Opalescence

by Ron Rayborne

  “I’m excited as a school girl!” he said huskily, laughing as he sat on the other side of the signaling hill, taking a drag on his cig. He picked up his rifle and scope and swept it slowly over the night landscape, finger on the trigger, ready to shoot just in case. While he doubted anybody could make it through the trail, one couldn’t let one’s guard down. Later, he’d go to have a look and see what he’d caught.

  Ah, movement! Just at the limit of his scope’s night vision capability. He trained his rifle there, but it was only a tomarctus loping by.

  “Damn dog!” Jaqzen spat. Then he aimed, placing it within his rifle’s crosshairs. Suddenly a strong wind rushed his way, assaulting him with gravel that stung his face. He lowered the gun and put up an arm to cover his eyes. “What the freak?” The bombardment seemed to come from nowhere. He waited, but it didn’t stop. He let fly a volley of curses, shaking his fist at the sky.

  ~~~

  Tom had continued on toward the hill where Jaqzen now sat. He’d stopped counting seconds soon as he knew it was the Neanderthal. All the way, the wind howled and sand blew around them. Yet the dark of the hill was still apparent.

  And now he was there at the base. The wind had ceased, and there was no sign of Jaqzen. Tom re-holstered his pistol and began to climb. Little was on high alert, sniffing the ground, low growls emerging from deep within. Her ears were forward and eyes fierce. If Tom were someone else, he might have sent her off to find and damage his enemy. But he was Tom, and he loved his aelurodon second only to Julie; he kept her on a tight restraint. Even so, she pulled him up the hill with ease until, a minute by, they were standing at the place where the ape-man had been. Cigarette butts littered the ground, his calling card.

  Tom glanced around, eyes narrowed and mouth firm. Ape-man had left to avoid the windstorm. What did that mean, “left?” He was probably even now sitting on the other side, only a few hundred feet away. Tom again removed his gun, and together he and Little picked their way along the semi-steep side of the hill. In contrast to just before, now everything was unnaturally quiet, deathly quiet, and Tom cringed at the sound of each leaf crushed underfoot. As he came closer to the southern face, moonlight luminous there, he slowed his pace and raised his pistol. But no Jaqzen. Tom spun around, expecting that he’d been outwitted and would find the fiend standing behind him. Not there. He walked clear around the hilltop again, but no.

  Then he looked down toward the South, back into the basin. Did a double take. It was dark, but he thought he saw movement.

  Yes, movement! Yet, it wasn’t the big man, it was something else. He strained to see, something silently running, coming toward them. Tom hurriedly got the binocs and pointed them at the shape in motion. A horse. Wait, something ... someone else! A sound burst from his throat, an exclamation.

  IT WAS HER! JULIE! She was on the back of a horse! Like an apparition, her hair was long and flowing behind her in the wind, and she was coming toward them!

  Tom said something that was nothing and was about to dash down the side when he saw other movement. He’d forgotten about Jaqzen, but there he was at the bottom of the hill, three hundred feet down, hiding behind a boulder, waiting, a predator ready to pounce. Tom judged he’d have to run down to make it. Quickly, he tied Little to a tree, commanded her to stay, dropped his pack, and set off. She squealed and pulled to get free, but did not bark. Tom realized that those precious seconds tying her meant that Jaqzen would be at Julie before him.

  It wasn’t easy running down a semi-steep hill in the dark and he tripped in a hole, falling hard and painfully, but was up again in a flash, racing downside. Now the sound of galloping hooves was audible. A hundred feet from the bottom, Julie and Zephyr caught sight of the running figure coming their way down the hill and the boy spun to the side just as Jaqzen burst from behind the rock, knife in hand to slay the horse.

  Tom’s mind went into slow motion again as it had at other times of crisis, and all sound ceased, only his legs pumping, his heart beating like the pounding of those hooves. Leaving his gun holstered, he pulled something else from his belt, something he’d taken back on the trail. A silent vow he’d made. Now he held it in his hand as he raced toward the barbarian.

  Zephyr ran fast as he could, but reversing their direction had cost him time. And Jaqzen was on him, slashing like a madman with his knife. He missed though, while the horse did not. Zephyr kicked, catching the big man full in the chest, cracking a rib, and he faltered, falling to one knee. Even so, he was able to pull Julie down by her pants, refusing to let go. She screamed and kicked at him, a hard snap at his head, throwing blood to the other side of his face. Still, he held on.

  “I got you, Bitch!” he rasped, “Ha, Ha. I got you!” Standing back up, he held one arm across his stomach and the other, Julie by her hair. “I told you I would, didn’t I? You never stood a chance!” Putting his hands around her neck, he gripped tight. In that moment, his moment of bloodlust, he might have killed her, wanting only the immediate satisfaction of his blinding fury. Then Zephyr came at him again, ramming from behind, and once more knocked him to the ground, forcing him to release his hold on her. Julie let out another exclamation. There was the other, the running figure, just back of the ape-man. Half up, Jaqzen turned, instantly regretting it, imagining it a trick. He was about to turn around, then his eyes grew wide, at first with fear, then amusement.

  “What?” he said, “What? ... You?” And suddenly he knew. Despite the dark skin, flowing beard and tattered clothes, he knew who this was. To think that all this time I’d been worried about you! he thought, and with that he began to laugh. “Look at you! You’re an animal!”

  Tom, on the slope behind, was now level with Jaqzen. He raised his left hand to strike and Jaqzen caught it with both of his. “Haven’t we been here before?” he growled.

  “This ought to even the odds, then,” Tom said, as, instantly, he brought up his right and struck, sinking the stake, the same stake that had grazed Little in the pit, into Jaqzen’s chest. It went deep enough to lodge between two upper rib bones, the point puncturing a lung beneath.

  “Die, you fiend!” Tom said, as he swung at the ape-man’s face, hitting it fully and soundly with a satisfying crack. Blood began to pour from his nose. Jaqzen staggered back, then fell again, clutching at the stake. He wasn’t done yet, though, and he yanked it out, throwing it away.

  “Come on, then!” he bellowed, rising. Tom obliged and began to pummel the man’s face with his fists, feeling the skin give under every blow.

  Jaqzen swung forcefully with a leg, knocking Tom off his feet, and he fell hard on the ground. “That the best you got, little man?” he roared, regaining his momentum. “That’s it?” Tom, up again, came back at him, fists flying out rapidly. Then, grimacing, Jaqzen grasped Tom by the throat and began to squeeze. “You had your shot, Mouse, and it wasn’t bad, but now you go bye-bye.” Tom reached for his pistol, but found that it was missing. It had fallen out when he’d tripped on the hill. He tore at the big man’s eyes, but already was beginning to feel faint. Julie, frantic and crying, cracked the ape-man on the back of his head with a fallen branch, but, dry, it broke in two.

  “I’ll be dealing with you in a minute, Bitch,” Jaqzen promised, “soon as I finish off dear hubby.” His entire head was dripping in blood. Julie looked around desperately for something heavier, a rock, but there was only sand.

  To the end Tom fought, until, asphyxiated, he succumbed, his knees buckling. Jaqzen, now recovered, laughed. “Bye, Mouse!” he said.

  That’s when it happened. When lightning struck. Well, not lightning exactly, an Aelurodon with a chewed off piece of rope around her neck. The first pass knocked the big man off her human and sent him sprawling to the ground. Julie rushed to Tom.

  “What’s this?” the ape man said, “You brought your puppy, too? All the merrier!” Little now faced the monster, teeth bared and snarling, spitting ferocity. “Come on then, I like a challenge!” Little sprang and Jaqzen swung, crashing
a meaty fist into her muscled side. There was a loud snap.

  “Ahhhh!” Jaqzen yelled out in pain, grabbing his wrist. Little turned to spring again and Jaqzen kicked wildly. Little caught it, tripping the big man, who fell heavily onto his back. Then, with her powerful jaws, she crunched down solidly, tearing muscle, cracking bone, and shook viciously, ripping open the leg, and an artery. To the big man’s horrible shrieks, she continued to shake, flopping him around like a rag doll. His leg shredded, she dropped it, and approaching, stood over him, daring him to look her in the eye. Jaqzen, incredulous, tried to back away, but when she growled, he stopped. One could almost sense that she was going to enjoy this. Unknown to Tom, she’d intuited for some time that this battle was coming.

  Tom came to then, and turned to see his journey companion about to strike. “LITTLE!” he yelled.

  The big man lay on his back, while his blood, pouring from multiple wounds, was pooling beneath him. His life ebbing away with each beat of his heart. He put his hands in the air between he and Little, a look of true fear now on his face.

  “No! Look, hey, I’m sorry,” Jaqzen pleaded, voice quavering “I - I didn’t mean it. Any of it. I’m sorry!” Suddenly, all the bravado gone, the man looked small and pathetic. Little, her eyes red with rage, mouth working, dripped saliva into the madman’s face. A strange rumbling emerged from deep in her chest, like thunder. She was, after all, an Aelurodon, a wild Barstovian beast.

  “No! I’ll do anything you ask. I’ll - I’ll be your slave!” Jaqzen shrieked. Tom, uncertain, fought to decide. Bad as Jaqzen was, could he do it, could he let her kill another human being? He almost called Little back, then stayed himself. No, this has to happen. This diseased man, symbol of all that had gone wrong, of the cancer of the future, had to leave. He felt something warm in his pocket, withdrew the opal to find it glowing. He held Julie away from the carnage

  Finally, spitting blood and cursing, Jaqzen screamed, “We’re gonna win, Pine! We’re gonna win in the end!” followed by a hysterical, gurgling laugh. Tom shook his head. Clearly the man was insane; deranged product of a deranged time. In spite of everything, he pitied him then. Pitied a race that would fall so out of balance with the natural world around it.

  Forgotten in Little, though, was any sense of the propriety she’d learned all her long time with Tom; even had her human called her back she wouldn’t have heard. And thus, lips curled and fangs bared, she leapt. The man tried to fight, but with his injuries he was too slow. With blinding speed and precision, she tore at Jaqzen’s throat, ripping it out like any prey animal’s, and when he was dead, continued to rip him to pieces. Then, as before, Tom turned away from the scene.

  It had happened so fast, and when at last it was over, a strange peace came upon him as he held Julie in his arms. It was done; what had seemed nearly impossible so long before had actually been a fait accompli. Tomorrow, the vultures and scavengers would come. By day’s end, there would be no sign of man here.

  “After a firefight, there is always the immense pleasure of aliveness. The trees are alive. The grass, the soil - everything. All around you things are purely living, and you among them, and the aliveness makes you tremble.... Freshly, as if for the first time, you love what’s best in yourself and in the world, all that might be lost. At the hour of dusk you sit at your foxhole and look out on a wide river turning pinkish red, and at the mountains beyond, and... you find yourself studying the fine colors on the river, you feel wonder and awe at the setting of the sun, and you are filled with a hard, aching love for how the world could be and always should be, but now is not.”

  Tom, Julie, Little and Zephyr walked to the other hill and waited for dawn, saying nothing. Normally, a Barstovian horse would never be this near an Aelurodon, yet these two would become inseparable. Perhaps a beginning to the natural friendship that would develop much later between horses and dogs.

  With the moonlight in her hair, in her eyes, Tom thought Julie stunning. Ravishing. He held her tightly, unable to let go.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, a tear running down her cheek.

  “For what?” Tom asked.

  “For coming,” Julie answered. But she was also thanking the earth, thanking Opal for answering her prayers.

  “Thank you for being here,” Tom replied.

  “I love you,” Julie said. It was something she’d needed to say for too long now. “So much.”

  “I love you too, baby.”

  When the sun’s rays began to stretch across the sky, heralding a new day, Julie said, “Let’s go home.”

  Epilogue

  Tom knew it was silly, that they’d never find it. In fifteen million years, the slow process of erosion would erase any sign of it. Still, he carved the words in the rock. It was a message to the future, the far future of man.

  Save the earth

  Below them, wedged in a tiny crack between the heavy boulders, he stuck a note.

  You know how some days, rare as opals, just have a special feel to them, in the morning when the day is fresh and new or after the first spring rain, when tender leaves hang heavy with drops? The sun, a breeze, even clouds, whatever. You don’t know what it is, but it just feels right and you smile. That’s everyday life in the Luisian. There’s just something about a Miocene sun! You can almost hear the music, Opal’s song.

  Love her, protect her, and she will you.

  Tom turned and headed out, disappearing over a grassy rise. Back to Julie. Back to life.

  Miocene Horses © Marianne Collins

  Miocene California, Rod Rayborne

  Quotations

  Quotes about the Middle Miocene

  “Clarendonian Chronofauna: Grassland Savanna Land mammal diversity in North America reached its zenith during the Barstovian mammal age.... These mammal ages are thought to indicate a savanna optimum in North America, with a rich mosaic of trees, shrubs, and grasses supporting an extraordinary variety of large and small, grazing and browsing, ungulates. It is not uncommon during this savanna acme to collect in a single site 20 genera of ungulates of which half are Equidae.” ~ S. David Webb and Neil D. Opdyke. Effects of Past Global Change on Life. [chapter] Global Climatic Influence on Cenozoic Land Mammal Faunas. p. 193

  “During such robust chronofaunal intervals the continental mammal fauna stood near its ecological capacity.... The acme of land mammal diversity, dominated by horses and other savanna herbivores, is attained in the Barstovian.... the land mammal faunas experienced high diversity and long stable community development (chronofaunal evolution). This lends credence to the view that the ecosystem was near capacity during the Barstovian acme” ~ Effects of Past Global Change on Life. p. 203

  “Horse diversity increased so dramatically that at some fossil sites from fifteen million years ago as many as a dozen species can be found. Today the world’s horses (and their relatives the zebras, asses and onagers) are reduced to the single genus Equus, whose wild members live only in parts of Asia and Africa.... the familiar horses, zebras, asses and onagers that share our modern world represent but a single surviving branch on a once luxuriant equid family tree that reached its full glory during the Miocene.” ~ Bruce J. Macfadden. Natural History 4/94. Article: The Heyday of Horses.

  “Canids experienced their second spurt of diversification in the middle Miocene... their maximum ecological breadth during this time.” ~ Wang and Tedford. Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History. p. 127

  “If west coast marine tetrapod evolution in general had a peak, a time when it went as far as it could go, the mid-Miocene may have been it.” ~ David Rains Wallace. Neptune’s Ark: From Ichthyosaurs to Orcas. p. 105

  “Changes in the productivity and species richness of terrestrial vegetation must have affected herbivore communities. Hoofed herbivorous large mammals on the North American continent show a maximum diversity during the middle Miocene climatic optimum... This maximum in both local and regional diversity greatly exceeds the diversity of ungulates in any present-
day habitat, which implies a greater primary productivity than is seen today. Preliminary review data suggest that the pattern of elevated ungulate diversity is a global phenomenon, and, therefore, a global driving force is the most likely explanation. CO2 fertilization during the middle Miocene climatic optimum may have made possible the expansion of high-productivity terrestrial biomes that supported high-diversity browser communities.” ~ Wolfram M. Kürschner, Zlatko Kvacˇek, and David L. Dilcher. The impact of Miocene atmospheric carbon dioxide fluctuations on climate and the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems. p. 452

  “The later Tertiary mammalian fauna of the World Continent was perhaps the richest that has ever existed on the face of the earth. It is as if mammalian life had been proliferating in ever increasing numbers, exploring every ecological nook and cranny that could be populated, testing how large or small you could get, how best to adorn yourself with tusks or horns, how to fly, swim, climb, run, dig, jump, hunt, eat, kill and defend yourself, better than ever before. All the manifestations have a single keyword: adaptation. Most of the evolutionary lines of the later Tertiary had a fairly long history behind them: they had got far enough to attain basic adaptation for a given way of life. What remained now was to perfect it. And so, in the late Tertiary, the mammals were increasing in efficiency, under the constant supervision of natural selection - a perfectionist potentate. And in general this would also involve an increase in beauty, in gracefulness, in elegance.” ~ Björn Kurtén. The Age of Mammals. [chapter] The Miocene: Epoch of Revolutions. Columbia University Press. 1971