by Saxon Andrew
Andy looked in her eyes and smiled, “No you’re not.”
“I can go if I want!”
“This is a punishment and you would be showing your disagreement by going to assist me.”
“I do disagree!”
Andy shook his head, “The punishment is fair. You can’t go with me.”
Lyla’s tears started and she pushed a large leather pouch into Andy’s arms, “Take these provisions. You’ll need them until you can start hunting for your food.”
Andy started to refuse but saw she would not accept his refusal. He took the pouch. Lyla stepped forward and kissed Andy. After a moment she stepped back, “I will be waiting for you to return. Make sure I’m not disappointed!”
Andy pulled her back into his arms and kissed her. He pushed her away after a moment and said, “I’ll do what I can.” Lyla followed him to the holding pen and carried the two food pouches for him. Dinah smelled him coming and wondered what was going on. They had just come back home. When she saw him carrying his gear, she roared her approval. She was ready to do it again.
Andy led her out of the pen and began belting the saddle and packs. Lyla went to the supply building and came back with three additional quivers stuffed with arrows. Andy’s eyes narrowed and she said, “So let them beat me. You’re going to need more than these to survive a year. Don’t lose them.”
Andy sighed and clipped the quivers to the clips on the front of his saddle. He put the two heavy pouches in the front bag and looked closely at Dinah; would this be too much weight? But Dinah appeared not to notice the extra weight. The young Judge watched Andy load the packs on Dinah and Andy looked at him when he clipped the extra arrows to his saddle. The Judge did not say anything. Andy hugged Lyla again and jumped into the saddle. She stared at him with tears in her eyes and he slowly shook his head, “Make sure everyone respects Maxius; he deserves it.” Lyla nodded and Andy turned Dinah toward the gate in the northern side of the Roman Wall. Dinah started picking up speed and Andy said, “Walk.” She slowed her pace and wondered why he was not allowing her to run.
• • •
Andy arrived at the Gate and saw Enapay. The Master Archer saw the excessive arrows on Andy’s saddle and said, “What’s going on?”
“I’ve been banished from the Community for a year.”
“Get out of here!”
“That’s exactly what I’m doing.”
“You need to wait until we discuss this among the Archers.”
Andy looked at Enapay, “I was tested and I failed. The Judges have made a fair and, in my opinion, good decision. Maxius is going to be the new Leader and I’m going to depend on you to make sure the Archers welcome him and give him their loyalty. Will you do this for me?” Enapay stared at Andy and after a moment Andy said, “If you respect our friendship, you will do this for me.”
Enapay looked away for a moment and then looked back at Andy, “Are you sure about this?”
“I am. You know Maxius will be a great leader.”
“Not as good as you.”
Andy smiled, “I failed; he passed. I think that says all that needs to be said.”
Enapay slowly nodded, “I’ll pass what you’ve said along to the others.” Enapay reached up and Andy took his hand and shook it. Andy said, “Go!” Dinah went through the gate at a trot.
• • •
The young Judge had followed Andy to the gate and heard the exchange between the two Master Archers. He watched Andy go through the gate and head north. He turned and went back to the Holy Cave and reported all that he had heard to Harvey. Maxius listened and shook his head, “He has learned his lesson. You’ve got to call him back.” Harvey looked at Maxius and handed him the book he had read from. Harvey turned and walked away as Maxius opened the book and turned to the passage that Harvey had read to Andy. He continued to read and after thirty minutes, he smiled.
Chapter Two
Andy went a mile and thought about where he was going to go. He opened his provision bag and pulled out a pad with the most current maps in it. He saw that the land to the north had been done in fine detail up to a hundred miles away. He looked at the southern map and saw that the Community’s scouts had not really traveled beyond sixty miles. He turned Dinah and crossed the river flowing inside the city’s walls and moved out into the clearing next to the river. Once he was four miles away from the Roman Wall, he had Dinah move next to the cliff wall and they followed the river as it meandered toward a distant volcano. Many of the apprentice Archers saw him and waved as they stood guard over the crops. Andy waved back at them and knew they would know what happened as soon as they returned at dusk. That idea startled him. He and Dinah were going to be out in the open after nightfall. They would not have the protection of the walls to keep away predators. He looked at the map and saw there were several of the old caves built by the Time Takers long ago ahead of them. The closest deserted one was about forty miles south of their current location. Andy looked up at the sun and saw he had about four hours until sunset. He glanced at the river and decided that his travels were going to have to be where water was present. Dinah needed a huge amount of food each day. He touched Dinah on her shoulders with both his knees. The taps were light but she immediately began picking up speed.
He knew she could run extraordinary distances at a smooth gait but he had never really pushed her to find her limit. Dinah responded with a smooth run and the evidence of civilization rapidly disappeared behind them. Andy stopped after two hours and released Dinah to go to the river to drink and eat. He remained close to her with an arrow notched and his cutter beside him. Dinah was finally full and rested for an hour. She came jogging up to him and lowered her head. Andy shook his head, “No, we’re not going home.” Dinah had no idea what he said but she recognized the work ‘no’. Andy jumped on her back and estimated they had covered more than twenty miles. He nudged her to increase her speed and the Runner moved across the plain at an amazing speed. Andy noticed that she really wasn’t extending herself. The sun was just above the horizon when he saw the indentation in the distance in the cliff wall and directed Dinah up on the sandy land next to the cliff wall. As the sun began to disappear he saw the hole in the cliff about a third of a mile ahead of him. Dinah saw the hole in the wall and recognized it as something familiar. She went to full speed and they arrived while there was still daylight. Andy dismounted and went up to the cave entrance. He put his hand in an indentation and pulled a lever. A stone blocking the entrance began rolling back.
Andy pulled his cutter and ignited the blade. The stones had to be manually moved when the caves were initially built but the Romans had installed a counter balance that allowed them to be opened from the outside. He gave Dinah a closed fist and she stayed where she was without moving. Andy raised his arm over his head with a fist and opened it quickly; she stood on her back legs stretching to her full height and put her nose up and started sniffing the air. Andy saw that she didn’t sense anything dangerous. He walked into the cave and saw the ambient light was still operating. He whistled and Dinah came rushing in the entrance. She was barely able to make it in. He pointed to the wall and Dinah went and stood next to it watching him. He held out his palm and lowered it. She went to the floor and tucked her legs next to her long body. Andy pulled the lever inside the opening and the large round stone rolled back into place.
He went to the center of the cave and found the pit used for fires. He looked around and saw stacks of wood close to the stream flowing in the back of the cave. He built a small fire and watched the smoke rise and disappear though the roof. He pulled out some of the dried meat and vegetables from his pouch and made a meal. He ate slowly and after a few moments, he picked up the food pouch and used the cutter to burn a small mark at the top. Only three hundred and sixty four more to go.
He leaned back and watched the fire burn. He was planning to ask Lyla to be his mate. Now…he sighed. He just didn’t know. He looked at Dinah and knew without her, he had no cha
nce of survival. Dinah saw him look at her and she raised her head. Andy smiled and she crawled over, put her head on the ground next to him, and looked up at him. Andy rubbed her lower jaw and she closed her eyes and emitted a high pitched moan. He pulled out the pad and looked at the southern maps. So little was known about the land south of this cave. The map ended twenty miles south and he decided that he would at least keep records of what he encountered. It was a certainty that he would be encountering large carnivores that did not fear humans. He also wondered how much further the caves were built. He thought about adding a load of firewood to his load but knew it was just a temporary fix. He would run out quickly and have to find another way to survive at night. He decided he didn’t want to slow Dinah by adding more weight. He’s come up with something. He saw Dinah looking up at him and he rubbed her jaw. Dinah’s tail was wagging even though her eyes were closed. Andy smiled and, after an hour, both of them were asleep.
• • •
Lyla walked with the community to bury the former Leader. The recitation of all he had accomplished seemed to take forever and she couldn’t focus on any of them. She kept seeing Andy riding out of the Community on Dinah’s back and, try as she might, she kept thinking about all the Predators outside the Community’s lands that had no exposure to the whistles. The wild carnivores would ignore the whistle and attack. She sighed and looked at the Lead Judge announce Maxius as the new Leader. The cheers were loud but she noticed most of the Archers didn’t put much effort into it. They wanted Andy. She shook her head and knew the decision to banish him was probably a good one. If he were still here there would be dissension among the people. Even now she saw many of the Elder Archers looking at each other and shaking their heads. She looked back at Harvey and saw that he saw it as well.
She thought about leaving and going to find him but that was going to be impossible; she had no idea where he chose to go. She looked at Andy’s parents and could see Daysha’s tears were falling. Andy Senior was not happy. After the burial ended she saw several of the Elder Archers approach Andy Sr. and speak with him. Andy’s father nodded and they walked away. She looked at Maxius leading the Community out of the original walls for the former leader’s burial and she could tell he was a reluctant Leader. What could she do? She lowered her head and shook it.
“The only thing we can do is wait and pray for his safe return.” Lyla looked up and saw Daysha looking down at her. Lyla’s tears started and she nodded. “He has Dinah; she is the difference maker. She’ll make sure he stays safe.”
Lyla looked Andy’s mother in the eyes and shook her head, “Andy will keep her safe. The Wild Carnivores are cunning and extremely dangerous.”
Daysha nodded and smiled, “My son is the best we have. If anyone can survive, he will.”
Lyla stood up and hugged Daysha. She knew the predators and wondered if anyone could survive the dangers of this planet. She felt Daysha start crying again and knew she knew it as well.
• • •
Andy cooked another meal and ate all he could bear to hold. He would be leaving the Community’s lands today and there was no telling when he would be able to eat again. He packed everything away and belted his saddle and bags to Dinah’s back. She shook her shoulders and shook her long tail and, after a moment, looked at him. Andy laughed. Dinah was ready. He walked to the cave’s entrance and pulled the lever, which rolled the stone away. He stepped outside and Dinah jumped down onto the sand. She looked at the river three hundred yards away and turned back to Andy. He held out a closed fist and she remained in place. He pulled the outside lever and the stone rolled back over the opening. He looked out at the plain beyond the river and saw several Raptors chasing a large Sauropod off in the distance. He looked at Dinah and raised his arm over his head with the palm open. Dinah went to her back legs and sniffed. She came back down and Andy knew that it was safe. He extended his hand and bent his elbow and brought his hand to his mouth. Dinah ran toward the river and stopped a hundred yards away and raised her head into the air blowing toward the cliff. She looked back at him and lowered her neck. Good; she still didn’t smell anything dangerous. He started walking toward the river and held out his hand and brought it to his mouth again. Dinah moved toward the river and found a nice patch of river grass and started eating. Andy took his compound bow off his shoulder and kept an eye on the tree line. Dinah was good but you just never knew. He arrived next to her and continued to watch the forest. Dinah ate for over an hour and Andy knew she was also preparing for a long day. She finally ate her fill and backed away from the river and put her nose back up in the air. She looked to the west toward the plain and Andy knew a predator was moving toward them. He jumped and pulled himself into the saddle and tapped Dinah with his left knee. She turned south and trotted down the clear land next to the cliff. The flock of Raptors saw the large meal run away and knew they had missed their chance. The leader of the flock saw how fast the meal was running and knew it was a waste of energy to pursue it. She led the flock back into the forest and waited for another meal to present itself.
Andy tried to decide whether to cross the river and move out into the plains but knew that crossing the river was just as dangerous as moving through a forest. There were some giant crocs that made Dinah look small. The maps did not show a shallow crossing and he would have to move into the tree line to find one if he intended to leave the cliff. He decided to move along the cliff and see if an opportunity presented itself.
The morning passed uneventfully and he saw the river was moving further away from the cliff. He didn’t like having only two directions to escape groups of predators. He couldn’t run toward the river, which only left north or south. Raptors could wait in the tree line until he was inside their ranks and charge. He took the whistle out of his shirt and let it hang on his chest. He raised his arm over his head and Dinah raised her nose into the air. She looked toward the river and suddenly accelerated at full speed.
Six Allosaurus came running out of the forest but they had underestimated their prey’s speed. Dinah sprinted past the most southern one and it roared with frustration. Andy smiled. This many Allosaurus meant there weren’t any flocks of Raptors close by. He nudged Dinah toward the river and saw a large sandbar where it had made a turn away from the cliff. The river was flowing over the sand and they would only have to cross about fifty yards of deeper water. He smiled and said, “Go, Dinah.”
The huge runner accelerated even faster and rushed through a copse of trees. She ran through the shallow water flowing over the sandbar and jumped. She landed ten yards from the other side and was out of the water in an instant. Andy heard a loud splash and knew there was a large predator in the water behind them. But it was behind them and no longer a problem. Dinah continued at high speed and ran between the tall trees toward open ground. She made it by the last tree and turned hard left as an Allosaurus came rushing at them from the right. Andy had an arrow notched in an instant and shot the huge carnivore in the left eye. He spun around in the saddle as Dinah suddenly turned back to the right. He notched another arrow but didn’t fire. The second Allosaurus wasn’t close enough to catch them. Dinah ran out into the vast plain and after three minutes, Andy said, “Slower.” Dinah slowed down and put her nose up in the air. She continued to run further into the plain and Andy knew she sensed more danger. He turned around in the saddle and faced behind them. He saw what had Dinah worried. There was a large flock of Utah Raptors in the tree line on this side of the river. He saw some start giving chase and he thought about taking the leader down but didn’t want to waste another arrow. He lifted his whistle and blew it. The lead Raptor came to an immediate stop and then ran back toward the tree line. Several of those following saw her and wondered what had frightened her. They slowed and then came to a stop as the leader ran at full speed away from the large prey they were chasing. That hesitation allowed Dinah to put too much ground between them.
Andy spun around and allowed Dinah to set her own pace. After anot
her ten minutes she raised her head and then began slowing down. Andy looked around and saw thousands of dinosaurs ahead of them. He looked closely and saw they were all herbivores. He saw a strange new species he had never seen before. It had a large armored head with three large horns. He tapped Dinah with his right knee and she moved away from them. There were several smaller versions and he knew that nervous parents might pose a danger. After a few moments the large horned dinosaurs went back to grazing. Andy stopped Dinah and stared at the new species. Where did they come from? He looked to the north and didn’t see any of them. To the south he saw several groups of them scattered among the other species. They must have come from that direction. That would be a dangerous herbivore; that thick armored head might prevent an arrow penetrating. Those three huge horns could do tremendous damage.
Dinah snorted and he looked where she was staring. There were several dead Raptors on the ground that looked like they had been gored multiple times. Andy looked back at the new dinosaurs and knew it had to be them that killed the Raptors. He decided to stay out of their way.
The grass was about knee high and Andy jumped off Dinah and raised his arm over his head. She put her nose in the air and after a moment looked at him. He brought his hand to his mouth and Dinah began grazing on the grass. He sat down close by and stared at the thousands of dinosaurs that inhabited the plain. He recognized most of them but there was one off in the distance that was chasing a large duckbill. He shook his head. That thing was the largest Allosaurus he had ever seen. He watched as the huge carnivore caught the Duckbill and knocked it off its feet with a swipe of its head. Andy stood up and stared at the giant and saw that it didn’t have a horn on its head. This carnivore was something new and represented a real danger. An Allosaurus would have never run down a Duckbill. That thing was faster than any predator he had ever seen. It had Raptor speed at a size fifty percent larger than an Allosaurus. He looked around the predator for a species he recognized and realized that this new carnivore was only slightly smaller than a Spinosaurus and was more nimble than that giant.