“The flying man is coming back in the morning,” I said. “He’s coming to our camp.”
“How do you know?” Emta asked.
“We just do,” I said.
“If we hurry, you can be back before he arrives,” Emta said as she tried to sit up. “We can bring them all back with you. We’ll all fight him. Well, I’ll help you fight him. Everyone else isn’t very strong.”
“I don’t think you can make the trip back in your condition,” I said.
“This is nothing,” she wheezed. “I’ve been through worse. I’ll be fine in four or five hours.”
“Really?” I asked as I raised an eyebrow.
Emta stared into my eyes for a few moments, and then she sighed. “Alright, I’m pretty hurt, but I’ll live. My arm won’t grow back for a few days, but my chest will be healed by morning.”
“That is still impressive,” Sheela said.
“But you aren’t going anywhere,” I said to Emta.
“Does that mean you’ll help them?” the olive skinned woman asked, and I exhaled.
Then I looked up to my friends for a gut check.
“No,” Trel spat. “You saved them once, and they were ungrateful.”
“It was just me!” Emta hissed. “I was ungrateful. I’m sorry, please forgive me. Trel is your name?”
“You will call me by my full name. It is Trel-Idil-Iria, Duchess of family Iria, and first wife of Victor--”
“I’ll call you whatever you want,” Emta interrupted. “I said we will join you. Victor knows what we can do, I’m sure an intelligent woman like you has uses for us?”
“Hmmm,” Trel sighed, and then she shrugged. “Yes.”
“Victor,” Galmine said, and I looked across the fire to her. “We should help them. Then we can bring them back with us so we can be a bigger family.”
Kacerie nodded, and Liahpa did as well. Then I saw Emerald open her fingers and slowly close her fist as she smiled wide at me. I was correct more times than I was wrong when I translated her gestures, and I knew that she was telling me to build my empire and acquire more people that would be in my debt.
I looked over to Sheela, and the cat-woman nodded. “Your dinosaurs were just insurance. Even if you do not make it back in time, we will defeat the winged man.”
“It only took us an hour or so to make it there a few days ago,” Kacerie said. “We can get there, do what we can for Zoru, and then return before the sun comes up. There is plenty of time.”
“It’s going to take a lot longer than an hour to make it there in the dark,” I said as I released Emta’s hand and stood from her side. “So we had best get going.”
“Thank you, Victor!” the tusked-woman gasped as her hair waved at me.
“Who is going with you?” Kacerie asked.
“You,” I said as I looked at the rest of my friends. “Everyone else needs to work on the trap for this asshole. I’ll take the balaurs with me and leave the troodons.” I hesitated when I realized that I was going to be leaving my friends alone with the small predators. I don’t know if my orders will hold up if I am far away, but they had with the trikes, parasaurses, and Jinx. “I’ll ask them to hide and then protect you when he lands.”
“We will kill the idiot male,” Trel hissed, and Sheela and Liahpa nodded.
“Galmine, how quickly can you make another batch of poultice?”
“About half an hour,” she said. “Maybe an hour. I’ll need--”
“Too long!” Emta coughed. “He is dying. Can’t you take her with you?”
“Hmmm,” I said as I thought through the plan. It was already going to be dangerous enough trying to get to the beach at night, but Galmine was a liability because she couldn’t move fast enough to avoid attacks.
But I didn’t have an hour to wait.
“Can you mix while we ride on the back of Tom?” I asked Galmine. “Even with the rain?”
“Yes!” she laughed. “I will do everything I can to help this poor man. The rain will mean I don’t need to bring water with us.”
“I just want it to be a quick adventure,” I said as I ordered Tom to run over to us. The whole plan was making me uneasy, but it was still storming out, and I felt confident that Emerald had told me the truth about the winged man leaving in the morning. This was a risk, but it would mean that our tribe would more than double, and then we would all be a lot safer.
I just had to ride hard tonight, through the dark, drizzling rain and through a jungle filled with all sorts of aggressive dinosaurs.
Okay, so maybe this wasn’t such a great idea, but I was the only guy who could do it, and I didn’t want Zoru to die.
“Galmine, get everything you need,” I said as I gestured to Tom.
“I have it all,” she said as she picked up three bowls and a cluster of herbs. I helped her get on Tom’s back, and then I helped Kacerie settle into her saddle.
Then I turned around to review the plan with everyone, and I found Emerald standing right behind me. She touched her chest and then pointed at Tom.
“You want to come?” I asked, and she nodded.
“I don’t think that is a good idea,” I replied, “It is going to be hard for me to focus on steering Tom and the balaurs while I--”
She interrupted me by shaking her head, pointing at her eyes, and then gesturing to the surrounding blackness.
“Wait, you can see?”
Emerald nodded and then pointed to the largest gem on her forehead. Suddenly, it pulsed to life, and I had to cover my eyes with my arm as a purple light hit me right in the face.
The light was gone an instant later, but I turned to see that she was looking away from me.
And the light from her forehead was illuminating the wet grass for about forty feet.
“Damn,” I gasped. “What else can you do?”
She shrugged, and I saw her lips curl up into a smile.
“Okay, Emerald. You can guide my sleigh tonight. Get on.”
She nodded, and the purple spotlight coming from her head bobbed up and down. Then she scampered up onto Tom’s saddle.
“Be safe,” I said to Sheela, Liahpa, and Trel.
“We will,” Sheela said, and then I gave both her and Trel a kiss before I climbed up Tom. Then I gave them one last look, ordered the troodons to hide in the grass and protect my friends, and then rode Tom to the gate. Katie and Tom both used their horns to help us open the double doors, and then I dismounted so that I could help her put them back in their proper holes so that the gate was closed behind us.
Then we were trotting through the dark night and rain while the balaur bondoc chased the edges of Emerald’s purple spotlight.
Chapter 13
We made it out of our valley without much of a problem, and I realized that the rain was actually a bit of a blessing in disguise. Emerald’s purple gemstone light was really bright, and it probably would have gotten all kinds of attention as Tom ran across the foothills. The light rain was making visibility shitty everywhere, and I doubted anything farther away than two hundred yards would be able to see the light as we trampled past.
I was trying to keep a rough track of time as we rode, but the rain was cold as fuck, and I found that my attention was occupied by trying to think warm thoughts while also steering Tom and our team of raptors. I noticed that neither Galmine nor Emerald shivered as we rode, but Kacerie was, and I pulled her off her seat and into my lap so we could share body heat.
There were two choices of a westward route in the next valley. I figured that the riverbed-road which cut through the center of the jungle might actually be a river now, so I decided to continue on the north route at the foothills. We made it about halfway through the valley before I heard the balaurs all hiss together like a den of coiled snakes.
Then the green feathered raptors jumped into our ranks.
I recognize my old enemy deinoychus antirrhopus as soon as I saw them. There were only four of them, but they were twice the size of my balaur bondoc
s, and they made a B-line right for Phoebe. She was the smallest of my group, and I guessed that the green feathered raptors thought she was the easiest prey.
They didn’t realize that none of my dinos were easy prey.
None of the balaurs were as agile or fast as the troodons, but Phoebe was the quickest of the bunch, and she twisted around the first bite that the larger raptor tried to catch her with before she spun around and dove under Tom’s legs while he trotted. It was a maneuver that the larger raptors hadn’t expected, but two of them gave chase, and ducked their heads as they tried to dodge under Tom’s belly.
Then I ordered the big trike to pull the ultimate belly-flop.
He was running, but he didn’t seem to care about that as much as he cared about my orders. Tom kind of Supermanned out with his rear legs pointing back and his front legs pointing forward as he flopped, and I heard the satisfying squishing sound of two Great Dane sized raptors turning into pancakes.
Then the shockwave of the trike’s bounce traveled up through the saddle, and Galmine almost flew out of her saddle.
“Shit!” I shouted as I grabbed the gray-skinned woman’s waist as she started to slide away from me. I had to twist around in my saddle, but Kacerie’s weight on my lap kept me from following Galmine down off the trike’s back.
Galmine’s body was wet from the rain, and she let out a gasp as she started to slide out of my arms.
I hissed through my clenched teeth, and tried to wrap my arm around her better, but then Emerald grabbed the gray-skinned woman’s arm, and we both yanked her back into her seat.
“My bowls!” Galmine shouted.
“I’ve got them!” Kacerie yelled, but I didn’t have time to look. The remaining two raptors were still trying to chase Phoebe, and I had to focus on running her around the group of her other friends so that they could come at the two larger dinos from the sides.
The closest green raptor made a sliding lunge at Phoebe’s legs, but I saw the movement coming, and I ordered the smaller female to leap in the air. She missed getting chomped by mere inches, and the green raptor slid on his belly with an annoyed hiss.
Then his hiss turned into a scream when Ross and Joey tore into his back. With their double claws.
The last raptor turned his head around when he heard his friend scream, and I used the opportunity to command Rachel, Monica, and Chandler to intercept the much larger dinosaur. The three of them hit him right in the chest, and the females locked their jaws around his throat while Chandler raked his feet across their opponent’s chest with a karate looking kick.
The one that Joey and Ross were fighting rolled over, and tried to snap at them, but they easily avoided his teeth, and then tore into his belly with twin strikes. It let out a startled gasp, and then my two balaurs jumped off his dying body so they could charge the one that the other three were engaging.
But then that green raptor fell, and it was quickly torn to pieces by the smaller raptors that I controlled.
“Looks like it hasn’t been their day, their week, their month, or even their year. Everyone alright?” I commanded Tom to get his feet under him and glanced at my friends.
“Yes!” Galmine said as she leaned into me and Emerald. It felt like all three of the women were sitting in my lap now, but it didn’t bother me, I was just thankful that no one had fallen off and none of my balaur bondocs were hurt.
“Let’s get moving!” I shouted at the dinos, and they turned their bloody faces away from where they were chewing on the green feathered raptors so that they could run out in front of Tom again.
We didn’t run into any more dinos in this valley, and the rain started to lessen to a sprinkle by the time we made it to the next set of hills. I took it as a good sign, and I could almost smell the salt on the ocean when we crested the top hill.
“We’ll be at the dunes in another minute,” I said to my friends, and they all nodded. “How is everyone doing?”
“I’m fine,” Galmine said as she smiled at us as she held up the bowls. “I mixed the poultice using Tom’s trotting motion.”
“I’m cold, but I’ll be okay,” Kacerie said.
Emerald tapped on her temple, shook her head, and then wrapped her arms around herself in a hug.
“You can’t keep the light up for much longer?” I asked, and she nodded. I noticed that she was actually starting to shiver like Kacerie, and I adjusted the way I was sitting so that I could wrap my arms around each of them.
We made it to the dunes, but as soon as we passed them and came to the obsidian stream, Emerald’s light began to flicker like a lightning bug. Her body felt cold in my arms, and I let go of Kacerie so that I could rub the green-scaled woman’s arms and shoulders.
“Just a little longer!” I said over the wind and rain sprinkles, and Emerald nodded as she leaned her body back into my chest.
Then we were at the jungle entrance to Quwaru’s fort, and I instructed everyone to get off.
“Kacerie and Emerald, can you walk?” I asked as I picked Galmine up in my arms. “I’m going to push Tom through the jungle, but a stray branch might knock you off.”
“I’m fine,” Kacerie replied through chattering teeth, and Emerald nodded as the beam from her forehead flickered again. For half a moment we were in complete darkness, and then the purple light came on, and I nodded for them to walk behind me and the raptors.
Then we pushed through the dark jungle trail.
Emerald’s light was almost non-existent now, but it was still enough of a glow for me to see where the balaurs were ahead of me, but I couldn’t really see where I was putting my feet because I was carrying Galmine, and I half stumbled a few times over roots.
Finally we made it through the jungle and to the grass hill inside of the ravine. Emerald’s light finally went dark, and we were bathed in a few seconds of darkness.
“Shit,” I growled. “Emerald, can you--”
“She’s fainted,” Kacerie said. “I’m holding onto her.”
“Damn, I’ll carry her the rest of the way.”
“That’s fine, Victor,” Galmine said as I put her down. “I can walk. Thank you for carrying me.”
“Kacerie,” I said as I reached out to where I heard her voice. “I can’t really see you. Can you--”
Light suddenly appeared from behind us, and I turned to see two figures holding torches standing on top of the hill crest.
“You came,” Quwaru said, and her mouth smiled almost as brightly as the torch she carried.
“Yeah,” I said as I looked at the woman standing next to her. It was Nomi, and her dark hair still covered her face so that she wasn’t exposed to the light from the torch that she held up. For half a moment, I felt a twinge of worry that the one person on their tribe who could use her ability to take away mine was here, but then I recalled Nomi saying that she lived on a dark world, and I guessed that she had some sort of night vision.
“Thank you,” the red-skinned woman said after she and Nomi jogged to us.
“We want to help,” I said.
“Is Emta okay?” Quwaru asked. “She obviously made it to you, but I do not see her here.”
“She’s hurt,” I said as I moved to pick up the unconscious Emerald, “but she said she would be fine.”
“What is wrong with this one?” Nomi asked as she pointed at Emerald.
“She fainted,” I said. “Let’s get inside of your cave and out of the cold.
“Of course, sorry,” Quwaru said as she bowed her head slightly.
We walked slowly up the hill, and then down the other side. I saw that their rope bridge was repaired, but I didn’t bother asking how they had done it. I just transferred Emerald to a fireman’s carry over my left shoulder and focused on getting across the bridge without dropping her.
“Is she okay?” Keefaye asked as soon as I made it across.
“Yeah,” I said, “she’s just cold. Do you have a fire I could--”
“That way,” the golden-horned woman pull
ed on my shoulder, and I gave a quick glance behind me to see Quwaru helping Galmine step across the bridge. It sounded like the two women were chatting, but I couldn’t hear them, so I turned around and went with Keefaye deeper into their fort.
The inside of the cave was smaller than I had thought. The first room was only about twenty feet by twenty, but there were scorch marks on a wall that looked as if it had been kind of half-shaped from a pile of rubble. Keefaye pulled me to the corner of the room, and we slipped through a narrow gap around the smoothed-out rubble and into a room almost four times as large.
There were three campfires going in the middle of the floor. One had a roasting spit built out of bamboo sitting across the open flame with a fish cooking, one fire had a collection of wet clothes laid out to dry, and the third was where everyone else was gathered. I saw Zoru’s prone body laid out on a grass mat, and Adella was holding onto his left hand.
Urka, Adella, and Youleena turned as I set Emerald down on a mat next to the drying clothes, and their concerned frowns turned to half smiles.
“Victor!” Adella sang, and she set down Zoru’s hand so that she could stand up and walk over to me. Her steps looked a lot like dance movements, and I was a bit surprised when she hugged me tightly.
“Thanks for coming,” Urka squeaked, and I nodded to her as soon as I parted from the woman with the scaled mermaid looking-legs.
“Yes, thank you,” Youleena said as she drifted over to me. I half expected her to hug me also, but she just took my hand in her’s and gently kissed the skin there.
“Uhhh, well, I don’t know for sure if I can help, but I bought three of my friends. One of them fainted from the travel, but the other two--” I looked back over my shoulder just as Kacerie and Galmine walked through the doorway with Quwaru and Nomi. “They might be able to help.”
Tamer- King of Dinosaurs 4 Page 22