They were silent for a moment.
“Do you still insist on not telling me where this map of yours is taking us?” Kain asked.
“Not until we get there. We need to make sure you won’t turn on us.”
“If I wanted to turn on you, I could just kill you and steal the map.”
“We’d destroy it first,” Raiden replied coolly. “Ferrus has the entire thing stored in a memory file.”
“Fair enough. You may live…for now.”
Raiden laughed, then quickly stopped himself, feeling guilty for warming up to a knight.
Ahead of them, Ferrus and Mara pulled back on their dinosaurs, bringing them to a complete stop.
“What’s up?” Raiden asked as they caught up to them.
“We are entering the Wildlands,” Ferrus replied gravely. “This is tyrannosaurus territory. We must exhibit extreme caution.”
“How far are we from our destination?” Kain asked.
“You will see when we get there,” Ferrus replied impatiently.
“I must know in order to plan when to feed the raptors. If we have more than an hour remaining, the beasts must rest.”
“It’s alright, Ferrus,” Raiden said. “You can tell him.”
Ferrus looked to Mara, who nodded approvingly, then glared hatefully at Kain.
“At this speed, we should arrive in approximately four hours,” Ferrus growled.
“You know, I wouldn’t mind a break either,” Sable joined in beside them, panting with exhaustion. “I’m starting to regret not taking a raptor for myself.”
Kain patted his dinosaur’s back and climbed down the side, plopping his feet onto the ground. His men followed his lead. They walked over to a tenth raptor they’d brought along to carry supplies and unloaded a barrel of water from its back, opening it for the dinosaurs to drink. Sable plopped down onto the grassy floor and closed her eyes, taking deep breaths.
Raiden, Mara, and Ferrus dismounted as well, giving their raptors a break. Raiden took a deep breath, happy to feel his feet on solid ground.
“I understand your distrust of him,” Raiden said to Mara. “I’m not too crazy about knights myself. But can you guys make it a bit less obvious?”
“Only a coward hides his animosity behind a mask of friendship.”
“Don’t pretend to be his friend,” Raiden replied. “Just pretend not to want to murder him. It’ll make this trip easier for all of us.”
“Fine,” Mara sighed. “I will try to…mask my murderous intentions.”
“That’s, um,” Raiden stuttered awkwardly, trying to figure out if she was kidding. “not what I mean, but okay.”
After a brief rest, they mounted their raptors and continued their ride. A few tall, leafy trees began to appear throughout the fields, increasing in frequency as the terrain changed slowly from open field to dense forest. The towering trees created a blanket under the sky, casting shadowy darkness on the forest beneath them.
As they rode, Raiden couldn’t help but admire the wildlife around him. A giant sloth, the size of a giraffe, hung to the trunk of a nearby tree, plucking bright, purple fruits from its branches. Dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes scampered out of their way into bushes or onto nearby trees, some of them flying off with sharp, feathered wings, others carrying eggs in their mouths. Some of the creatures looked like animals Raiden knew back on Earth, but with slight differences, as if they were their evolutionary predecessors. Light-skinned elephants with short, thick snouts extending from between their eyes. Rabbits the size of elks, elks the size of horses, and horses the size of mammoths. The raptors trampled over exotic, overgrown plants and shrubbery of all colors, some of them infested with insects the size of a fist. A herd of miniature, pink, skinny-legged dinosaurs scurried under Raiden’s raptor’s feet, carrying bright, red mushrooms in their mouths. Raiden jolted in his seat as his raptor bent down and snatched one of the squirming creatures in his deadly jaw, gulping it down with a crunch.
The forest lurked with predators as well. Raiden felt his raptor veer instinctively left, along with the rest of the pack, as a hostile hissing erupted from the left. Four human-sized, scaly dinosaurs hopped out of a nearby bush brandishing a mouthful of sharp, bloodied teeth. Behind them, Raiden could make out the corpse of another creature they’d attempted to hide in the bush, a four-legged dinosaur with spikes running down its back and a club-like tail.
After another hour of riding, Kain rode up to the front of the group to speak with Mara.
“The raptors need another break.”
“Already? We can be there in three hours, perhaps even less,” Ferrus replied.
“That is too long,” Kain insisted. “The raptors would collapse.”
“We will search for somewhere safe to stop,” Mara said.
“I do not think anywhere here is safe,” Ferrus said in her usual grave tone.
“Then let us just stop here for a few minutes and be on our way,” Kain said.
Mara glanced around, seeing nothing but bugs and shrubbery.
“Fine,” she agreed. “But let’s make it as quick as possible.”
They dismounted and took down the water barrel again, along with a sack of fresh meat. Sable sat down on a pile of leaves and gulped down two canteens of water which she’d carried herself, along with a loaf of bread. Watching the raptors eat and drink, Raiden noticed his own stomach grumbling, suddenly aware that he hadn’t eaten all day. He approached his raptor and untied a travel pack from its saddle, which he’d assembled before the trip, pulling out a bag of dried, salted meat, a canteen of water, and an apple.
He found a rock with a relatively flat surface and sat down to eat, watching the rest of the group as they chatted and munched on snacks of their own. He placed the apple and the canteen on the floor as he chewed on the tough, rubbery meat.
“Woah, woah, easy,” he heard some of the knights call as one of the raptors broke away from its meal and approached them, growling intensely.
“Dios, what’s gotten into you?” Kain asked, walking slowly up to his raptor.
Another of the raptors joined its companion, sounding a series of shrill cries.
Enjoying the show, Raiden took a sip from his canteen to help force the dry meat down his throat. When he placed it back on the ground, he noticed something peculiar. The canteen was vibrating ever so slightly, creating ripples in the water within. As he bit into his apple, he thought he could feel the rock beneath him begin to shake as well.
“Um, guys,” Raiden mumbled with his mouth full, quickly closing his canteen and jogging over to where Mara and Ferrus stood, a few meters away from the knights.
“Guys, I think the ground is-”
“Shaking,” Mara finished his sentence, a fearful look in her eyes. “We know. Ferrus picked up the vibrations. We must leave here at once.”
Sable had stood up as well, having noticed the tremors. She quickly tied her bag around her neck and morphed back into centaur form, ready to go.
“Kain!” Raiden shouted as they hurried over to the group, which by now was struggling to calm all ten raptors.
“Something is troubling the raptors,” Kain said, turning to face them.
“We need to get out of here,” Mara said urgently. “Something is coming…something big.”
“You heard the lady,” Kain barked at his men. “Move out!”
Two of the knights worked to fasten the food and drink back on the extra raptor as the others mounted.
“This way,” Ferrus pointed, sensing the source of the tremors. She took off into the forest, followed by Mara, Raiden, and Sable.
Kain watched them go, then glanced back at his soldiers who were still fastening the barrel to the raptor’s harness as the creature struggled frantically to escape.
“Forget the supplies!” Kain ordered his men as the ground shook more and more violently.
“But sir-”
“I said, forget them!” Kain yelled impatiently, and he took off after Ferrus wi
th the two mounted knights.
The knights obeyed his command, dropping the barrel to the floor and running for their raptors. However, before they could reach them, the creatures broke free of their ropes and ran off into the forest, leaving their riders stranded.
“Hey, wait!” the knights yelled desperately, but it was too late. Before they even had time to panic, a crashing sound erupted from behind them as a tree collapsed, and a gigantic foot with sharp, curved talons stepped down onto where the knights were standing. One of the men dove out of the way while the other was crushed, armor and all, beneath ten tons of dinosaur. The beast was titanic, its head almost reaching the top of the surrounding towering trees, around sixty feet tall. Its snout was long and narrow like a crocodile, and a menacing, spiky sail jutted out from its armor-plated spine. It watched the second man with a calculating, predatorial glare as he scurried away. Uttering a satisfied growl, it bent down and clenched its mighty jaw around the knight it had killed, using a pair of short, clawed arms to cut away the man’s armor.
As it feasted, another two of the giant dinosaurs stomped out from the forest and ran past it, chasing after the second knight at five times his speed. As they reached him, the knight drew his saberblade and waved it threateningly, screaming madly. One of the beasts lunged forward with an open jaw full of jagged, yellow teeth. The knight dove and swung simultaneously, carving a wound down the creature’s chin. As the dinosaur roared with anger, its companion struck even faster, grabbing the knight by the legs and dangling him upside down sixty feet in the air. The knight swung, cutting himself free, only to fall straight into the opened mouth of the first beast.
◆◆◆
“This way!” Ferrus shouted, making a sharp turn to the right. Leaves and branches crunched under their feet as the raptors raced through the forest at full speed, their instincts rendering them just as frightened as their riders. Raiden’s heart pounded as he held on for dear life, wondering how he’d ever ridden a flying balcon.
“Right now,” Ferrus cried, “Turn right!”
“But we just turned left!” Mara bellowed as they jolted right.
“They are coming from both direct-!”
Before she could finish, a gigantic, heavy tail smashed into her raptor from the side, sending them both tumbling to the ground.
“Ferrus!” Mara cried worriedly, pulling her raptor to a stop as Ferrus rolled violently across the floor in the opposite direction. The cyborg’s tumble was cut short as she struck against a rock with a painful thud.
A terrible roar erupted from above as the giant dinosaur stomped out in front of them and pounced, crunching down on Ferrus’s fallen raptor, then closing in on Ferrus. Raiden’s stomach churned at the gory sight. A high-pitched neigh caught his attention as Sable stood beside him on her hind legs, waving her front ones in the air to the left where a second beast emerged from behind the trees.
Mara rode as fast as she could towards Ferrus’s limp form, followed by Raiden and Sable, but there was no chance they could reach her on time. Kain glanced hesitantly at Ferrus as he rode by her, having lagged behind due to his late start. He looked up at the approaching beast, which, despite seeing him and his two knights, had chosen to go for the already defeated prey. And then, in a split-second decision, he drew his saberblade and leaped from his moving raptor towards the oncoming dinosaur, swinging at its opened mouth. The creature shrieked in surprise as Kain sliced off a chunk of its jaw, causing it to stagger back.
“Sir!” one of Kain’s knights yelled with concern. They turned their raptors around and joined Mara’s charge towards Ferrus and their commander, but before they could reach them, the second dinosaur pounced into their path, emitting a hungry and terrifying roar.
“Attack together!” Mara yelled, stringing her bow.
The knights drew their saberblades and rushed into battle, dodging the dinosaur’s mighty feet as they targeted its underbelly. Meanwhile, Mara distracted the beast with her arrows, landing blow after blow in its face. Sable morphed out of her centaur form and sprouted vast, feathery wings and talons, tearing at the skin of the creature’s back. Raiden, weaponless, watched nervously from the sidelines, unsure how he could help.
As he struggled, a familiar caw echoed from above him. Skarai swooped in and landed on Raiden’s arm.
“Skarai!” Raiden exclaimed excitedly. “Wanna help out?”
The bird shrieked in approval.
“Great,” Raiden smiled at the bird. “Try to take out that thing’s eyes, but watch out for Mara’s arrows.”
The bird cawed again, signaling it understood, then flew off towards the dinosaur, releasing a barrage of poison darts at its eyes.
The beast roared and swung its head madly, trying all at once to stomp out the knights, avoid Mara’s arrows, smack Sable with its tail, and bite down on Skarai. It squealed in pain as the knights passed underneath it with their saberblades extended upwards, carving two bloody gashes into the creature’s belly. Taking advantage of the moment, Skarai swooped in for a second barrage, landing multiple darts in the dinosaur’s left eye. The eye turned a dark blue as the poison seeped out from the darts, spreading rapidly. At the same time, Mara landed a lucky arrow in the opposite eye. Blind and suffering, the beast entered into a craze, roaring and spinning wildly.
“Let’s finish him!” Mara cried.
“Now would be a good time to wake up, Cyborg,” Kain grumbled, nudging Ferrus with the back of his boot as he stared up at towering beast before him, waiting with his sword in front of him as the dinosaur recovered from the blow.
“A Spinosaurus,” Kain muttered to himself. “At least it is an original way to die.”
The creature roared viciously, blood oozing from the wound on its jaw, then lunged forward with its teeth bared and its arms outstretched. Kain rolled out of the way and evaded the dinosaur’s grasp by a fraction of an inch, so close that the air around him was engulfed in the stink of the creature’s breath.
Not sparing even a moment, the dinosaur struck again and then again, each time getting closer and closer to its target. Kain swung his blade here and there drawing blood, but was forced to remain mostly on the defensive. He was panting with exhaustion, his body drenched in sweat beneath his armor.
“I could have you hanged for the attempted murder of a knight!” Kain shouted sarcastically to be beast as he jumped and ran, dove and swung. “Ferrus, wake up, goddammit!”
Unable to keep up with the beast, Kain lost his footing and tripped, giving the dinosaur the opportunity to strike. Kain cried out in pain as the creature’s clawed arm dug into his side and pinned him violently against another boulder, bringing its opened mouth in for the kill.
Just as the teeth began to press down on his armor, the dinosaur shrieked with pain and stumbled backward, dropping Kain to the floor as blood poured from its throat. Surprised, Kain glanced to his right to see Ferrus standing strong, her entire body surging with energy as she wielded her mighty blade.
“I must say,” Kain winced, touching his wound as he leaned against the rock. “Your timing is impeccable.”
“Get up,” Ferrus replied coldly, turning back to the dinosaur. “I require your assistance to slay this beast.”
“My pleasure,” Kain stood up painfully. “So tell me, are all cyborgs this grumpy after a nap?”
“Are all knights this irritating after performing an act of chivalry?”
Kain stabilized his fighting stance, preparing for the dinosaur’s next attack.
“So, you think me chivalrous?”
“I think you deserving of thanks,” Ferrus said, sparing him a grateful glance, allowing respect for him to sneak into her expression, if only for a moment. “For saving my life.”
“Thank me later,” Kain swallowed nervously as the dinosaur recovered from its wound and charged. “Distract the beast, and I’ll go for its-”
Ignoring his suggestion, Ferrus bent her knees and bounded supernaturally high, spinning her tremendous, glowing b
lade as she flipped midair and slashed one of the dinosaur’s arms clean off. She pounded back onto her feet, leaving an indent in the ground where she landed.
“That works as well,” Kain muttered, taking advantage of the distraction to attempt an attack of his own. He sprinted, dodging the dinosaur’s mouth, and slid beside the beast’s leg, cutting off one of its fingered claws with his saberblade.
As he emerged from behind the dinosaur, he sprung back onto his feet, only to be bashed in the side by the creature’s giant tail. The blow sent him crashing into a tree trunk, rendering him unconscious.
◆◆◆
“Sir, are you alright?”
Kain opened his eyes to find his two surviving knights standing over him. His entire body seared with pain.
“Is it dead?” Kain asked, staring up at them.
“It is, sir,” one of the men answered. “Or, rather, they both are.”
“Then, I am alright. Give me a hand.”
As the knight helped him up, Kain looked around, seeing eight of his raptors feeding on the carcasses of the two titanic creatures. A dozen trees collapsed where the monsters had fallen. The rest of the group sat together on a fallen trunk nearby, resting and treating their wounds. They look up as Kain’s men helped him limp towards them.
“Look who’s awake,” Raiden joked, Skarai perched on his shoulder. “You slept through the most exciting part.”
Mara stood up from her place on the log.
“Sit,” she motioned towards Kain.
“I am fine. We should not stay here for too long; the smell of fresh meat will attract more predators. Perhaps even a Tyrannosaurus.”
“As you prefer,” Mara said. She glanced hesitantly at Sable, then looked solemnly into Kain’s eyes. “After the battle, Sable disguised herself and went searching for the remainder of your men. Unfortunately, she discovered only what was left of their bodies, but we managed to recover their raptors.”
“Unfortunate indeed,” Kain muttered, the angered by the news. His fellow knights looked down with sorrow. “They were good men. Anything else?”
“Yes, there is one more thing,” Mara said. She looked at Ferrus, who stood up as well.
The Chamber of Genesis Page 21