Author:
Daniel M. Bensen is paid to teach through fiction. His debut novel JUNCTION is available now from Flametree Publishing. His Sidewise Award-winning short story “Treasure Fleet” is in the Tales from Alternate Earths anthology. Dan lives in Sofia, Bulgaria, where he teaches English. For more news, visit thekingdomsofevil.com and sign up for The Kingdoms of Evil mailing list.

Former soldier Andrea Herrera isn't happy with where her life has taken her: Hell Creek, Montana, 65 million years before the present. When their time machine malfunctions, Andrea and her paleontologist clients are trapped in a timeline that shouldn't exist with something a hell of a lot more dangerous than dinosaurs: other humans.

Kidnapped by the stone-age descendants of a lost time colony, Andrea finds herself stripped of her technological advantages and forced into a war against the implacable armies of the Slaver Empire.

Andrea's only hope lies with the ferociously intelligent and violently insane tribal war-leader, Trals Scarback. Can Andrea persuade him to see her as a partner rather than a tool for his ambitions? Only if she beats the barbarian at his own game and becomes the Tyrannosaur Queen.

Groom of the Tyrannosaur Queen

By the time Andrea got her skirt and smock on and left the tent, Trals was already back in Leader mode.


"We arrive at camp before the sun climbs another handbreadth or I will pitch a new camp here with your useless hides for my tent! Get up, you lazy, drunken nodosaurs." He kicked a pile of bodies that resolved into five ethlek of various ages and sexes.


So somebody was getting boned. It was just Trals who had this insane thing about killing people who made him come. The twisted bastard. Fuck him.


"Up! Up! Hitch up that triceratops, no not that triceratops. Teeth in the darkness, man! Next time I'll let the beast trample your useless carcass flat. Now grab that goad and lay to. At least pretend you're an Eethlek and you know what to do with a damned triceratops."


The fire wasn't as bad as it might have been. The saltbrushes just sort of disintegrated, and then there was nothing to burn but clay.


Chapter 31: Native Customs Part 2