My vision was blurry. I could see a tiny bit better in this inky darkness. My head ached like there was no tomorrow. I had only just gotten better and I was injured again. Shigure was never letting me out of his sight again was he?
I could feel myself being carried gently and carefully through the dark. I was too groggy and everything hurt. Thinking hurt. My mental barriers had been broken, injuring me and the mental ability was still locked down but at least it could be recovered with some healing and rest. I really needed Shigure to teach me how to strengthen my barriers and to make more targeted mental attacks. I didn't know enough.
When I moved to try and make myself more comfortable, I would be carefully put down for a moment and then picked back up by those sharp teeth. How considerate. Vaguely, I wondered where the lizard was taking me.
I felt the breeze of outside air and welcomed the fresh smell. The sky was already dark. The lizard paused at the entrance and put me down, nudging me toward the outside air. I couldn't get up. I could only drag myself a little way and then stop.
In the outside air, I smelled blood. Lots of it. The lizard picked me up and carried me out the tunnel. Then it grabbed a nearby stone that it used to seal the tunnel entrance, leaving me shivering in the cold wind to one side. Having sealed its den, it carried me down the big rock face back toward the rushing ground. I shut my eyes and tried not to scream.
Under the moon and starlight, I could see that the battle against the dark lizards had continued. The big birds were gone. Likely back to their nests as they couldn't see in the dark.
The big lizard carrying me approached and the dark lizards glanced back when its mind flared out to announce its arrival. From the vehicles inside the barrier, I heard shouts and screams. People calling my name.
The big lizard growled and the dark lizards hesitated. Putting me down, the big lizard roared at the dark lizards and they retreated with frustrated hisses. All the way up to the barrier, the big lizard took me and gently laid me down. Standing over my body, the big lizard made a demand to the people inside the barrier, making them all pause, watching in confusion.
I felt Homeward cautiously reach out to try and communicate.
The big lizard shook its head, making the same demanding sound. Talking to this lizard wasn't like talking to the guardian dinosaurs at all. Mutual understanding was difficult, but I had learnt a bit from my time with it, so I could catch bits and pieces.
It nudged me and snorted. With another shake of its head, when it didn't get the reply it wanted from Homeward, it invaded my mind space again in order to try and make itself better understood. That made me convulse and sob with pain. It seemed to have realised that people would understand it better through me. It unblocked my mind.
*"Where is the female's mate? Come out and fight me!"*
Homeward and Shigure's confusion immediately cleared up.
*"Where did this challenge come from?"* Shigure asked me gently upon seeing the mess my mind had become after the lizard had trampled through my head, and knowing how much pain I must be in.
I tiredly sent a brief account of what had happened to me, trying to ignore the sharp pains in my head while the lizard watched how we communicated with great interest. The lizard clumsily tried to help tell the story. It was like listening to someone who was still learning to speak a second language.
*"The female's memories state that her mate's power and strength is unmatched,"* the lizard declared through me in its own way of speaking while I interpreted the meaning for the men. *"I wish to test the truth of this or I refuse to relinquish the female and when she is healed, she will be my mate, whether she is compatible or not."*
The men were taken aback by this.
*"We can't negotiate?"* Homeward probed.
*"I have searched for a mate for many years,"* the big lizard said, *"and this female is the most compatible female that I have come across. If her current mate cannot beat me, I will take her back with me and make her mine."*
*"That would kill me!"* I shrieked at the lizard despite my weak mind voice. My brain felt like someone had broken a glass window in my head and jabbed me with all the broken glass. *"I told you. You have prickles on your peepee. You'd rip me apart and I'd die from blood loss. Is that what you want?"*
This made the big lizard pause for a moment with worry evident in its emotions.
*"Nevertheless, I will fight your mate. Even if I cannot mate with you, I can find other ways to make you happy,"* the lizard said, sifting through my recent memories and pulling one out, sharing my memory of it examining my breasts, sounding pleased at the way it saw it had slightly aroused me at that time.
Shigure and Homeward turned away in embarrassment.
*"Fight me!"* the lizard roared.
Glancing at each other, Shigure reluctantly stepped forward out of the shield he had erected. I felt Homeward take over holding the shield up and I reached out to help, but the lizard swatted my mind back, making me fall back in pain. It was as if I had been paralysed.
Shigure and Homeward twitched in anger.
I could only lay there and watch.
Shigure stood in front of me and the big lizard, renewing his grip on a knife in his hand.
The lizard looked at the knife with a snort of condescension.
*"Think you can beat me with such a little fang?"* he leered. *"Afraid?"*
He struck at Shigure with his mind but Shigure was able to deflect the blow, receiving no harm from it. The two attacked each other, both physically and mentally, raising a cloud of dust that made me cough. In the meantime, I was quickly dragged back into the shield by the rest of the team for my wounds to be seen to. A blanket was draped around me.
After a few blows, the big lizard backed away with lowered head, admitting defeat. He spoke to me. I hadn't expected it to be so quick. Perhaps he really had just wanted to test Shigure's strength.
*"Your mate has a weaker body than me, but he is sly and his mind is strong. Good choice. I admit defeat. I will miss your taste and the feel of your mammary mounds."*
I blushed at that, while Homeward and Shigure both turned and coughed. The lizard had made his meaning quite clear, not hiding his conversation from Shigure in my mind.
*"There is one stronger than me in the way you are going,"* the lizard told Shigure. *"The smell of your female will surely tempt him if you do not mate with her today. Your smell will mask hers. You will mate with her now before I leave, so that I know she will be safe. I will watch over the two of you."*
Shigure stiffened at this blunt announcement. He seemed dumbfounded. Homeward patted his shoulder in sympathy.
*"We do not mate in the open but in secret,"* I told the big lizard, trying to come up with excuses.
*"Nobody has mated with you in a long time. You do not carry your mate's scent,"* the lizard told me. "This is a very serious matter. The strong one over there is also longing strongly for a mate. Unless your scent is strongly covered up, he will steal you and make you his."* The lizard looked over in the distance and then seemed to nod to himself. *"No. I will go with you and ensure you mate everyday until you reach his territory."*
*"No need!"* I cried. *"There's absolutely…"*
Quick as a snake, the big lizard broke through the barrier, grabbed me and scuttled away again, making people shout with surprise. Homeward and Shigure sank to a knee holding their heads for a moment, before they raced after the lizard and me.