The Ruins of the Lost World

by C K Burch

  “Curious,” Jack mused. “What on earth do you suppose that was?”

  “A deterrent of some sort,” Dust responded. “For anyone who's entered the gateway, they've made it this far, they're walking through the tunnel, and then zap! Hit with some sort of field of energy. Anyone not suspecting it, or lingering in the field for too long, they turn around and get the hell out of Dodge.”

  “But how could that be possible? There would have to be some sort of technology to create that energy field, to suspend, to – ”

  “Jack.” Dust raised an eyebrow at her. “You just opened up a tunnel in a mountainside with a blue gemstone.”

  Jack stammered. “Well, well, that was different, that was a mechanism using a series of refracting light sources, to, uh, well...”

  “Yes, please, enlighten me. We've got time.”

  She glared at him. “I don't know what that was back there, but the Shambhalans did not create that.”

  “Create, no,” Dust confirmed. “But harnessed, oh there's no doubt about that. In this line of work, exploring ancient cities and tombs and such, you quickly learn to accept that there are many things outside of our understanding that we just have to accept.”

  “Bollocks,” Jack muttered, and she crossed her arms.

  Dust laughed. “You're searching for honey that will deliver immortality, and yet the idea of mystical energies is just kinda, eh, maybe?”

  “Two very different things with two very different properties! Perhaps the Amrita doesn't provide true immortality, but a heightened resistance to the elements, or against age. One might not be able to live forever, but they certainly become stronger against the natural world.”

  Thomas leaned forward, his face an unusual expression of awe. “Dear children, perhaps it is best to table this for now.”

  Dust turned to look ahead of them, and saw the light of the tunnel opening coming to meet them. Fronds of thick green covered the exit, connected to some unseen foliage, and as Ryder's jeep drove through them, the fronds shook and released heavy droplets of dew into the air.

  Jack held her breath.

  “Here we go,” Dust whispered.

  He drove forward confidently, and as the jeep hit the massive leaves, the impact was harder than Dust imagined it would be; the fronds were made of sturdy stuff. The jeep trembled, and the wet leaves slapped against the occupants of the vehicles hard enough for the sound to echo in their ears. Dust shook his head to clear both his vision and his hearing, and he reached up to wipe away moisture from his forehead. They'd all been drenched with dew, which clung to surfaces with a surprisingly sticky resilience. Dust slowed the jeep and looked at his arm: the droplets still retained their form rather than run down the length of his skin. Interesting. Incredibly so; this lost world would clearly be full of rather unique properties.

  “Oh my god,” Jack whispered. She stood in her seat.

  Dust slowed the jeep even more so she could be stable, but as he saw what she saw, he brought the jeep to a halt, braking and pulling up beside Ryder's parked vehicle.

  In the valley below them were dinosaurs.

  Feathered dinosaurs.

  Herds moved across a wide, open grass plain, which was surrounded by the mountains, which reached high into the sky, insurmountable by either man or beast. Gigantic creatures with thick torsos and elongated necks that rose close to a hundred feet moved with slow, elephantine steps, the thunderous echoes of their footfalls reverberating across the valley and reaching up towards the crew's perch. Soft, dark-grey down covered their bodies, rippling slightly in the breeze. There was possibly a score of these large beasts, intermingled with a herd of an entirely different variety: these resembled the African Rhino in build, with horns that emerged from the center of their plated heads. Scoops of hard bone appeared to sweep back and away from their skulls, like a reverse shovel. Thick red plumage ran down the length of their backs, coupled also with shorter feathers over their torsos, pale yellow in color. Younglings trotted about, sweeping between the parents of both species, playing with mates, playing with mates of the opposing kind, generally working together to munch upon the land. Beyond the plain was a great lake, which a number of the larger dinosaurs currently stood in, dipping their long necks into the cool water to spray it over their bodies. The lake ended in a rather large cliff, some two hundred feet high, and a large waterfall descended from the top of the cliff and fed the lake. Greenery swept onto either side of the lake, disappearing into the jungle surrounding both sides of the cliff. From here, Dust could see remnants of a cityscape just over the top of the cliff, covered in vines and moss. Possibly the capital city of Shambhala. Above them, the sky was crystal blue, clear, and impossibly bright. It hadn't been this bright when they'd entered the mountain, and now as Dust thought of the electrical force that had coated them in the tunnel, he wondered exactly where they were.

  Jack breathed in giggling, short gasps. “Oh my god,” she repeated, and she covered her mouth. Tears formed and ran down across her cheeks.

  “Bloody hell!” Thomas exclaimed incredulously. “Dinosaurs! You actually did it, Sissie! You actually found these goddamn beasts!”

  “Brachiosaurus,” Jack whispered, looking out at the valley. She squinted her eyes. “And – is that styracosaurus? Yes, yes, oh heaven it is!”

  “Which is what?” Dust inquired.

  Jack pointed at the longnecks. “Brachiosaurus.” Then the shovelheads. “Styracosaurus.”

  “Ah.” Dust decided that longnecks and shovelheads would work quite fine in his vocabulary. Too many sauruses to sort properly. At least he could tell them apart.

  “They have feathers,” she giggled still. “Feathers! It flies in the face of modern science! They're beautiful! Oh, heavens, they're lovely.”

  Behind them, the third jeep and the truck pulled to a halt. The jeep came around and flanked the right side of Dust's jeep, while the truck parked mere inches away from their rear bumper. A little too close for comfort, which made Dust bristle. His danger instincts were getting hackled, and he didn't like that one bit.

  Ryder was standing up in his jeep, binoculars in hand, staring out at the valley. “Strewth,” he whispered, pulling the binocs away from his eyes to gauge the distance, then returning them to get a closer look. “Bloody goddamn extraordinary creatures.” He quickly passed the goggles to his man in the passenger seat, then climbed over the back over the jeep and hopped out onto the grass. He began pointing and making gestures to his men in both jeeps and the truck, and a flurry of activity surrounded the vehicles as the men of the Venture began arming weapons, stringing bolas, curling nets.

  Dust looked back and noticed that the turret on top of the truck now was now manned and ready for operation. Currently, it was pointed just a touch too closely towards Dust's jeep for his own comfort, and he bit his lower lip in thought.

  He looked down; he noticed that there were no weapons in the jeep.

  As subtly as he could, Dust turned and quickly scanned the interior of the vehicle. Where Ryder's men were all reaching down and grasping at rifles, Thompson machineguns, and pistols, there was naught to be found in the jeep he drove. Jack wore no holster, and unless she'd a small pistol in her satchel, she was unarmed save for her knife. That wouldn't do much in a firefight, though. Cairn would have no weaponry either, and Thomas's flask counted naught for anything. Only the winch on the front of the jeep reflected the modifications done to the framework. Dust cursed himself – he'd been so distracted by the notions of the drop and the chutes that he'd not noticed the lack of guns in the jeep. It was only his pistol and his bullwhip.

  God damned Ryder. He'd played Dust like a tuned fiddle, and with ease.

  Cairn looked back and forth among the scrambling men. “What are they doing, guv?”

  Thomas uncapped his flask. “They, young sod, are preparing for a good day's hunt.”

  Jack whirled around indignantly. “Already? But they're to wait until we've got the Amrita!”

  �
��They're gonna kill the dinosaurs?” Cairn turned back to the valley with horror over his young face. “But we just seen 'em! They're pretty! I never seen one real before, why's they gotta killem?”

  “Because that's what they do.” Thomas took a long draw, then unclasped his harness. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I've a conversation with Ryder to enact, to settle a few matters of payment and whatnot.”

  “Stay.” Dust's voice was firm.

  Thomas frowned and raised his pointer finger. “Now see here, I've had quite enough of your insolence over the course of this trip, boy. I've half a mind to see to it that you don't receive the second half of your payment, as I'm quite unsure as what the devil we're even paying you for.”

  Jack turned and glared at her brother. “Thomas!”

  “Really, Sissie!” Thomas sat back and crossed his arms. “The bugger thinks he's above me! I've no more patience for this sort of activity and all that, and unless I receive a proper apology, then I'll be withholding any and all payments in the future!”

  Dust ignored the two of them as they argued over payments and respect and the like; he had no time nor inclination to give attention to such trivialities at the moment. Instead he casually glanced about, searching for avenues of escape. Before them was the valley, of course, a steep slope that led down into the open green and towards the herds. Considering the amount of gunpower on all sides, driving headlong into an open field was an unwise course of action. To the left was the edge of the valley, leading directly into the mountains, also inaccessible. To the right was the jungle, and here Dust noticed something: the same tiled road that had paved the tunnel curved into the jungle here, a road that led possibly to the city, though now overgrown with moss and vines and the like from years of disuse. He considered this – a sharp right towards the road, into the density of the jungle, partially protected by a difficult line of sight. A small head start would help, if only to allow him time to formulate some sort of plan of action. The engine was still running; all he'd have to do was throw the jeep into drive and pull forward. If he did so with the right timing, he could have them in the jungle within seconds.

  Something felt strangely uneasy; perhaps he was overthinking this.

  In the rearview mirror, he saw Ryder climb up the side of the metal shell of the truck. He was still making motions without speaking, which only served to raise Dust's suspicion even further. He reached down slowly until his hand rested on the gearshift. Whirlwind thoughts and musings spun in his mind as Jack and Thomas argued further.

  “Really, Sissie!” Thomas sniffed indignantly. “I will not be spoken to like this, you know. Father will be quite cross with how you've been, and unless you'd like to answer to him yourself, I insist you mind the way you speak to me! After all, it's my name on the checks, and so my title ought to be recognized more.”

  Jack sighed and threw up her hands. “Fine, Thomas, as you wish, whatever you say, just please settle down a moment. We've only just arrived, we'll need time to commiserate. And to tell the hunters that the hunt needs to wait.”

  “Exactly what I've been trying to do!” Thomas undid his harness. “Bloody Christ, Sissie. Now, I'm going to palaver with Ryder. I'm quite sure he has some sensible conversation about our next course of action.”

  Dust's eyes flicked to the jeep on his left. The driver surreptitiously had drawn his pistol, which was in his hand as he held it on the steering wheel.

  On the right, the driver in the other jeep had done the same.

  Dust looked in the rearview mirror.

  Ryder was stealthily accepting a shotgun from the driver of the truck.

  He looked over at Dust in the mirror, and the two of them made eye contact.

  Ryder flinched and hesitated.

  You know, Dust thought, I really hoped it wouldn't go this way.

  Dust widened his eyes and turned around. “Holy crow, behind us! A monster!”

  Everyone turned to look at absolutely nothing.

  Dust threw the jeep in gear and slammed the accelerator.

  As the jeep lurched forward, Thomas fell back into his seat with a thump, and behind them, Dust heard confused shouting. He quickly spun the wheel to the right and angled them onto the road. Within moments they pierced the veil of fronds and disappeared beneath a canopy of green. The road was uneven, bumpy, and roots had come up through the tiles in uneven gaps. Keeping the wheel straight was a priority, and Dust watched the road ahead, twisting to try and avoid the roots. Barreling over them would only slow them down, and speed was of paramount importance. All around, overgrowth pelted them as they drove through a tunnel of low-hanging branches and leaves wider than their faces.

  “Dust!” Jack shouted. “What the hell are you doing?”

  Behind them, the sound of machinegun fire confirmed Dust's suspicions. Bullets slapped at the thick jungle and struck the road behind them, shattering tiles and sending earth into the air.

  “Trying to save our skins,” Dust replied. He pressed the gas pedal to the floor.

  ***

  IV

  Stiff branches swayed and snapped as Dust drove and crashed through the jungle underbrush. A cloud of jade met them, swishing across the metal frame, slapping harshly at the occupants of the jeep. Morning dew sprang and sprinkled everywhere as they were assaulted by the damp, the effects of which were punctuated by the sound of staccato gunfire from behind. Bullets peppered the ground, just inches away from their target, shattering stones and earth as Dust fought desperately to keep ahead of their pursuers. The road worsened as they went on: deep crags and uprooted vines made the wheels shudder as the shocks complained with each tumultuous bounce. As this rate, the only thing preventing the Venture boys from catching up was that they, too, had to drive the same terrain. Only a minor accomplishment.

  “They're shooting at us!” Thomas cried out. His voice was incredulous, hitting the same frequencies as a squealing pig.

  “I know!” Dust roared back, unable to maintain politeness in the face of near-death circumstances.

  “They betrayed us!” Thomas continued. He held onto his seat desperately, his harness still unbuckled. “I'll have them hung! I'll have them court martialed! I'll – ”

  “Shut up, Thomas!” Jack shouted back. She, too, was not going to put up with his screeching. She turned to Dust. “What are we doing to do?”

  Dust fought with the wheel and grimaced. “Do you know how to shoot?”

  Jack blinked. “What?”

  “Can you fire a gun?” He twisted the jeep around a particularly precarious welt in the pavement.

  She turned her head away and paled. “I can't stand them.”

  So much for that possibility.

  “I can, guv!” Cairn's voice piped up heroically. “I shoot on the range with the lords alla time!”

  Jack turned back, horrified. “Since when?”

  “He can!” Thomas exclaimed. He was practically beside himself with joyous relief. “I've seen him! He's a majestic shot!”

  “Works for me!” Dust drew his pistol and held it back to Cairn. “This good for your grip?”

  Cairn quickly took the weapon, checked the magazine, and then turned his newsie cap around on his head. He nodded.

  Dust winked at the lad in the rearview. They might just have a chance at this escape, yet.

  On the left, breaks in the jungle revealed brief views of the valley and the herds. A quick twist to the side and they could break through the overgrowth and down the incline. If they crossed the valley and made it up onto the other side where it went around the cliff, perhaps they could find an alternative route to Shambhala. This road was clearly not going to give them any advantages, but driving across the valley would leave them wide open and defenseless to gunfire the whole way across.

  Dust had a thought.

  “Cairn,” he called back, “I'm going to need you to slow them down a touch on my mark!”

  “Can do, guv!” Cairn steadied himself in the back, his arm propped on the back cush
ion of the seat as his left hand firmly grasped his shooting wrist. The kid really did know what he was doing.

  Dust watched the rearview mirror as the jeep behind them came around a slight bend. While it was obscured by the thickness of the jungle, the line of sight was clear. One of the crew stood up in the passenger seat, attempting to bring his Tommy gun to bear as he dodged flailing fronds.

  “Do it!” Dust commanded.

  On cue, Cairn squeezed the trigger, and the side mirror on the passenger side disappeared in a bright spark as it was caught by Cairn's bullet. The crewman with the Tommy flinched instinctively as the mirror shattered and flew away, and he fell down into his seat. The driver, too, was caught off guard by this, and nearly fishtailed the vehicle in surprise. Behind them, the rest of the caravan slowed up as well to avoid a crash, and fell behind incrementally.

  Cairn gave no indication of pride or relief in making his target; instead, he clicked back the hammer on the pistol and readied himself for another shot.

  “Helluva shot, kid!” Dust shouted. “Now strap in tight!”

  Cairn and Jack turned to Dust at the same time. “What?” they asked in tandem.

  “Trust me!” Dust tightened his seatbelt and braced himself.

  He turned hard to the left and broke through the jungle towards the valley.

  Sunlight washed over them as the shadows of the jungle vanished, and the bumpiness of the harsh road was replaced with much smoother trembling beneath the wheels. Grass flew out in their wake as the tires churned the plains; Dust held the gas down as far as he dared, leaning with the slope of the decline towards the veld.

  A hundred yards ahead, the herds of dinosaurs were directly in their path, and Dust held his course directly towards them. As the jeep broke through the jungle, a few of the beasts looked up from their grazing, startled, and began to stamp their feet. Bellowing, confused grunts, and barks filled the air as the beasts leapt from sublime detachment to heightened tension, turning their gaze to the oncoming jeep as it barreled down the slope.