You're too soft on them, Ky'len said, her voice a reedy hiss in Naomi's mind. The saurian woman blinked her yellow eyes at the human, every inch of her feathered reptilian body conveying disapproval and irritation. She clacked her large, velociraptor-esque hind claw against the floor in impatience.

There are other ways of training the animals, Naomi replied in the same way, since she knew she would get a thwack from Ky'len's long tail if she used her mouth for talking. The saurian woman taught her human mentee the same way she taught the non-sapient dinosaurs under her tutelage: harshly and without compassion.

Ky'len snorted, showed a row of white, needle-like teeth—disdain for the human's ideals, probably—and clacked her hind claw again. The impact rang against the flagstones of the training room, and made the microceratus Naomi had been working with cower behind the human's legs. The two-foot-tall bipedal dinosaur, nicknamed Lulu by Naomi, had all the intelligence of a poodle and learned quickly when she wasn't being terrorized by the saurian trainer. Naomi knelt down to stroke a hand along the creature's spine in a soothing gesture that she knew Ky'len found pointless.

Microceratus by 3D Dinopedia

Naomi stretched her mind out of her body, probing towards the microceratus' consciousness. Unlike the sapient saurians and herself, who could think with sentences and understand more abstract concepts, the microceratus' thoughts were simple:

worry / fear / pain soon? / need to hide / [Naomi] safe

Naomi's heart warmed at the realization that Lulu thought of her as a protector, even if it wasn't true; Naomi had to defer to Ky'len at all times. If Ky'len decided that Lulu would become some carnivore's lunch then there was nothing that Naomi could do about it. The microceratus and her extended family group weren't permanent residents of the Arena's menagerie, anyway—they performed like circus animals before the main attractions, the gladiatorial matches, began. Training Lulu to do simple tricks had been a stepping stone for Naomi to prove her aptitude in Ky'len's eyes, and to assure the head beast trainer that Naomi herself was worth more alive and working than dead and in some larger carnivore's belly.

If you're so confident in yourself, why not try something bigger? Ky'len asked.

Naomi chose her next words carefully. If you think I'm ready to do that, then I'm ready, she answered at last. She had heard the sly, mocking undertone in the saurian woman's voice and knew something unpleasant was coming—but Ky'len had already invested several moons' worth of time and effort into teaching Naomi how to train fighting beasts for the Arena's various bloodsports. She wouldn't let some gigantic carnivorous dinosaur kill her after all that, right?

Right?

Ky'len swished her tail in a thoughtful gesture, then turned towards a smaller, feathered theropod saurian who had posted themself near the doorway. Naomi wasn't privy to whatever the head trainer told the other saurian, but the smaller one dipped their head in acquiescence and then hurried off down the hallway.

Do you remember how to create and use shields? Ky'len asked when she turned back to Naomi.

Naomi closed her eyes and concentrated. Resonant energy crackled from her fingertips and rippled across her body, forming a barrier between her skin and the rest of this strange world. When she opened her eyes again, she saw her saurian mentor through a golden haze of resonance.

Ky'len took a step toward the human and launched into the air with her powerful legs, spinning as she moved, her long tail snaking out like the unfurling tongue of a whip. The appendage slammed into Naomi's shielded side and bounced off as though the saurian woman had struck a stone wall. Naomi saw this but didn't feel the impact at all. Ky'len's taloned feet hit the stone floor of the training room as she landed. Her gimlet gaze fixed again on Naomi's face, and Naomi allowed the resonant energy of the shield to dissipate.

You're ready for the carnotaur, the saurian pronounced.

For the what? Naomi asked, but whatever reply Ky'len might have made was drowned out by an enraged roar that seemed to shake the very stones of the Arena's subterranean training rooms and stables. The microceratus screamed in terror and bolted for the far corner of the room as a huge theropod dinosaur thundered into the training room. It looked exactly like a tyrannosaurid except for the small horns protruding from over its eye ridges, and it was huge: the top of Naomi's head would have just barely grazed the bottom of its shoulder if they had been standing side by side. But the carnotaur remained in motion, arrowing towards the microceratus with an open maw.

artwork of Carnotaurus sastrei by Fred Wierum; accessed through Wikimedia Commons

Lulu! Naomi shrieked, forgetting herself, but the dinosaurs and Ky'len paid her no heed. The human threw her consciousness towards the carnotaur and encountered

RAGE / HUNT / BITE / TEAR / EAT / KILL ALL THINGS / NO MORE PAIN / NO MORE CONFINEMENT / BREAK / SMASH / DESTROY

and couldn't force her own telepathic voice through the creature's anger and bloodlust to the forefront of its mind, where a command would have a chance of being obeyed. Lulu screamed again, backing herself further into one of the room's corners. Naomi pointed at the tiny dinosaur she had spent the past moon training and bonding with. Resonant energy leapt from her fingertips again, arcing through the air like a bolt of electricity as it encased the microceratus in a shield. Lulu squealed as the carnotaur's jaws closed around her, but remained unharmed as the massive predator struggled and failed to tear her body into chunks small enough to be swallowed.

The microceratuses aren't that valuable, Ky'len said dryly into Naomi's mind. We have others.

Naomi knew she couldn't lie with telepathy, and so ignored her mentor for the sake of not betraying her sentimentality.

The human cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, Hey! You big bastard! with all her might, making the carnotaur turn and drop its prize to the ground. Lulu got to her feet and bolted for the dubious safety of the open doorway without being pursued; the carnotaur had its small amber eyes pinned on a larger, mammalian prize.

Naomi allowed the shield resonance to melt away from the small dinosaur's body and transferred the energy to her own form. She flexed her fingers, and the resonance moved with her. The carnotaur's eyes remained fixed upon her own gaze as she moved. It swished its thick tail from side to side in seeming laziness as it considered the situation, and Naomi sent her consciousness out once again.

small prey / prey not running? / danger?

The human forced a slow breath through her nose in spite of the way her heart hammered in her chest. She licked her lips and raised her arms, gathering resonance from the surrounding air and stonework. Concentrating, she wedged her own telepathic voice into the carnotaur's thoughts, trying to disentangle its concept of her person from the concept of prey.

The carnotaur paused at the intrusion, then roared again as it recognized the meddling consciousness as one apart from its own. The noise reverberated off the stone walls of the training room, loud enough that it left Naomi's ears ringing. The beast charged her.

Naomi flung herself to the side in an instinctive attempt to avoid the massive, snapping jaws, her concentration breaking as she did so. Pain flared up her side as she landed awkwardly on her hip. The resonant energy she had gathered flickered and dissipated, but the carnotaur moved with a speed and agility that its size didn't suggest. It pivoted on one clawed foot, its maw snaking toward Naomi's midsection. Its open mouth was large enough to hold the human's entire torso, and Naomi had a half second to look past its dagger-like teeth, down its pink gullet, and think, this is the end—

No! Ky'len barked through Naomi's mind. A lance of aggressive resonance crackled to life and stabbed into the massive dinosaur's open mouth. It twisted its head away from Naomi, bugling in pain and drooling blood onto the flagstones. It shook its head from side to side, snarling and coughing. Naomi, shaking with residual fear, pulled herself upright and backed away from the huge apex predator.

The trainer's body is sacrosanct, Ky'len's mental voice hissed. There must be dire consequences for if a beast even considers harming you, because otherwise… you will die. Try again.

Naomi didn't have any more time to let herself be afraid. The carnotaur looked up at her again and roared with blood between its teeth. Its rage had returned, and the human couldn't break into its mind and attempt to persuade it to caln down. It charged her again. Naomi raised a hand, and her shield formed anew—but now, instead of golden and serene, the barrier was red and seething. She made no attempt to dodge as the carnotaur lunged towards her with an open mouth, and when its jaws clamped over her head and shoulders she closed her eyes and let the predator jerk away as a massive jolt of resonance stabbed into its gums. Every part of the carnotaur that touched Naomi's shield experienced horrific pain.

I'm sorry, Naomi whispered, her soft voice drowned out by the dinosaur's roars of pain. It bit her her again and experienced the same consequence. Eventually, it stopped trying to bite her and backed away, eyeing her with obvious hatred and suspicion from the other side of the training room.

Better, Ky'len spoke into Naomi's mind. The single word was accompanied by a derisive sniff that suggested better was a far cry from good. The carnotaur is yours to train as a mount for a new fighter for the Arena. You have ninety-four days to make it bear a rider.

Naomi didn't allow her herself to think loudly enough in response that Ky'len could overhear her opinion of that sentence. Sentiments such as that's impossible! and how can I possibly achieve that? would only be met by scorn and annoyance. The human couldn't afford to appear weak; her position here remained tenuous at best, and hinged upon her remaining in Ky'len's good graces. Her status as seemingly the only human being in this strange, fantastical world of anthropomorphic dinosaurs wouldn't do her any favors… unless she chose to seek employment in a brothel if/when Ky'len's patience wore out, perhaps? But Naomi knew better than to meander down that mental trackway; the only thing she would find along that avenue of thought was despair.

A new fighter? Naomi asked, cocking her head to the side in a deliberate attempt to appear nonchalantly confident in getting the carnotaur trained. In the back of her mind, her thoughts whirled with frantic, half-formed plans.

Ky'len flicked her tail in the saurian approximation of a human shrug of indifferent ignorance. The head beast trainer didn't take much interest in the sapient creatures who fought alongside or against the creatures she trained; their blood was just as red upon the Arena's sandy floor as anything else's.

Some theropod saurian from the far north, one who walks upon snow more than not—or used to, before he was captured by slavers. She flicked her tail again, ambivalent to the concept of a fellow saurian being forced into servitude. “I know he's a crazy brute who fights with axes. He and that carnotaur will make a good show for the Emperor's birthday celebration—the reckless savages being slaughtered by the imperial hero Tytus, blah blah blah. Wasteful! It's not every day I get a carnotaur in here, but no, the pompous blowhards want something scary to kill.”

Naomi froze. The carnotaur… it's supposed to die?

Ky'len squinted at the human with her yellow eyes. Are you stupid? she demanded. Of course it is! …Why is your face-flesh suddenly losing color? If you're going to be sick, you're cleaning it up yourself.

No, no, I'm not going to be sick.

Ky'len huffed through her nostrils and showed her pointed teeth again. Very well, she said at last. Get that carnotaur to carry a rider as soon as possible. We're on a schedule, you know. With that, she turned and stalked out of the training room, her claws clicking against the flagstones like the high-heeled shoes that Naomi had worn for a job interview what felt like a lifetime ago.

Naomi waited for the noise to recede, then turned to the carnotaur. The massive theropod was still eyeing her from the far side of the training room. Blood dripped from its lacerated jaw onto the floor; it had realized that biting her wasn't going to accomplish anything, and was now attempting to figure out how to deal with her. Naomi could practically see the metaphorical gears turning behind its small eyes.

She cleared her throat, then said aloud to the carnotaur: I'm not going to let you get killed.