by Saxon Andrew
Harmony and Lyla were following Lyla’s parent as they walked toward the gate and heard the roar. Lyla and said, “The Community just learned that Andy is now our leader.”
Harmony shook her head, “I’m starting to feel like I’m in over my head. I wish I had delayed this.”
Lyla pushed her slightly, “Oh get real. You’d only be more frightened if you waited.”
Harmony looked at Lyla, “Why?”
“You are now one half of the Royal Couple. You’ll see what that means tomorrow.”
Harmony started shaking her head as they turned the corner and stepped through the gate. The drums immediately started beating a different rhythm that everyone recognized as the rhythm for the Uniting Ritual. The cheering stopped and everyone turned their attention to the group of four entering the gate. The community was shocked silent. Lyla was wearing an Archer’s blue uniform and the woman walking beside her was a heavenly vision. Lyla’s parents followed them smiling and Lyla smiled as she waved to the crowd. The only sound was the beating of the drums. No one understood what was going on. Lyla was supposed to be Andy’s mate but she married Maxius. What was happening?
Andy saw Harmony moving up the path and his heart went into his throat. She was wearing an emerald green dress that was strapless and went down to just above her knees. He knew it was Lyla’s dress but Harmony filled it out in a way that was incredible. He loved her so much it hurt to look at her.
Harmony walked up the path holding white flowers in her hands and saw the Archers on each side were staring at her in amazement. Lyla was right, they were impressed. She saw Jonathan and stopped in front of him. He walked over and kissed him on the cheek, “Thank you.”
Jonathan’s face was bright red and those around him were envious of the attention he received. The community saw the act and immediately began cheering. It turned into a roar by the time the four arrived at the fire. Lyla’s parents moved to the opposite side of Harvey from Andy’s parents and sat down. Lyla took Harmony to one side and Maxius stood on the other side with Andy. Harvey stood and raised his hands and after a moment, the drums stopped and the crowd was silent. The Archers moved up the path and the crowd closed in behind them.
Harvey said in a voice that rang out clearly, “We are here tonight to unite two of our own in a holy bonding.” Harvey said, “What family offers consent for Andy?”
Andy’s father stood and said, “We agree to this union.”
Harvey looked at Lyla’s parents and Lyla said, “My family has adopted Harmony and she will be my sister.”
Lyla’s mother said, “And we both agree to this union.”
Harmony looked at Lyla with surprise written all over her face and Lyla hugged her and whispered in her ear, “I’ve always wanted a sister.”
Harmony returned her hug as Harvey said, “Who will testify to this union and make sure Andy will always remember his promises and honor them?”
Maxius yelled, “I will testify on his behalf.”
Harvey then said, “Who will testify to this union and make sure Harmony will always remember her promises and honor them?”
Lyla smiled and said, “I will testify on her behalf.”
Harvey smiled, “Bring them together.”
Maxius and Lyla took them by the hand and led them in front of Harvey. They then placed the hand they were holding together and Andy felt Harmony grip his hand. He stared into her eyes and she could see he was hers. Harvey said, “We are gathered this night to witness the bonding of Andy and Harmony. Andy do you take Harmony to be your mate, to have and to hold and cling only to her and no other for the rest of your life?”
“I do.”
Harmony do you take Andy to be your mate to have and to hold and will cling only to him and no other for the rest of your life?”
“I do.”
Harvey looked out at the community, “You see before you the Community’s Royal Couple. Andy has returned from the trial to strengthen him for the task of leading us.” Harvey looked at Andy and Harmony, “Andy, you may kiss your mate.”
Andy did and the roar of approval from the Community echoed of the cliffs and out into the plains beyond. The celebration started with the drum beat and questions about the beautiful woman began and continued for the next month. By then, everyone knew Andy had chosen wisely.
Chapter Seven
The celebration finally ended and Andy held Harmony in his arms. “Where do we go now?”
Andy looked at her, “I have something to do before we go to the quarters we’ve been assigned.” Harmony tilted her head and Andy pulled her by the hand through the gate and around the wall. “I have to release Dinah.”
“WHAT!?!”
“She is showing signs of needing a mate. I didn’t notice and I can’t delay this any longer.”
Harmony grabbed Andy’s arm and said, “What do you mean release her?”
“The Cursors are released when they enter heat. They are sent out into the wilds to find a mate.”
“Andy, she could be killed!”
“I know. But she would kill herself attempting to go if I don’t release her. This has to be done.”
Harmony followed him to the holding pen and saw Dinah running rapidly around it. She came to a stop as soon as she saw Andy but she was trembling. Harmony shook her head and saw her pain. She rubbed Dinah’s jaw as Andy removed the harness that never came off. Andy turned and started walking toward the north gate on the Roman Wall. Dinah followed him and walked between Andy and Harmony. The guard saw them coming and noticed that the Cursor wasn’t wearing a harness. He opened the huge gate and Andy led Dinah through. Dinah looked at him and Andy rubbed her jaw. Dinah moaned and then Andy pointed north. Dinah looked at him for a moment and then ran away at an incredible speed.
“What happens if she doesn’t come back?”
“I’ll have to select a new Cursor from the eggs. You will also select a Cursor at the appropriate time.”
“Do any of those that leave not come back?”
Andy sighed, “About fifty percent.”
“Andy, this frightens me.”
Andy took Harmony in his arms, “Me too, but somehow it seems right that on the night when we became mates that she should go out to find one of her own.” Andy looked out of the gates toward the north, “I know she’ll choose well.” Andy looked at the guard and nodded. He closed the gate and Andy took Harmony’s hand and started walking back toward the homes along the river.
“How long before you know if she survives?”
“About four weeks.” Harmony nodded and put her arm around Andy’s waist.
• • •
Andy and Harmony sat with Maxius, Mark, and Harvey in the Holy Cave. They had spent more than four hours reliving all that had happened and it was clear the three were concerned about what they heard. Harvey began the discussion with a question that caused tension among the others. He looked at Harmony and said, “So you say you were a Destroyer Warrior before you fled?”
“Yes, I was.”
“And did you fire into young boys and men while they were bound and defenseless?”
Harmony said nothing for a moment and then said, “Yes, I did.”
Maxius and Mark stared at Harmony and wondered what kind of serpent they had allowed into their company. Andy watched Harmony and saw her pain. But then he had a thought, “Harmony.” She looked at him. “How many of them did you hit?”
She shook her head, “It doesn’t matter. I didn’t attempt to stop it.”
“Answer the question. How many of them did you hit?”
“None.”
Harvey’s head went back, “What are you saying?”
Andy saw Harmony’s head go down and he looked at Harvey, “I saw her hit the eyeball of a T-Rex charging at full speed from a hundred yards. Trust me on this, if she wanted to miss them, she would and no one would be able to tell.”
Harmony looked up, “The first human I ever killed was the Destroyer Warrior who was atta
cking an eight year old girl. I just…couldn’t allow him to do it. I had reached the limit of what I could endure watching.”
Harvey stared at her and knew she was telling the truth. He had an uncanny ability to know if someone was lying. “I know what you must have been through but I had to know about your heart. Do you think there are Destroyer Warriors that might turn on their masters given the opportunity?”
Harmony looked at Harvey and slowly shook her head, “I really don’t know. Once you kill innocent people, it changes you. I know some of those captured with me actually look forward to the raids. I don’t have an answer to that question.”
“Would you fire on those you know if confronted by them?”
“If it meant protecting Andy and the people who have accepted me here, I wouldn’t hesitate…and I wouldn’t miss.”
Harvey looked at Andy, “What do you think about this weapon they use?”
“It’s deadly. If their warriors are anywhere near as good as Harmony, they can kill from two hundred yards. Maybe even further.”
The four looked at Harmony, “Most of them are very accurate. However, if your archers are as good as Andy, I believe you could hit them from a longer range.”
Maxius shook his head, “Andy is one of our best archers. I suspect two hundred yards is about our effective range as well.”
“The Destroyers have some sharpshooters that have a small telescope mounted on their rifle that allows them to hit a target as far as five hundred yards.” Andy looked at her and she nodded it was true.
Mark looked at Harvey, “Is it possible for us to build weapons like this?”
“Not with our current level of metallurgy. Maybe someday in the future but we’re a long way from even building the small springs used in them much less the hardened, grooved barrel.”
Harmony looked at Harvey, “Are you able to manufacture the bullets?”
Harvey looked at Harmony and thought for a moment, “I think that is not beyond our ability. We can make a form and pour the metal into it. I’ve had several of our scholars look at the powder that explodes and they say it’s made from basic compounds that we can collect. Why do you ask?”
“Andy mentioned taking the war to them. If you have Archers that wear the invisible suit, you can ambush some of their hunting teams and collect their weapons. Over time, you can probably collect enough to be effective.”
Andy looked at her, “Is there anywhere they store large numbers?”
“All of their large ships have thousands of rifles stored in them. They’re not kept on land to prevent an uprising of the slaves.”
Andy looked at Mark and then back to Harmony, “Do you know how to sail the boat?”
“I do but it takes forty or fifty crewmembers to do it.”
Andy shook his head, “I was just thinking it might be easier to just steal a boat.”
Harmony’s eyes narrowed, “The boats are sailed by slaves. When the raiding parties go ashore in the small boats, there’s about fifty warriors left on board. The slaves are kept in the lower level until they are needed to move the ship.”
Andy looked at Mark, “We could fly a group of archers in and try to take one.”
Mark looked at Harmony, “Are all fifty of the warriors on the top level at the same time?”
“No, after about ten at night, there is a watch crew on the deck. There’s usually about ten warriors on duty at any one time.”
Maxius nodded, “Where would the other warriors be?”
“They would be on the next level below the deck sleeping or playing games. They gamble constantly.”
Mark looked at Andy, “You said those boats have huge rifles that fired explosive projectiles. Wouldn’t the other boats give chase if we tried to sail one away?”
“Not if they’re on fire.”
“What?”
“We’ll have additional Fliers circling the other boats and, once we started moving away, they would ignite a bag of tar with their cutters and drop it on them. I think two or three would do the trick.”
Harmony nodded, “Water would not douse a tar fire. If it hit and spread, I suspect the boat would go up pretty fast.” She thought for a moment and said, “The cannons…” Mark looked blank. “Cannons are what the large rifles are called. But next to the four cannons on the upper deck is four barrels of gun powder. If you can hit those barrels, you’d do massive damage to the deck and the sails.”
Harvey blew out a breath slowly. He looked at Andy and then said to Harmony, “Are they still at that community where you fled?”
Harmony shook her head, “No. That was their last raid. Their boats were full of plunder and they were going back as soon as they completed the job. I suspect they left two months ago.”
“Will they be coming back?”
“Not for another year. Even then they’ll send a single ship to scout the shore line to determine if any of the places they raided have rebuilt or if there were other communities they missed.”
Andy smiled, “What would they do if they saw numerous plumes of smoke rising about a mile inland?”
Harmony shrugged, “I suspect they would send their warriors in to scout. They wouldn’t attack but just confirm there was a target worth sending the following fleet after.”
Andy looked at Harvey, “That’s our target.”
“Just how will we know when they’re coming?”
Harmony said, “They’ll come when the winds change in the spring. They’re about to shift and will be blowing out of the west; it wouldn’t be easy sailing against them. They’ll raid to the north of their lands until next spring.”
Maxius smiled, “We’ll put a flag on top of the cliff. When it starts blowing away from the ocean, we’ll start looking for them.”
Mark looked at Maxius, “Isn’t the wind always blowing off the sea?”
“During the morning and evening it does. But midday the wind blows either away from the ocean or away from the community. It will be blowing out to sea soon.”
Andy nodded, “When the flag blows away from the ocean consistently for a week, we’ll go and see if we can take the ship.” Maxius, Harvey, and Mark nodded. “In the meantime, we’ll start practicing to take the ship. We’ll also have to plan to take out the warriors they send ashore.”
“Why is that?”
Andy looked at Mark, “What do you think will happen if that ship doesn’t come back?”
Harmony tilted her head, “They’ll send a fleet to find out why.”
Andy nodded, “That’s where we’ll try to collect several boats and sink the others. We should have more than enough of their rifles if we pull that off; it should get their attention.”
Harmony blew out a breath and everyone looked at her. “You don’t have to worry about that ship being missed.”
Harvey’s brow furrowed, “Oh! Why not?”
“There will be a full fleet following it eight weeks later.”
Andy looked at Harvey and said, “Taking the first ship will prepare us to take on that fleet.” Andy paused and said, “Something bothers me about what I’ve seen.”
“What is that?”
“There wasn’t one Allosaurus in the lands south of us.”
“Those new dinosaurs probably killed them.”
“I didn’t see any when the new dinosaurs weren’t around. There were none of the new dinosaurs until I moved much further south.”
Harvey looked at Andy and lowered his eyebrows, “You suspect something?”
“I do.”
Harvey sighed and went to the Holy Cave and came back with a large book. He opened it and said, “The original humans estimated that we are about ninety to a hundred million years before the first humans appeared on Earth. That’s when the Allosaurus and the large Raptor lived according to the scientists from the original Andy’s future time. However, Andy drew several species that he knew would evolve millions of years later. That new giant carnivore was one and the three horned dinosaur was another. There was a
third species that also lived with them. Harvey opened the book to a page showing a dinosaur with a long neck and a narrow head. “Andy, did you see this animal?”
Andy shook his head. Harvey started to close the book when Harmony said, “I’ve seen it.”
Harvey’s expression showed his shock, “Where?”
“There are thousands of them in the Destroyer’s lands. They’re carnivores and are very intelligent as far as dinosaurs go. They hunt in packs.”
Andy looked at Harvey and said, “We’re not as far back as we thought.” Harvey nodded slowly and Andy said, “The Time Takers tried to convince us we were. Harmony, have you ever seen that Dinosaur that charged us outside the walls?”
“No! That animal does not live in the lands I’ve been in.”
Harvey looked at Andy, “You are going to have to spend the foreseeable future reading what Andy wrote. You won’t have an understanding of what’s really going on until you do. Andy spent the last thirty years of his life writing everything that he thought the community could use to help it survive. I would start with the volume titled the Time Takers.”
“Why should I do this?”
“Read it and then ask that question.”
Andy saw the fear in Harvey’s eyes and nodded.
• • •
Harmony sat on the North Roman Wall looking north. Lyla walked up the steps and saw she was troubled, “Hey, what’s going on?”
Harmony turned quickly around and smiled, “Hi Lyla. Nothing really; I’m up here hoping Dinah comes back soon. It’s been five weeks since she left. I’m starting to worry.”
Lyla hugged Harmony, “She’s the best Cursor we have. If any make it back, she would be one of them. What’s going on with Andy?”
Harmony’s smile disappeared. “He’s found something in the writings he’s going through that scares him.”