Page 32 of Caveman Alien's Terror

Praxigor is a clumsy digger, and it’s clear he’s never held a shovel before. And the tool is much too small for him. But despite his grumbling and complaining, he’s fast and strong, so I choose not to instruct him in the correct use of digging implements. I get the feeling dragons don’t use tools much.

After a few minutes he has revealed the upper corner of what has to be an entrance.

“Wonderful!” I praise him. “Nobody else could have found it so fast!” It's true, too. He worked with incredible speed.

On an impulse I go up on tiptoes and put my arm around his thick neck. He looks down at me and allows me to kiss his lower lip, because he's too tall for my mouth to reach the upper.

His scent is in my nose, dry and exotic. There’s wood and smoke, incense and flint.

His lip is warm, soft and pliant in a way that touches me right at my center. He’s not all rock hard and mean.

I take a step back, heart racing. The first kiss I gave him was too short. This one was better. And I hope I didn’t make him mad.

“Your behavior is either scandalous or appropriate,” Praxigor rumbles with some hoarseness in his voice. “For now, I deem it the latter.”

“That’s how it was meant,” I rasp. “Perfectly latter. Shall we go on? Now just move a little to the side of the dome— no, the other side. Yes, right there. And then dig more. Soon we’ll be inside.”

He works even faster, becoming the center of a whirlwind of dirt, rocks, and debris. Soon the whole entrance is revealed. It’s a tall doorway made from whole stones. It’s much smaller than I would have expected cavemen to make it. It’s even kind of small for a human structure.

It’s closed by a massive slab of rock that stands upright in the doorway.

“That’s a big door,” I ponder. “Will you be able to— oh, okay.”

Praxigor goes up to the door and pushes hard at its upper edge. It rocks back, then forwards again, making a hard bang as it settles back where it was.

But now the dragon knows it will move, so he adds force. And on the next shove, the slab rocks backwards much further until it balances on its edge. Praxigor gives it one final, furious punch, and then it falls into the building and hits the stone floor with a deafening bang. There’s a hardcrackas the floor breaks, and the slab falls through it.

We stand back as we hear the huge, heavy stone slab hit other stone things deep underground until there’s a final bang and it seems to come to rest amid a rattle of falling debris and rubble. A plume of dust rises from below.

I lean into the opening and look down, noticing the smell of broken stone. “I think it’s open now.”

11

- Praxigor-

Astrid leans carefully into the primitive structure. It makes her round behind stand out.

As I lean into the building beside her, I can’t resist putting my hand on it. “Not as open as I prefer it.”

She looks up at me, but doesn’t move to push my hand away. “You like that part?”

I pat the roundness. “I like opening certain things, yes.”

“Mhm. I meant— never mind. Do you want to explore this place?”

Her behind is warm and soft, but firm when I squeeze it. It’s an exciting combination. “I really want to, Astrid.”

“Now?” There’s an interesting rasp in her voice.

I look down. “Let’s examine the dome first. It looks empty.”

“It probably is. But it hasn't been opened since someone put that slab of stone there to cover the entrance. Why did they close it so carefully, if there's nothing in it?”

I think back to the last time I left my hoard. I was extremely careful to lock it up, the way I always am. “Because thereissomething down here, obviously.”

She looks up at me. “Shall we go down there?”

“We shall,” I decide. “I've seen much worse places on this planet.”

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