I laughed around my mouthful of dinosaur as Beren stammered his apologies. I have heard hunters say that no meal tastes better than one you catch yourself, though the filet of dinosaur tail was probably not the most eloquent proof of the argument. For all the travel I had done I remained a city girl, but I wasn’t without my analogues. I touched Beren on the wrist before he could flee.

 

“We didn’t just meet,” I contradicted him, leaning back against the meager comfort of a log that I had draped my cloak against. Not coincidentally the pose cocked my hips slightly and pressed my chest out the tiniest bit. The effect was to tighten the white cotton of my shirt around my breasts, just enough to allow the slightest blush of the flesh beneath to appear at points of maximum contact. It didn’t appear like a  deliberate provocative action, not to an ametuer, but a priest couldn’t have argued that the resulting ‘accidental’ pose wasn’t sensual. Judging by the way Beren’s eyes widened, holy orders were a ways off. I felt a little ashamed of myself, it was like spearing fish in a barrel, but the trek had been filled with terrifying incidents in which I felt like I had clung on by my fingernails. It felt good to practice a skill I was good at.

 

“You saved me from my kidnappers.” Rather my dupes. “You saved me from the tentacle thing.” Definitely true. “And you saved me from the raptor.” Partially true though admittedly it looked like it was going to go the other way altogether. I had been scared out of my mind when I charged in, but it didn’t look like any of the others were going to do it in time. I took another nibble of dinosaur and chewed contemplatively. I couldn’t imagine ever getting a taste for the stuff, but there was a slight seasoning in the fact that it would have enjoyed eating me more than I was enjoying eating it.  

 

“I’d say that makes us at least social acquaintances,” I teased. Beren was brave and I had to admit wasn’t hard on the eyes. For various reasons my historical type tended to be somewhat less muscular. Afterall, every dock in the world is overrun with muscular men without two coppers to rub together. I didn’t imagine Beren had a great supply of coppers either but he was certainly the best prospect here in the wilderness. Besides, it hadn’t escaped me that the Dre Costan’s might try and bash my skull in while I slept and Beren was my best chance at forestalling that possibility. Not being bludgeoned to death is sexy. I gave a calculated yawn and stretched just slightly, shifting the fabric over my chest.

 

“Do you think the rest of his pack,” I waved my slice of tail around to emphasize the dinosaur, “is out there looking for us?”

 

“It is or was a she,” Beren corrected me, “the females are larger and do the hunting, the males tend to be solitary unless they are in rut.” I eyed the meat speculatively.

 

“I suppose I didn’t have time to look for any identifying equipment,” I admitted.