Page 71 of Caveman Alien's Terror

His tail waves lazily on the ground.You doubt me, and I shall forgive you for that. I will simply show you. Over the course of many, many years. I don’t need a hoard when I have you. You will be my hoard. But also much more.

I really want to believe him. “I have to trust you about that.”

Sit on my neck and we shall fly away.

“Umm. That sounds dangerous. Won’t I blow off you and fall to my death?”

No. Get up.

“Can you carry my escorts?”

Absolutely not.

“That’s fine, Shaman Astrid,” Rater’ax says with a grimace. “I would rather be murdered slowly by the Ceremat tribe than ride on a dragon.”

I look around. The Ceremat tribe is clearly no danger anymore. “Rater’ax, thank you again. You should get home. I will get there too, if I can.”

“Very well.” He and the three others walk towards the gate, which one lone guard quickly throws open for them.

“Can we make sure they get home all right?” I ask as I ponder how to sit on this spiky, scaly thing.

Yes.

I throw one leg over his thick neck, lean forwards, and find a balance while I grab hold of two horn-like things on his head.

That’s it, grab my horns. I will not let you fall, whatever happens.

His skin is smooth and warm between my legs, but also intensely alive. Strong muscles move under me as I cling to him with both my legs and hands, leaning forwards to feel more secure. “Not too high, please.”

He calmly beats his wings behind me, making my hair blow forwards. Before I know it we’re twenty feet in the air and moving forwards, over the huts of the Ceremat village. The tribesmen are peeking out of the doors and out from behind forges and stacks of wood.

Then we’re at the same heights as the treetops, and the wind starts blowing my hair back, out of my face.

How do you like it?the dragon asks.

“If this is as scary as it gets, it’s fine,” I tell him, holding on for dear life.

Are you sure you won’t let me kill someone back there? The chief, for instance? I would love to.

“As far as I know, I’ve never seen you kill anyone,” I reply tensely, because while he’s beating his wings calmly, we’re speeding up fast. “It must be because you see the cavemen as lesser beings, no challenge at all. What would be the fun in killing them when you’re so much stronger?” It’s something I’ve been thinking about. Praxigor may want to be seen as a scary monster, and he is. But he hasn’t actually killed anyone, despite being so obviously able to. That self-restraint is one thing I really like about him.

He chuckles.You’d be surprised at how pleasant it would be to murder a slayer who touched my love. But you’ve caught me, making it impossible to defy that wish. Because it’s true what I said. I love you, Astrid.

We’re soaring over the jungle, and the trees are pulling away beneath us.

“And I love you, Praxigor. But I’ve known it for a while, and I even said it. When did you realize?”

He turns lazily in the air.We will follow the track your four slayer friends will use, scaring away any threat along the way. Oh, I knew when I was in the cage. Or rather, that was when I admitted it to myself that I love you more than gold. In fairness, that’s as unnatural as dropping a stone and seeing it fall upwards. I didn’t accept it at first.

The jungle passes slowly beneath us. “I’m happy you accepted it. I wasn’t sure about you.” I see something below us, a dark line among the trees. “Oh, can you do something about that canyon they have to cross? It’s very sharp, and I worry about my escort men falling off it.”

We slowly spiral down towards it.

And because you weren’t sure about me, you kept the gold dagger without giving it to me, although you knew it could cure me.

“I didn’tknow,” I tell him, nervous about this part. “That was just it. I wasn’t sure that you actuallywerea dragon. As far as I knew, actual dragons don’t exist. It’s another example of dropping that stone and seeing it fall upwards. I couldn’t make myself believe it. And I was worried you weren’t really one. I wanted you to be, you see. Iwantedyou to be exactly what you claimed, because if you weren’t you’d just be a liar and a scammer and I admire you so much, Ireallydidn’t want you to be that. I wanted you to be strong and wonderful andreal.”

Let’s see what we can do here. We fly along the crevice, just a few feet above the edge.Put your head down to my neck.

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