Dinotopia: Windchaser

by Ciencin, Scott;

  “I see,” Raymond said.

  “No, ya don’t. There’s this huge wilderness beyond the work camps. I was told most o’ the guards don’t even bother postin’ sentries. If the prisoners go into the wild, so be it. Either they come back or they starve.”

  “Ah,” Raymond said.

  “I’m sayin’ all this ’cause I fear we may have landed right where we was bound.”

  Raymond nodded, despair washing over him. “Australia.”

  “Question is, what part. Are we near the cities, where we might have a chance, or right in the middle o’ that bloody unfriendly wilderness?”

  Both of them looked to the forest.

  Hugh shrugged. “I don’t see much o’ anythin’ that looks like a city.”

  “You could be wrong,” Raymond said weakly. He felt despair and fear closing in on him. “This might not be Australia.”

  “True. But if we’re on some uncharted island, I don’t guess our chances are much greater—”

  Raymond was unable to contain his tears any longer. He sat down heavily and buried his face in his hands.

  “Hey, now,” Hugh said. “None of that.”

  “S-s-sorry,” Raymond said between racking sobs. “But what are we going to do? We don’t know where we are, there’s no one here, how are we going to survive? I’ve always had my father around. Now he’s gone!”

  Hugh sighed. “Come on, now. It’s not that bad.”

  “But you just said—”

  “Goes to show I don’t always think before I open me trap. All right then?”

  Raymond’s face was flushed. Tears streaked down from his reddened eyes.

  Hugh got up, tore a strip of cloth from his sleeve, and passed it to Raymond. “Here, dry yourself off, why don’tcha?”

  The younger boy almost laughed, despite his tears. He took the cloth and blew his nose.

  “Now I bloody well don’t want it back,” Hugh said.

  Raymond laughed again. Hugh knelt down and helped the boy to his feet. Raymond was a little wobbly.

  “You need some food in ya, that’s what ya need,” Hugh said.

  “Where are we going to find any?” Raymond asked.

  Hugh pointed to the woods. “Looks like some kind o’ trail to me. With any luck, it’s man-made. And not Western Australian man-made, either.”

  “With any luck,” Raymond said, his gaze returning to the waters.

  “Unless you’re an expert fisherman or somethin’?”

  Raymond spun. “Not likely. I can’t even swim very well. Lucky those dolphins saved us—”

  “Bleedin’ amazin’, wannit?”

  “It was!” Raymond said as they walked toward a gap between two great trees. “I read somewhere that dolphins were intelligent, but this defies all reason!”

  “I know,” Hugh said, laughing. “Like the bleedin’ circus, only with fins!”

  Minutes later, they disappeared into the trees.

  CHAPTER 3

  The two boys walked deep into the forest, marveling at all they saw.

  Odd-looking birds with brilliantly colored plumage flew past them while a group of salamanders crossed their trail. Occasionally, an animal screech or cry made them jump.

  When Hugh saw an oversized fruit dangling from a tree, he stopped. Before Raymond knew what was happening, his friend leaped into the air and plucked it from its branch.

  “That might be poisonous,” Raymond cried out as Hugh took a bite.

  “Right,” Hugh said, chomping away until he finished a mouthful. “Tell that to me stomach. I don’t know ’bout you, but I haven’t seen much of anythin’ that looks familiar.”

  Raymond nodded slowly.

  “So the only way to see if somethin’ll hurt us is to try it, eh?”

  “I suppose.”

  Hugh plucked another fruit. It was dark red and shiny. If it had been a bit smaller, it could have passed for an apple. Hugh tossed the fruit to Raymond. “We’ll wait a while, see if I keel over. If not, we’ll figure it’s safe.”

  Raymond sighed. “Okay.”

  “We’re gonna have to toughen you up a bit, now aren’t we?” Hugh said cheerily. “See, I ain’t never had anyone to take care o’ me. I had to learn the ins an’ outs o’ survivin’ all by meself. But don’t worry. I’ll teach ya. We’ve come this far together—I’m not about to give up on ya now!”

  Raymond smiled. His stomach was growling, but his mind made him wait a good ten minutes before he bit into the fruit. The tangy taste was strange to him, yet quite good.

  They quickly came upon a hard-packed dirt road that was certainly man-made. It was twice as wide as any road Raymond had ever seen.

  The boys decided to stick to this road. Once in a while, they paused to inspect some strange tracks. Some were made by wheels, others by creatures that left shallow, dusty footprints larger than an elephant’s!

  “Raymond?” Hugh asked.

  “Yes?”

  “You’re an educated lad.”

  “I suppose,” Raymond said.

  “How big would a creature have to be to leave tracks like that?” Hugh wondered.

  “You don’t want to know.”

  Hugh grimaced. “You’re right, I don’t.”

  Raymond bent low. “This really is quite amazing.”

  Hugh shrugged. “Probably just a prank or somethin’ played by some o’ the locals.”

  Raymond nodded in agreement, but his brow creased in thought.

  “Bloomin’ odd place, this,” Hugh said. “Truly, truly, truly odd.”

  They resumed their travels and tried to ignore the appearance of more and more of the huge tracks. They finally stopped when they reached a fork in the road.

  “Which way should we go?” asked Raymond.

  Hugh grinned. “Left is right, and right is wrong. That’s the rule I always follow.”

  They continued on, down the left fork, and watched the dense trees give way to rolling green pastures. The older boy was nervous when this happened.

  Hugh was used to being ready to duck and run on short notice. The forest felt safer to him should they encounter trouble. There were many hiding places within the trees. But then he reminded himself that this land did have a civilization of some kind. And that meant opportunity.

  “Raymond, you should know somethin’,” Hugh said. “If there’s a town o’ some sort, we may not be all that welcome. Beggars rarely are. We may have no choice but to…ah…liberate a few things for our survival. Know what I mean?”

  “Liberate?” asked Raymond. “You mean take—steal?”

  Hugh shrugged.

  “You were a thief, weren’t you?” Raymond guessed.

  Hugh winked. “Whatever gave you that idea?”

  “How did you get caught?”

  “If you’re worried about me skills not bein’ the best, you’re wrong. Standing before you is—or was—the best pickpocket in all o’ London. I was only brought down on account o’ a bloke I thought was me friend. He turned me in for a reward. Bleedin’ turncoat, he was.”

  “But you’re just a kid, like me!”

  Hugh shook his head. “I haven’t been that since I was old enough for me parents to sell me into apprenticeship.”

  Suddenly, Hugh spotted a copse of trees upon a rise. He led Raymond to cover, then peered into the valley below.

  “Not possible,” Hugh muttered, his features becoming ashen. Raymond moved forward and gasped.

  In the distance lay a long farmhouse of some sort, with a windmill at one end and an observation tower at the other. A vast orchard bordered the entire western stretch of the property.

  Raymond and Hugh watched as a half-dozen people walked about. But it was the creatures standing beside the men and women that made the boys gape in astonishment.

  Gathered before the farm, seemingly set on some odd communion with the humans, was a troop of creatures that had no place in modern-day reality. They were all sizes and shapes, all colors. Each was adorned with some f
orm of natural armament—spikes, raised scales, clubbed tails.

  Some were as large as elephants, others as tall as towering oaks. A pair of man-size creatures stood on two legs and reminded Raymond of ostriches.

  Raymond knew the word for this group of creatures. Just last summer his father had taken him to a display of fossils from creatures like these.

  “Dinosaurs,” Raymond whispered.

  “I can’t believe it,” Hugh said. “I just can’t believe it, that’s all! They’re so—so—”

  “Big!” Raymond said.

  “Right! Ain’t nothin’ alive stands that tall. Nothin’, I tell ya!”

  “But they are right in front of us.”

  “Stop remindin’ me!”

  “It looks like a delegation of some sort,” Raymond said.

  “Or a huntin’ party,” Hugh countered.

  “Don’t be absurd. Look at the way they get along with people. These creatures aren’t out to hurt anyone.”

  “Wanna bet? I’ll be happy so long as we don’t end up in a dinosaur stew.”

  Raymond stiffened as another thought suddenly struck him. “Hugh…do you believe in the…in the hereafter?”

  “Why?”

  “The dinosaurs died out long ago. If they’re here, and people are here, then maybe we died too! Maybe this is heaven!”

  At that moment a rustling came from the brush behind the boys, causing both of them to whirl. Facing them was a creature the likes of which they’d never before seen.

  Its rough skin was pink and yellow. The ridge above its eyes reminded Raymond of a woman’s beret. But its birdlike beak and the tiny spikes protruding from its cheeks hardly looked feminine.

  Compared to the behemoths in the valley, this creature was small, about the size of a calf. And it had an unmistakably gentle way about it.

  The dinosaur opened its mouth and started making squawking sounds. They made no sense to Raymond at first. Then he realized the dinosaur was actually speaking to him.

  “Not heaven, though some think it so,” she said. “I am Bix. Breathe deep, seek peace. Welcome you are. Welcome you both are. Welcome to Dinotopia.”

  Slack-jawed, Hugh stared at the creature for a moment. Finally, he regained enough composure to mutter, “It’s the fruit, that’s what it is. It was poisoned. We’re havin’ feverish visions!”

  The dinosaur sighed as if she had been through this before. “For centuries we have had visitors from your many lands.”

  “I should have listened when ya said it might be poisoned,” Hugh said to Raymond. “That’s always been my problem—I never listen.”

  “You’re not listening now Raymond said.

  “True,” Hugh said. “There’s a reason.”

  Bix laughed. “Come with me. I will introduce you to Nicolai and the others.”

  “I don’t think so,” Hugh said.

  Raymond touched his friend’s arm. “Hugh, if we don’t go with her, what are we going to do?”

  “I dunno, but—”

  Bix angled her head slightly. “If I am not real, what harm can come from following me?”

  “Um…ah—” Hugh stammered. “We might be walkin’ off a cliff or somethin’!”

  “Pardon?” Bix said.

  “Like a bunch o’ sleepwalkers!” Hugh said. “We can’t trust our eyes!”

  “Yes,” Bix said. “I can see how that might make life difficult.”

  Raymond was struggling not to become overwhelmed by the odd sights before him. Hugh’s attitude was not helping any. “I’m going. If you won’t come, I can’t make you.”

  Hugh nodded. “All right, I’ll go. Why not? We’ll get eaten instead of gettin’ something to eat.”

  Bix cocked her head again, as if thinking. “If you are right, and we dinosaurs are not real, you have little to fear. How can you be eaten by something that does not exist?”

  “I—” Hugh began, then shook his head, giving up on trying to figure it all out. “All right, then. Off we go-

  CHAPTER 4

  The trio walked down the rise, in plain view of the dinosaurs and humans standing by the windmill.

  “I’m afraid only a few will be free to speak with you,” Bix said. “Noonfeast has just ended, and it is time to get back to work.”

  As they descended into the valley, Raymond found his attention drawn to the orchard. Men and women slipped into harnesses that fit around their shoulders and chests. Large curved handles reached a foot above and behind their heads. The long-neck dinosaurs, most of whom stood as tall as the mill, bit down on the handles. They lifted the humans high up to the fruit at the top of the trees.

  The moment a picker retrieved a fruit, he was eased back toward the earth, where he dumped his prize into a cart. Another dinosaur, one that looked somewhat like a rhino, with a spike above the bridge of its nose and several in its crest, stood ready to drag the cart off when it was filled.

  “What are those long-necks called?” Raymond asked.

  “Brachiosaurus,” Bix replied.

  Raymond shook his head in amazement. “They work together. Humans and dinosaurs.”

  “Of course,” Bix said. “There is no other way.”

  “Naturally,” Hugh said, shaking his head.

  They came closer to the farm. The ground vibrated when one of the larger dinosaurs closer to the mill padded this way or that. Far off to the left, Raymond observed fields. Dozens of humans and dinosaurs now toiled there.

  A leathery smell came to Raymond. A man approached, flanked by two rose-colored dinosaurs twice his size.

  “Newcomers!” Bix announced. “Dolphinbacks!”

  “How’d ya know we was carried here by dolphins?” Hugh asked. “We never told ya!”

  “I think it’s common here,” Raymond said. He looked down at Bix. “Or am I wrong?”

  “Not wrong,” she said. “Bright boys!”.

  Accompanied by the pair of seemingly identical dinosaurs, the man stopped before them. He was short and scruffy, easily fifty years old.

  “You walk too fast,” the dinosaur on the right groused. “Nicolai has to run.”

  “You walk too slow!” responded the one on the left. “He’s young and healthy! Besides, you’re clumsy! You almost stepped on him!”

  “Gentlemen, please!” the human in the center cried.

  “They speak too,” Hugh whispered. “These blighters speak too!”

  Both dinosaurs dipped their long necks and brought their heads close to examine Hugh. Nicolai had to leap back to get out of their way. The dinosaurs stopped inches before butting heads.

  Hugh stared into the dark saucers of the dinosaurs’ eyes. Their breath caused his hair to rustle slightly, as if it had been caught on a gentle breeze.

  “Hello,” he said, doing all he could to prevent his voice from cracking.

  The dinosaurs angled their heads in unison, eyeing one another. As if they were one, the two dinosaurs said, “They speak too! These human blighters speak too!”

  Hugh swallowed hard. “I don’t suppose we could try this again, could we?”

  Nicolai came forward, easing the heads of the great creatures from his path. “Don’t mind them. They’re both old, old, old and cranky!”

  “We are not!” the dinosaurs protested.

  The man touched the heads of each dinosaur, cradling one over each shoulder.

  “All right, maybe a little,” said the dinosaur on the right.

  “Speak for yourself,” said his companion.

  Raymond stepped forward and shook the man’s hand. “Hello. Pleased to meet you. I’m Raymond Wilks.”

  “Hugh O’Donovan,” his companion muttered. He could not take his gaze from the dinosaurs.

  “Boo,” one of them said.

  Hugh flinched.

  The man laughed. “I am Nicolai, seven mothers Russian. All this must seem strange to you. We will do our best to help you settle in to our ways. A moment.”

  Turning, Nicolai cried out. A dozen feet a
way, a young man with short red hair spun in his direction. Nicolai made an odd hand signal. The boy nodded and rushed off.

  “What was that all about?” Hugh asked.

  Nicolai grinned. “You’re in luck. A messenger arrived a short time ago. I asked young Ryan to fetch her.”

  Bix said, “We need to send word to Waterfall City. Let them know to prepare for your arrival.”

  “I see,” Hugh said warily. “And why will we be goin’ there?”

  “All newcomers spend time in Waterfall City,” Bix said. “It is a place of learning.”

  Nicolai held up a hand. “There will be time for questions later,” he said. “For now, you lads must be hungry. And you look as if you could use a change of clothes. Perhaps someplace quiet to lay your heads a while.”

  “I’d like to see more of this place,” Raymond said, his eyes widening as a pair of ostrich-like creatures bounded toward them. Both dinosaurs had red crests and made trilling noises.

  Nicolai answered them in a strange singsong. Once the pair had vanished inside the mill, the burly man turned his gaze back to his guests.

  “You spoke their language!” Raymond said.

  “You’ll find a knowledge of Saurian quite helpful,” Nicolai said.

  “Saurian?” Hugh asked.

  Bix nudged him from behind. He turned and crouched beside her.

  “I’m still not sure you’re real or that any of this is happening,” Hugh said.

  “That’s nice,” Bix replied. “While you’re deciding, scratch my crest? Itches!”

  Hugh’s hand trembled slightly as he touched Bix’s crest. He scratched where she indicated, and Bix started to coo. The sound calmed the older boy.

  “Saurian,” Nicolai said, “can refer to any dinosaur, or the basic language shared by all.”

  “There are many offshoots,” said one of the rose-colored dinosaurs behind Nicolai. “Each of our races has its own history and culture.”

  “Yes, yes!” his partner replied. “You fresh eggs ought to remember that.”

  “Fresh eggs?” Raymond asked.

  “Newcomers,” Hugh guessed. “Right?”

  “Good!” Bix cried. “You’re starting to understand the way of things! Now, lower and to the left.”