Page 44 of Caveman Alien's Terror

I squeeze her bare butt with one hand, making sure she feels a hint of the claws. “You keep turning my words back at me.”

“We all have our flaws,” she sighs.

I squeeze harder. “Except?”

“Mmm. I like that— ow! Okay, okay. Except you, I guess.”

“You’re learning.” I gently pat her behind, enjoying the scent of her hair.

A part of me is aware that this is unheard of. Praxigor the Devious, mating with a female of a lesser species, not even a virgin anymore, and standing like this, just holding her while she recovers? Why am I not tossing her into the bushes or tearing her in two along her middle? Is it just the gold-less weakness, or is it something more? If so, what?

The light from the holes dims noticeably, and I lift my head. Astrid’s little pet comes bounding towards us, tails looking dangerous. At the same time, there’s movement over by the stairs.

I set Astrid down. “Someone’s coming. Put some clothes?—”

Before I know it, black shapes are dropping from the light holes all around us, one after the other. They bounce from the ground and jump all over us.

Astrid screams as a half dozen of the things grab onto her with many arms.

Fury explodes in me. “Let go of her!” I start ripping the things off her and throwing them away, but more and more come jumpinguntil we’re both covered in furry creatures with a dozen arms each. I try to keep them off Astrid, but the attackers grab onto my arms, hands and even fingers, weighing me down.

“Praxigor!” comes Astrid’s muffled, desperate call as the creatures overwhelm her.

“Aaaargh!” I roar, throwing some of them off me with a furious effort. But these attackers aren’t mindless predators, and they have planned this well.

Despite my efforts, I find myself on the ground under a heavy heap of furry, many-armed creatures. I’m pierced in hundreds of places by small, sharp claws like pins. For the ten thousandth time on this planet I curse my weakness. If only I had gold, I would burn all these enemies to a crisp!

The mountain of enemies on top of me weighs me down to the point where I can’t see what’s going on. But I spot more of the things coming down the light holes, holding burning branches.

The added light helps me identify them. I’ve sometimes spotted these big-eyed, many-armed things in the jungle, usually up in the trees. They’ve always kept their distance and not attacked. I know they can jump high and far, and with all their arms they’re obviously superb climbers.

I keep struggling to get up, but the enemies keep me down with their sheer weight.

“You can’t keep this up for long,” I wheeze. “At some point you’ll make a mistake. When that happens, I will murder you all.”

The creatures mill around me and on me for a while. The pressure on my upper body vanishes as they all jump off me as one.

It’s not much of an improvement. My wrists have been bound behind my back, and to my surprise I can’t snap the rope. My ankles have also been tied with many strands of some primitive rope.

“Praxigor! Are you all right?” Astrid is sitting on the ground a few paces away.

“Not for many years,” I seethe truthfully as I try the ropes again, making them creak but not snap. “But our friends here will be even less all right in a moment.”

“I think they own this place,” Astrid says. “They’re the right size.”

“A dragon owns any place he exists,” I grunt. “These things will learn that any moment now.”

Hundreds of big eyes stare at us from both close and further away. Their torches burn brightly.

“Well?” I sneer. “Are you just going to look at us?”

More of the things come down the light holes and land lightly on the stone ground, forming a circle. The last of them lands in the middle of the circle and comes towards me with a confidence that I don’t like. He may be a leader of some kind.

The torch-bearers rearrange themselves to where they illuminate him as well as they can.

“State your business and prepare to die,” I tell him, wanting to be reasonable.

He doesn’t speak, just moves two of his many hands slowly.

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