I might be able to make it to this new arrival on the back of Bob quickly, but it also could take me a lot of time, and I’d promised Trel that we would become lovers.
I felt like I was being pulled in a thousand different directions, but I needed to focus on taking care of my own women before I worried about anyone else.
“Let’s head back,” I said as I turned Bob back around so he pointed down the slope.
Trel gasped in my ear when I kicked him forward, but it sounded more like a gasp of enjoyment than one of terror.
The big parasaur made it back to the camp in only a few minutes, and I found Galmine, Kacerie, and Sheela at work tearing more sinew out. The basket we had used to collect the parts was almost full, and I felt a bit of excitement when I thought about all the cool uses we would have for the cordage.
“Did you enjoy your ride?” Galmine asked when I pulled Bob up to them and let Trel off.
“It was terrible, but I’ll improve it with a better saddle.” Trel smirked at me when I climbed down Bob’s back, and she held her hand out to me when I finally got to the ground.