Planet of the Dino-whores Ch. 02

He leaned over her. Listened.

She didn't stir. Her breaths came deep and slow.

A grim smile curled his lips. The princess was asleep.

Karh Blade crawled out of the bed and pulled on his pants. As much he'd like to stay and enjoy the embrace of the warm and curvaceous body beside him, he had other worlds to explore and exploit. Not only this, but people were waiting on him, the kind of people who did not like to be kept waiting. If he were to conveniently disappear, these people would come looking for him, and they would not be happy.

It was time for a bit of reconnaissance, time to start devising his plan to get out of this dump. Yes, despite the perk of a beautiful princess wanting to jump his bones, the place was still a dump. Karh comprised a mental list of priorities. First thing's first. He needed a weapon. A gleam caught his eye, something long and sharp. His eyes lingered on the object: Princess Sauria's hair pin.

***

Zara eyed the woman, Hunter Haux, with undisguised suspicion. Haux let her. She stood blankly, waiting for Zara to complete her visual assessment. There wasn't much to see. Through several rips in the fabric of Haux's faded Naval uniform, Zara could see stretches of pale, white skin. Her black boots were scuffed and dirty. A scabby scratch zigzagged along the side of her neck. Underneath the grime and dust, she might be a potentially beautiful woman, but at the moment, she looked like hell.

Zara decided to hear what the woman had to say. Her situation couldn't possibly get any worse (being jailed and waiting to be sacrificed to some prehistoric god pretty much topped the list of things that didn't appeal to her), so she might as well weigh her options. At least, Hunter Haux looked and sounded human.

"Ticket home?" Zara finally said. "You said I was your ticket home."

"I need a pilot. I've been waiting for, who can say how long?" Haux said. She ran a hand through her genetically-altered sea-blue hair.

"How'd you get here?"

"A group of us were being transferred, and we were ambushed. The craft went critical."

"And you end up here of all places," Zara finished. She allowed the rock in her fisted left hand to relax, just a bit. Haux didn't seem like a threat, and why would the Queen and her minions create a set-up this elaborate? Haux continued talking, and Zara listened.

"The rest of us were wiped out. The people, they're all women here. All blue-eyed, blonde."

"I noticed."

"And they are barbarians. The women from my ship were sacrificed to that thing they call Vanitoth. I got lucky, managed to find these secret tunnels and evade that fate. The men, meanwhile, were used and... eaten."

"Eaten?" Zara said, her mind flashing to Henrik being ushered away by guards.

"Whenever the Queen tires of her toys, she eats them," Haux said. Her words were like stones on Zara's heart, cold and heavy. Zara closed her eyes.

"Tell me about Vanitoth," she said.

***

The creature called Vanitoth moved through the jungles, searching for prey. Black eyes glared at a large, metal gate. The gate was closed, but when it opened, Vanitoth would feast. At the thought, its mouth watered, buckets of saliva leaking from its mouth and dripping to the jungle floor. It lived for the hunt and the taste of fresh blood.

Lips peeled back over teeth like ivory swords stained pink.

It sniffed, huffed, moved on. It would come back later and check the gate again. Until then, Vanitoth would have to find a snack, something to ease the rumbling in its stomach. The earth shuddered under its feet.

Vanitoth hungered. But for not much longer. Somehow, it knew. Soon. Very soon.

***

Karh shoved the hair pin hard into the soft flesh of the guard's neck. It sunk in easily, like a knife through warm cake. A spray of arterial blood gushed from the wound, painted the wall in vivid red splashes. The guard gurgled her last, unheard words. Karh helped the body slump to the floor.

"Like riding a bike," Karh said. Some skills, once learned, were never forgotten. He wiped the thin blade of the hair pin clean on the fabric of the guard's uniform and slid it into the back of his pants. He pulled the guard's spear out of her dead grip and tested its weight in his capable hands. Karh nodded, satisfied.

He moved down the hall, keeping to the shadows.

***

"So your tunnels, they'll will lead us out of here?" Zara asked. Hunter Haux squatted next to her, her one eye gleaming, and rubbed her chin. Zara recognized the tactic. Stalling. A heavy pause prefaced Haux's answer.

"The exits are all heavily guarded. We wouldn't stand a chance even if we managed to confiscate some weaponry. There is, however, an alternative," Haux said.

Another dramatic pause, and then she continued, "There's a gate. No guards. It's our best chance."

"I can tell by the tone of your voice there's a catch," Zara said. Haux licked her lips, as if the added lubrication would make the words come easier.

"It's the gate where Vanitoth enters from the jungle to accept its sacrifice."

"STARFUCK!" Zara cried and threw her hands in the air.

***

She was a tall woman with her long, blonde hair pulled back into a stern ponytail. Her robe was tied tight around her waist and was shorter than most of the others Karh remembered seeing in the throne room. Some kind of jeweled dagger was strapped in a leather belt, and she walked with an air of authority, the kind of person who knew where the exits were and could get to them unheeded.

The end of the spear thrust from the shadowy corner behind a hanging tapestry and bit the soft flesh of the woman's neck just under her jaw. She went all tense and wide-eyed, spine jerked straight.

He took a step out of the darkness. The flickering orange glow from a mounted torch illuminated Karh Blade's dangerous expression, bared teeth and blazing eyes. He knew it was a dramatic approach, but he needed his quarry intimidated. He didn't have time for negotiations. The others would find the body outside the princess' bedroom at any moment.

"The man from the sky," the woman said as if she expected no less, in a way that seemed as though the thought of him left a bad taste in her mouth. Karh pressed the head of the spear ever so subtly deeper into the woman's neck.

A teardrop of blood leaked from the wound, but the woman didn't flinch. Karh tried not to be impressed.

"You're going to show me the way out," Karh Blade whispered. "Keep in mind this is in no way a request. You will show me the way, or it ends for you. Right here, right now."

The woman paused, and then she flung her arm up and snapped the spear in half with a chop. Karh didn't waste time being surprised; he brought the broken shard of wood in his head over the woman's head like a baton. She grunted, staggered back, and somehow flipped her end of the spear in one hand and threw it at Karh. He ducked to the side, the spear whistling past his face and taking a thin shred of his cheek with it into the wall. Now Karh was impressed.

Her fist caught him in the stomach, and Karh Blade felt the air whoosh out of lungs with an airy gust. Her leg came up in a swift kick; he caught it, twisted, and threw her back. She snarled at him from the floor and went for her dagger. She hesitated, confused. Her hand gripped air. The dagger was not in her belt.

"Looking for this?" Karh gasped and held it up with a lopsided smile. "Now maybe you're ready to be helpful, no?"

***

Henrik's bonds had been released, but he had no desire to escape. Instead, he used his freedom to enter the Queen from behind. Her tail slung over his shoulder like a strap, her scales smooth and cool under his fingers, Henrik gripped her supple buttocks and thrust in and out as if possessed. He hadn't been this horny since his teens.

Sure, she had a tail and scales, but she was beautiful even by human standards. Her shimmering blonde locks, her lean body, rippling muscles, lusty sighs, they captivated Henrik on levels no other woman had. He grunted, his teeth grinding, and he felt the eruption loom, pressure building and rising, and then exploding up and out of his shaft and into the Queen with liquid spurts.

"Yes, oh yes," he breathed. The world swirled around him dizzily for a moment before coming to a slow, woozy stop. Henrik blinked. Everything seemed so unreal. He could hardly believe he was here, his cock shrinking out of this lizard-woman's pink insides. He stared at his glistening, smeared manhood as if he had never seen it before, as if it belonged to a stranger.

"You belong to me now," the Queen said, turning towards him.

"Yes," Henrik managed.

"You forsake your friends."

"Yes."

"And you are my slave."

"YES!" Henrik cried and fell to his knees. "Please, my Queen, let me pleasure you."

He hardly knew what he was saying or what he was doing, but he meant it. Henrik was willing to throw away his old life for a lifetime of evenings like this one. The Queen's tongue flicked out of her lips for a moment. She watched him with her snake-like eyes and finally gave a short, meaningful nod.

"I have business to attend to. My handmaidens will satisfy your needs while I am gone," she said and treaded away, disappearing into the murky shadows.

Henrik's chest ached upon the realization that she was gone. It was if she had taken a part of him with her, and he was simultaneously frightened and excited by the thought of this. Then the feeling left as the Queen's handmaidens entered.

Two twin blondes, nude and glistening, lean legs and shiny abs. Sex on legs. Henrik felt the withered penis between his legs twitch and harden ever so slightly. It had turned out to be an interesting night.

***

"You beat me," the woman as though dumbfounded, her eyes wide and glazed. Karh saw how blue they were, like sapphires caught in the afternoon light of twin suns.

"You noticed," Karh said and motioned for her to get up with the dagger. "Come on before I'm forced to kill you. Don't have much time before they find the body."

"Body?"

"The guard outside the princess' door. Now get up, and let's get gone," Karh said with an impatient growl. A grim smile twisted the woman's mouth, and she pulled herself off the floor with renewed strength, fueled by Karh Blade's revelation. Even with her lips pulled back in a snarl of smug disgust, Karh was struck by the woman's beauty. Her beauty was much different than that of the princess; this woman was... STRONG. Powerful. Power was a thing Karh understood and respected.

"Fool, you killed Yrin! Yes, oh yes, I will help you though you've signed your own death warrant," the woman said, punctuating the sentence with a bitter giggle.

"Yur... who?"

"Yrin, Dayna's lover," the woman said, and when she saw that Karh did not react, she spoke to him as if he were an idiot child, "Dayna? The Captain of the Guard?"

Karh shrugged.

"So your head of security will be gunning for me? I've been in stickier situations, darlin'. No sweat off my ass. Let's get moving," Karh replied and nudged the woman forward with the heel of his boot. The woman frowned and started down the hallway.

"You won't be able to leave now, the doors are too heavily manned. Better to wait until the 'morrow, during the sacrifice to Vanitoth. The doors will be minimally secured. Most will be at the sacrifice," she said. Karh grimaced.

"Why so suddenly helpful? You know how suspicious that must make me."

"Dayna, she... I'm her second in command. Needless to say, I enjoy seeing her suffer. You need not understand the specifics. But know you did me a favor by gutting her lover," the woman said.

"Never said nothing about gutting."

"Ah, call it wishful thinking," the woman retorted. You had to hand it to her: she was one ice cold customer. Karh felt himself warming to her. His eyes traveled down the slope of her back and settled on the curve of her athletic bottom rippling beneath the short hem of her robe before examining her tanned, lean legs gliding back and forth like fine-tined machines. Karh hadn't seen legs like that on any non-synthetic being. He imagined them wrapped around him, her heels locked behind his neck. Sliding into the warm wetness in between...

"I have one of your weapons in my room," she said, breaking off the mental imagery.

"Excuse me?" Karh said.

"One of your light guns. I wanted to examine it at my discretion, so I took it to my room. Perhaps it could be useful," the woman said. She craned her neck to look at Karh, and he forced his eyes up to hers.

"Well, let's go get it," Karh said, and they headed down the hall through the shadows.

***

Her lips felt soft and moist as they worked against his own; the handmaiden parted them to allow her tongue to slip through and tickle the inside of Henrik's mouth. He sucked on her writhing tongue as he thrust into the prone body of the handmaiden under him, her legs spread wide open for Henrik's illicit entry.

Hands everywhere. The first maiden's hands on his back and chest, caressing, rubbing; the second maiden's hands on his buttocks, digging in with long nails, forcing him faster, harder, deeper. Henrik's hands, one wrapped around the neck of the maiden kissing him, the other hoisting the leg up and over his shoulder of the maiden fucking him.

The maiden under him squealed as Henrik picked up speed, and he had to clench his eyes shut. The other maiden nibbled deliciously at the bottom of his ear. The sensations owned him, overwhelmed him, sucked him in and chewed him and spat out his seed through an erupting cock, and Henrik cried out with wanton, insatiable lust.

And as Henrik emptied his desire into the blonde, blue-eyed maiden, he knew that he would never ever go back to his old life if he could help it. No matter what the stakes.

"Sorry, Zara," he moaned and fell to the floor in a heap of limbs and slippery, cooling juices.

***

"So, let me get this straight," Zara said, cocking an eyebrow. "The plan involves me still sitting here and waiting for death by giant lizard while you scamper around your tunnels like King Rat. Sounds to me like we're back at square one."

"I'm not familiar with the numbered squares strategy."

"Forget it," Zara groaned and rolled her eyes.

Hunter Haux stood with her hands on her hips, wishing that she could have found a pilot with less of a smart mouth. Of course, the woman couldn't just be an ordinary pilot, Haux knew. No simple pilots came into this part of the galaxy without good reason. The woman ('Zara,' she said her name was) wasn't Navy, so she was either a merc or a bounty hunter. Neither option made Hunter excited by the possibilities, but she didn't have the prerogative of being picky.

On the other hand, Zara didn't like taking orders, especially from people she didn't know and even more so from military. Plus, the plan sounded like spaceshit. Haux started explaining it again.

"You have to understand, the gate of Vanitoth is the only exit not guarded..."

"Except by the god of the crazy blonde, jungle bitches," Zara shot back.

"It's easier to out smart and out maneuver one big lizard than twenty trained guards. Plus, they won't be expecting me, especially if I can manage to confiscate some of your weapons. I know where they keep them. We can distract Vanitoth and the others with one smartly placed charge and make our way out," Haux said calmly, patiently, and confidently.

It was the confident part that won Zara in the end.

"Then stop jabbering, and go get that charge," she said with a sigh.

Haux nodded and turned to leave. Zara grabbed her shoulder, making her pause. Haux looked back and was impressed by the intensity of the woman's gaze. It was the gaze of someone who was all business- deadly, dangerous business.

"And grab my blaster while you're at it."

Hunter Haux nodded and disappeared into the wall.

***

The woman's room was everything the princess' was not: dimly lighted, cramped, moldy, smelling of vague rot. Bundles of soiled rags littered the floor. The sleeping receptacle looked like a wood box filled with hay and covered with a stained, torn blanket. Karh smiled. It reminded him of more than one safe house he had holed up in over the years.

He glanced over at the woman. Her hair shimmered in the low light of the candles. She had slipped to the other side of the room to pick up the blaster she had mentioned earlier. The blaster gleamed in the flickering candles' glow. She held it in her hands as though uncertain, turning it over, a look not unlike piety forming her expression.

"I haven't even thought to ask your name," Karh said, having nothing else to say but wanting to break the silence. The woman had him intrigued.

"Lorna. Now you know it, man from the sky," she said and pointed the blaster at him. Karh grinned. Her finger wasn't even on the trigger.

"Mine's Blade. Karh Blade. And remind me to never show you how to use that weapon properly," he replied and settled down at the corner of the sleeping receptacle. It rustled and crunched, straw-like, under him. The woman frowned, looked into the barrel of the blaster as if its secrets lurked there and placed it back on a crooked, unfinished wood table.

"Two names? Ridiculous," Lorna said. She looked him over, seemed to come to a decision, sighed, and took a seat next him. "But I admit, Karh Blade, that I have never been beaten before. I must hand you my respect and admiration."

Karh's eyes soaked her in: Nordic features, long neck, strong shoulders, ample breasts. He wished she would hand him more than abstract thanks; nothing would please him more than the concrete pleasure of two mouthwatering jugs in his hands. Jugs in the hand beat jugs in the bush but maybe not cock in the bush as the ancient wise men said.

"I so appreciate a woman's... respect and... admiration," Karh said softly.

"We have some time before the sacrifice. It's best that you stay here while the guards complete their search," Lorna said, her sparkling blue eyes demanding Karh's attention.

Karh licked his lips. "What shall we do until then?"

Lorna smiled and slid the straps of her robe over her shoulders.

***

The Queen stood over the puddle of cooling blood and the cold body with disinterest. The guard meant nothing to her. The Queen was more concerned that the prisoner had escaped and that her daughter was beside herself over the loss. Princess Sauria had become quite attached during her short time with the man. The Queen could hear her whining like the immature tadpole she was through the chamber door about her precious missing pleasure stick and the somewhat less important man attached to it.

The Queen's forked tongue flickered out of her mouth for a moment, and she turned to assess the state of mind of the Captain of the Guard. She blinked, once.

Dayna ground her teeth together, her jaw clenched and straining taut under her skin. The Queen knew that the dead guard was the Captain's lover, but this served the Queen's purpose. It would make Dayna more motivated to find her quarry.

"Your thoughts, Captain?" the Queen said. Dayna did not take her attention off the corpse as she answered. She clenched and unclenched her hands, her arm muscles straining and releasing, straining and releasing. The Queen almost felt sorry for the prisoner for she knew Dayna was not merciful.

"He seems to have disappeared. My mind turns to the so-called ghost that has been haunting the secret tunnels. Where else could he have gone? The 'ghost' will have found him, and they will attempt to escape. I believe they will make for the armory. They would have no chance against us without arming themselves properly, and they would certainly prefer their own weapons over ours," Dayna said in a methodical, dead voice. Part of her was already moving on, becoming objective despite her loss. The Queen was impressed. She decided to allow her handmaidens to service Dayna if the Captain could manage to bring back the prisoner, dead or alive.