Followers of the Godbeasts 4: The T-rex

 Continuing the series that’s mostly Primal Rage, part old kaiju movies and part old caveman movies where chicks in fur bikinis slapped each other around for a while. I’m pecking at several of the bigger and more voted stories on the side but I just got in a mood where this was great venting. I love writing these characters who are so crazy desperate that worshiping a gorilla just kind of makes sense to them as a fairly recent concept. Cuz he’s not just strong, he’s smarrrrrt? Totally not just an oversized pet where primitive humans got confused about who owns who.  

The screeching of the mad woman interrupted Leega’s preening. Her servants were in her hut picking dirt and insects from her hair when the howling came, and the white-haired priestess raised her head. She gestured calmly to her slaves as she went to investigate. Things had been quiet since the spring when the Runin tribe moved into the valley, so Leega was eager for something of interest.

The woman was young compared to Leega. Barely a woman with hair the color of wet wood. A pair of Leega’s guards held her back with their shields and spears, hesitant to kill one of their own while her mad screeching went unanswered. The Stonehammer Tribe was not big on words, and even their priestess needed a Speaker to communicate any complex thought to other leaders of the clans. The woman saw Leega and pointed accusingly as she bared her teeth. The priestess looked at her with an air of intimidating calm.

“Speak,” she said. The guards lowered their weapons and the woman pushed past them. She glared at the white-clad priestess and shoved her in the chest, getting the guards to ready their weapons again as she ranted wordlessly. She pointed at Leega, then off into the distance at Arragunn’s cave before she spat on the ground. She pointed back at the cave and then herself while glaring confidently at Leega.

A Speaker came close to her side and translated quietly. She had lost her brother on a hunt and gone mad with grief. She blamed the priestess’ blindness to their guardian’s guidance. That she was old and did not listen to what the great Godbeast Arragunn said anymore. She would be a far finer priestess.

Leega rested her hands on the head of her ceremonial war club. She breathed a short sigh. The tradition was to battle over the title and let their Godbeast judge their worthiness. It was a huge incident that drew the attention of everyone in the village to see who was holy enough to challenge their true priestess.

Instead, Leega gestured towards the cave. The challenger looked surprised as Leega stepped back. She handed the woman her club and held up her hands in a sign of no resistance. The raving woman faltered once or twice, but her shouting stopped. She took the ceremonial weapon and with a proud sneer she ran off to the giant ape’s cave.

Leega’s guards looked at her like she was the insane one. The white-haired primitive woman smirked to them calmly and started to walk much more casually after the running woman. She heard some distant shouts and barks from the savage challenger, trying to voice herself to the Godbeast. She rallied it to fight, to avenge her brother against the wilderness that took him from her. Leega clicked her tongue and shook her head, leaning patiently against the edge of the cave.

There was a scream. Then a crunch. Then some pulpy noises as the divine monster feasted. Leega entered the cave a moment later, her huge and beloved Arragunn covered in thick, brown fur and some generous scars. The colossal ape licked the blood from his fingers and fangs with its door-sized tongue as Leega spotted her club on the floor of the cave. She picked it back up and went over to the Godbeast, stroking its resting, powerful arm as she rubbed her body against the might appendage.

“Arragunn hungry,” she cooed to the creature too wise and powerful for her to truly understand. It grunted dimly in reply as it picked some clothing from its teeth. “Arragunn beautiful. Kill non-believers. Holy holy Godbeast Arragunn,” she praised as she itched his fur and rubbed her body against him, caressing him in raving worship rather than demands. Only the chosen knew how to handle the great ape and prevent his wrath, as her mentor had before her. So why bother fighting the heretic when her deity would destroy her and fill his belly on her unholy bones?

Arragunn lifted her up with a sudden grasp. Leega gasped but never panicked, simply pleased that she had won his favor. The ape lifted and sniffed the familiar woman who fed and praised him, his torso-sized fingers stroking over her fur-clad body. She writhed as she felt his holy presence coursing through her. His raw smell and impossibly dense muscles and his glassy eyes so dark and pure that they reflected her very soul. She humbly stroked his bare muzzle, honored to be so close to their savior and guardian. 

The killer Godbeast licked her entire upper half, getting Leega to break into euphoric laughter. She could smell the blood of the non-believer on his tongue as he blessed her with his spittle. The thick and holy substance ran down her skin and tingled everywhere it touched. Leega breathed deeply and rapidly as her mind and heart raced, her simple human brain unable to comprehend the majesty of a creature so great and wise. She bit her lip and leaned a hand on his snout as she rubbed her other hand between her hips, rubbing her inherited priestess furs against her groin. Priestesses rarely took a mate, and she suspected it was because none could ever make one feel as beloved as being in the approving presence of her Godbeast.

Even now, Leega spread one of her legs to rest against the massive gorilla’s fingers. It sniffed and licked her curiously as she squirmed in his hands, feeling his strength tensing against her groin. All her senses became flooded by his presence as his curious grunting clearly communicated something far greater than her mind could comprehend. The euphoria of merely touching and smelling Arragunn suddenly pulsed through her body, giving a long and musical shout as her love for him concentrated itself into a warm current that ran down her thighs. Her body fell loosely against his mighty fingers, her strength drained just by being so close to his loving gaze and divine touch for so long.

“Greatest Godbeast Arragunn,” she sighed as she stroked his thick fingers. “Honor to live beneath Arragunn shadow.”

The ape gave her another sacred lick before she set her down, grunting lazily before it started to doze off, deeming it fit for her to leave with his blessing.

Things had calmed down around the village. Nothing brought some peace and quiet to the Stonehammer Tribe than sacrificing a rebellious soul to their Godbeast, reminding them how good they had it and what awaited them if they acted out of line.

The next trouble came from the outside. A lookout gave a sharp whistle, echoed by their fellow scouts. A female guard ran to Priestess Leega, pointing desperately into the distance. Once her Speaker nodded, Leega rose and marched towards her Arragunn’s cave. There were only so many reasons to disturb a keeper of a Godbeast, and the main one was something big enough to threaten the entire tribe. The great ape had slain armies of invaders and many giant animals that had threatened their village, so his protection was needed more and more as blasphemers started to commune with their darker deities. Even as she neared the cave, she glanced back into the clearing. Vague shapes crossed over the horizon, and while it was unclear how many people came with it, she recognized a long, tall shape of some rival Godbeast.

“Arragunn!” Leega grunted as she entered her deity’s filthy cave. The massive ape snarled lowly as it rolled over to lumber on all fours. “Great enemy! Come false, dirty Godbeast!” she explained sharply. The anger in her tone seemed to carry itself clearly as Arragunn snarled, baring some of his sharper front teeth.

“Arragunn strongest! Kill all not-Arragunn! Evil others only meat!” she insisted as she squeezed a handful of fur on his wrist. The Godbeast snorted, puffing its huge hot breath across her body as it twitched eagerly. Its great paw lifted her to her usual place on his shaggy shoulder, bracing a hand behind his ear. She felt his great body pulse with power as he gave a few shrieking, feral whoops, colossal muscles writhing beneath her as it broke into a knuckle-walking march.

The small advancing forces met at the clearing not far from the hills. They had come from the unexplored forest, normally too dangerous for the hunters to venture far inside. They had eluded Fayjen and his nomadic settlers, but Leega didn’t dare to ask him for help. There was nothing Arragunn could not smite with his divine fury.

The new warriors were tan of skin similar to the Stonehammers, a mere half dozen traveling with their Godbeast. The creature was a particularly monstrous tyrannosaurus, deep blues and dark greens forming unclear patterns along its leathery hide. Unlike Arragunn, the creature was decorated by its followers. Leega would never consider changing her deity’s perfection, but the t-rex’s face was painted with black coal and white ash to give it a ghoulish skull look around its already wide and deadly mouth. It wasn’t quite as tall as Arragunn, even with him leaning on his fists, but it was certainly longer even before you got to its tail. A few large, thick chords of rope and bands of wood were strung across its back, attached to a large animal hide. It covered little of its long body, but from it hung several large, dried out skulls. Some were cracked or missing chunks, leftovers from large game like mammoths or especially large serpents. Others were of an unclear species, but large enough to be near the size of its own. Or Arragunn’s. Remains of other dead Godbeasts decorating its grim form.

“Seeing Graan!” a woman’s voice rang out in euphoric praise. A woman stepped forward of clear prestige among the invading tribe. Her eyes were wide, red and large, whether a trait of her people or the symptom of some drug or illness. She wore some small bones around her hanging skirt of furs, and an almost cage-like bra of rib bones cupped her high and round breasts. Her thick, greasy brown hair was decorated with flowers, though they were rotting and withered as if not replaced for a long time.

Leega eased herself down Arragunn’s arm, her small escort of freshly trained horse-riders just behind her. “Arragunn! Only Godbeast!” the war priestess barked back at her. The wild-looking woman laughed joyously, which unsettled Leega worse than the mocking or defiant laughter she was used to from soon-to-be-dead heretics.

“Graan is death. Graan bring death gift to all.” The tan priestess waved a hand across Leega and her soldiers. “Even Arraggunn. All shall die.”

The t-rex eyed them with its beady, black-lined pupils, letting out a gurgling hiss. Arragunn snorted more aggressively, boosting himself up to his hind legs to stand even taller and thumping his chest. The priestesses started to approach, their warriors not daring to get any closer to the Godbeast standoff while they braved near the battlefield.

“Arragunn leave Graan choke on skull,” Leega snarled. The milfish woman thumped her fist on her breast. “Priestess Leega, Arragunn!” she declared.

“Priestess Dorei, Graan,” the other woman purred to seal their tense little ceremony. “Spit and piss on Arragunn dead body.”

Leega didn’t totally comprehend the statement, but she caught enough of the words to catch the gloating insult. Her eyes flashed with brutal fury as she punched the slightly taller visitor across the face. Dorei’s eyes went wider as she staggered from the blow, her bone-clad breasts wobbling as she regained her footing. Leega was already rushing at her by then, swinging her ceremonial club to catch the woman in the side and crumble her to the ground.

Dorei landed clumsily, the shrieking Leega standing over her and raising her club over her head. She swung it down with great force, but the cryptic visitor raised a hand and caught it. The heavy weapon hit with a dull crack that should have left the invader flinching if not howling in pain. At least struggling. She just grinned with sharpened, yellowed teeth.

“False strength. Ugly lies,” Dorei hissed before swinging a kick between Leega’s legs. It vanished under her loincloth and into her pubic hair as the white-haired priestess gave a throaty grunt, cupping her crotch as she fell to her knees.

Arragunn and Graan had hurled themselves into battle a split second after Leega threw her first punch. The overgrown dinosaur gave a bone-shaking roar as it charged, jaws agape in expectant hunger. The ape showed its beneficial reach as it raised and smashed both of its fists down on its skull-painted head. Its yellow eyes flinched as it tumbled from its charge, sliding its grim face along the ground as it slid to Arragunn’s feet. It kicked with its hind legs as it tried to rise, slashing with its foot claws as the giant ape retreated. With a quick lash of its paw, it tore a large tree from the ground and swung it overhead, a splash of dirt and wooden debris flying from the impact against Graan’s side.

The t-rex gave a warbling shriek as it scrambled back, squatting low to the ground and giving a spit-spraying hiss. Arragunn snarled and lunged in, fooling it with a sudden feint as it sidestepped its jaws. Graan’s weapon seemed obvious as he caught it by the back of the head, avoiding its snapping jaws beyond a few plucked hairs. He punched it in the flank, but Arragunn suddenly bellowed from a piercing pain. It retreated to see two blood red horns, the skull of a triceratops hanging from Graan’s side that it had craftily used as a weapon. The ape was too surprised by this to keep track of its opponent, letting Graan twist and bury its teeth into his thigh.

Leega’s eyes watered from the shocking blow as Dorei rose above her. The death-obsessed woman grinned as she rained punches into the stunned mature priestess’ face, knocking her bushy snow-white hair around in her wake.

“Stink of weakness!” the invading priestess hissed, spraying Leega with her rabid spittle. She tried to spike a knee into Leega’s jaw but she suddenly caught it and twisted herself to one side, dragging Dorei into the dirt. The two tumbled over each other a few times until Leega lashed her nails out for Dorei’s eyes. She turned away to protect her eyes, but it let Leega catch her by the hair. She twisted her face back towards her and smashed her in the mouth with a punch. Dorei gave a mumbling grunt as blood and spit escaped her lips.

“Crush your bones! Feed heart Arragunn!” Leega raved as she locked her hands around Dorei’s throat. The brunette priestess choked noisily, drooling more bloody saliva over her hands as she tried to force her back. Whatever tolerance for pain she had, she still seemed to worry about being choked to death. Leega kept her arms in her way so she couldn’t rake at her face, but the woman surprised her as she twisted her head and bit deep into her wrist. She snarled and clamped down as Leega tried to pull away, but the bloodthirsty priestess held onto her arm to keep it close. She dug in ravenously with her sharpened teeth as Leega screeched and tried to pull free from the inhuman attack.

Graan turned sharply, slamming Arragunn into the ground with an earth-shaking thud. Dust and rock kicked up in its wake as the reptile released his leg, crimson blood added to its black and white face paint. Arragunn swung its loping arms at it, but the t-rex kept ducking around or under them to take another snap at him. He was able to keep it at bay enough to protect his vitals, but it scored raking scratches and shallow bites along its body.

Graan planted a clawed foot on his chest, but as it raised its head for another bite Arraggun caught it by the tail. With a furious roar, the shaggy Godbeast turned and whipped it off to one side, slamming it into a nearby hill. The reptile hissed sharply from the impact and tried to steady itself, just to catch the ape’s fist right to its elongated jaw. Its strong legs wobbled as its fumbling little arms groped helplessly for balance, but the ape was back upon it. Its long arms squeezed around its throat, bearhugging its neck from behind and pulling up to try and tear its head off. The hissing tyrannosaur stomped and kicked wildly, but its clawed foot finally slashed along Arragunn’s calf muscle. The ape grunted and crumbled as it released the hold, just for Graan to lunge into it and clamp its jaws around the ape’s firm and leathery belly.

With her fangs still around Leega’s forearm, Dorei had easy picking in the furious and panicking priestess. She tore off her furs to leave her naked as she finally opened her blood-stained mouth, allowing the shocked Leega to recoil while holding her heavily bleeding limb.

“I taste your death,” the glassy-eyed priestess purred as she licked her bloody fingers. She moaned and rubbed the gore-soaked digits over her body like it was a sensual experience. “All death make Graan mighty. Make us worthy. Clan shall be last lives Graan slays as…”

Leega wordlessly kicked her in the belly, clearly not as broken as the deathly woman had figured. Her wild rant was cut off as Leega punched her in the ribs, keeping her recoiling in pain. Dorei lashed out, clawing at Leega’s breasts but she furiously ignored the scratches. She pounded away on the invader’s side until she heard her ribs cracking, but even that barely seemed to phase the doped-up priestess.

Dorei twisted herself suddenly, dodging to let Leega’s fist miss her and hit the soil instead. She lunged in with her mouth wide open, bloody tongue and teeth reaching for Leega’s naked and dangling breast. She pulled back quickly, feeling the heat of her foe’s breast on her hard nipple but just evading her bite. She sneered and punched Dorei in the face, launching her back into the ground. The death cultist lashed out with a quick jab of her fingers into Leega’s throat, but even with her eyes watering and gasping for air, she threw a wild haymaker with her bad hand. Her bloody arm connected with Dorei’s bone-guarded breast, making her recoil with a pained cry. The shallow bone armor crumbled away, revealing Dorei’s own wobbling orbs as she threw a wild punch of her own. It caught Leega straight across the face, a rapid crunching and a spray of blood coming out of Leega’s nose as she crumbled away from her.

“More blood, more die,” Dorei hissed to herself like a prayer as she stood over Leega, a quickly snatched rock in hand.

Arragunn howled and punched at Graan, but its fangs were already buried into its stomach. It raised its head and lifted the ape off the ground before smashing him back down in another quaking shockwave, feeling the Godbeast’s flesh and muscles rip in its jaws. Arragunn grunted and howled wildly, just to grab the discarded tree from earlier. Graan’s eye went wide right before it was stabbed out of its head, pierced by the brutally simple weapon. Graan shrieked as the Godbeast of death recoiled, shaking its head to get the horrible tool from its skull. Arragunn rose unsteadily, cradling its bleeding stomach a moment before it gave another painful bellow. It charged in and pounded the t-rex, beating it around the skull and neck to drive it to the ground. It landed on its side, twisting and writhing to keep itself a difficult target. Arragunn ignored it and kept smashing the ground on front of it. Whether it was the enemy’s blood or his own, the crack of the t-rex’s skull or one of its ornamental ones, it didn’t care so long as its wrath was unleashed.

Graan was beaten to a bloody pulp, but it still gave an otherworldly hiss as it lashed out again. It caught Arragunn by his incoming fist, losing a few of its sharp fangs that went flying in all directions. Its remaining teeth stabbed into his fist and forearm, shaking its head to spray more blood and fur from its opponent. It hissed and gurgled in its bloodthirsty rant, and while Arragunn reeled from his many wounds, he hooked his fingers beneath its upper jaw. Baring its teeth in a raging burst of strength, Arragunn tore its mouth back open. The shrieking and stomping Graan slashed at his legs with its hind claws, but Arragunn simply kept pulling. Its tightening jaw muscles flexed and tensed before there was a deep and intense snap.

Graan’s mouth hung open in a relatively goofy gawking expression, its mouth broken as it choked up blood. It reeled briefly before Arragunn decided to take no chances. He lifted it over his head and dropped it back down, smashing his knee up to split its spine in half with a crunch heard for miles. Leega would have been proud to see it use a move that she had used before it had, not ready to believe that she had anything to teach her divine master.

Arragunn looked down and bellowed at the dead creature, as it scaring the last of its divine spirit away. It looked over its collection of skulls, but deemed it too disgusting for its like. He did, however, reach into his own arm and rip out one of Graan’s longer fangs.

Leega’s eyes opened and came into focus as the rock came down. She rolled sharply to one side, letting it spike into the dirt instead of her skull. The frantic and naked priestess threw herself into her foe, no thought of fleeing a rival war priestess in her mind. The bloody women rolled in the soil, dirt sticking to their sweaty skin as they threw blow after blow at each other.

Leega raked her nails in a painful red line down Dorei’s breast, catching briefly on her bra of bone. She felt her head spin from the blood lost in her arm and nose, but she didn’t need to focus. She saw her foe blur before her but she saw the outline of red on her. Her own blood would guide her path! She took the ornamental rib and rammed it into Dorei’s side. It wasn’t sharp, but it was narrow enough to scratch the soft flesh of her side. Dorei smacked it aside and rolled on top of her, opening her jaws and eyes locking on Leega’s throat.

Leega’s vision blurred but she heard a dull thump next to her. She saw the bloody spike… a discarded tooth from the psychotic (well, more psychotic) priestess’ pet demon. A blessing from Arragunn. She quickly snatched it up and thrust it up into the bottom of Dorei’s jaw, stabbing the foot-long tooth deep into her as her wild eyes went even wider. Dorei let out a suddenly shrill wheeze.

“Death take me now! Graan will feed and return!” she praised madly as she reached for Leega. She scratched at her neck and chest but it was feeble and weak, her last thrashing moments of life. “All will fill his jaws…”

“Stupid! Ugly! WORDS!” Leega shrieked, raining a full-power punch into Dorei’s face with each hateful word. Even her good hand ached as she knocked a few teeth out of her, finally sending the dying priestess off her. With a bitter sneer, Leega stomped down on the woman’s exposed breast, flattening its soft shape beneath her feet as a few more ribs crackled.

Her head spun as she tried to just stay on her feet. The lust of battle had left her, and her wounds felt like they were pulsing. She heard the wails of her enemies as her troops attacked them, cleaning them up easily as the small cult tried to flee. Leega was wobbling on her feet when she gave one last, defiant screech. Her best mimicry of her Godbeast to make him proud in what might be her final moments. Perhaps the death priestess was partly right… she might die, but never Arragunn.

Leega heard her name. She thought briefly that it may Arragunn, blessing her with some divine second life for her bloody warrior’s death. But the voice sounded too familiar…

She gasped as she sat up, leaning on one arm. She patted herself, and once convinced she had a body, the naked priestess rose unsteadily to her knees.

“Priestess Leega,” said the low voice again. She turned aggressively, only to find Fayjen, the chief of the Runin. Her bearded neighbor raised his hands innocently. They had blood on them, but no weapon in sight. The familiar musk of Arragunn’s cave put her more at ease as she relaxed back onto the fur. She looked down, seeing her arm had some stitching going along her wound. She didn’t understand what it was for. Perhaps some good luck ritual done by his nomadic tribe. They were a strange people.

“It is alright. You are…” Fayjen paused and gestured at the air as he ran through his vocabulary. He was more worldly than Leega, traveling the land rather than protecting it. She hated that about him, however useful it was. He was one to talk instead of fight. Run instead of stand. They had only just started to stay in one place when the land of the Stonehammers proved comfortable enough.

“You are… clean. Wounds. Healed wounds after fight,” he explained carefully.

“Medicine. Witchdoctors,” she huffed, trying to come across that she was well aware of their practices. Of course they would usually burn the wounds shut, not… whatever this was.

She stopped focusing on her distaste and suspicion for the foreigner when she heard the heavy breathing. She looked up to Arragunn, her Godbeast sleeping deeply. He was leaning against a nearby wall, his wounds already starting to close up.

“He took you back cave,” Fayjen explained. “You and the body of the other Godbeast. Limping all the way. Easy to follow and see what happened. Came with medicines.”

Leega started to protest to the already past idea. Arragunn letting a foreigner into his cave? And while she laid bleeding inside? It must have been by his blessing alone that she survived, but then why would he let the foreign man inside.

She stood back up and winced as her head pulsed with a numbed pain. She touched at her face, feeling a thick patch of leather stuck over her nose.

“Broken. Will look… crooked, but you will heal,” he assured gently. She sniffed huffily, still smelling blood as she went over to her Godbeast. She rested a grateful hand on his leg, nodding solemnly. Her eye caught a flash of white, and looking closer, he still gripped the large fang of his victim in his fist. He held onto it tightly, as if eager to show her his trophy from the battle she had missed. She beamed proudly.

“Bring me rope,” she ordered simply.

“I am not getting you rope,” Fayjen chuckled. “My work is done and my people need me as well.”

Leega gave him a bitter scowl. She wasn’t used to dealing with people who didn’t jump to obey her and didn’t die within minutes for doing so.

“Then make servant rope!” she barked. She stroked her Godbeast’s hand, admiring his catch. It would make a fine necklace, if only one colossal enough for her holy monster to wear.  “Arragunn kill death itself today. Deserve trophy.”