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

Trals Scarback's face hit the ground with a dusty thud, and Turtle felt nothing.


"Shit," said Andrea, "he's unconscious. No, don't you dare." She shoved back the tall Eethlek.


"He would have killed you!" The young man said. "He would have killed all of us. Let me - "


"I swear to God, Vrem, I will kick your tattooed ass right back to your daddy's teepee," said Andrea in a mix of Eethlek and English. "Back the fuck off."


Why did Turtle feel that frisson of triumph when the Vrem obeyed? She hated Trals Scarback. He had made her into a person who would enslave an angel. He was responsible for her uncle's death. Or else Turtle was.


But blame and regret would matter little if Turtle were killed here in benighted Alluvia.


Chapter 46: Smoking Guns Part 3