The Lost City: The Palumbra Chronicles: Book Two

by L. D. Fairchild

  Maeve shared a scared glance with Ginger over the top of Emery's head and began backing toward a large tree just off the path to their left. She gripped the knife in her right hand and Emery's arm with her left and watched as the boys slipped off the path into the trees on the far side.

  "What is it?" Emery whispered.

  Maeve shook her head. "No idea, but we need to do what Tristan says. Did you see anything, Ginger?"

  Maeve could just make out Ginger shaking her head in the dim light of the moon.

  Silence reigned as Maeve squinted into the darkness. She could feel the rough bark of the tree through the layers of her clothing and Emery trembling next to her. She leaned down to whisper in her ear. "It will be fine. Tristan sounded like he had a plan."

  A terrible shriek rent the air. Maeve couldn't tell if it was human or animal.

  "What was that?" Ginger asked as she frantically swiveled her head, looking for the unknown threat.

  "I don't know," Maeve said, "but I'm going to find out." She took a step away from the tree back in the direction they had come.

  "Maeve," Ginger said urgently. "You don't even have a gun. You can't go back there on your own."

  "I'll be fine. What if the boys are in trouble?"

  The high-pitched shriek filled the night air again, followed by male voices shouting and the sound of running feet crashing through the woods.

  "They might need help," Maeve said. "And you need to stay here with Emery. You'll need your gun to keep her safe."

  "I don't think you should go," Emery said in a voice that quavered then held. "We should stick together." Her voice held more assurance. "What if you get separated from us?"

  Maeve shook her head in frustration. "Fine. Let's all go." Another shriek and more shouting ensued. "I think Tristan and Gray might need more help than they think."

  Ginger turned to Emery. "You do exactly what we tell you to, right?"

  Maeve couldn't see well in the darkness, but it was clear Emery was rolling her eyes. "Yes, dear sister. You'd think I'd never done anything dangerous before. Not like I helped save Palumbra or anything."

  Ginger began walking back the way they had come. "That may be, but you're still only 12. The rules of you coming on this expedition were that you would follow directions."

  Emery jutted out her chin, and Maeve thought she was going to argue with Ginger, but she clamped her mouth shut and followed her sister just as a shriek followed by a large thud echoed through the woods.

  CHAPTER SIX

  The girls sprinted back up the path they had backed down when Tristan had told them to protect Emery. They no longer heard Tristan and Gray shouting.

  Maeve skidded to a stop at the edge of a clearing where Ginger already stood staring open-mouthed at what lay in front of her. "What is that?" Ginger asked.

  A large animal, its sides heaving and its breathing shallow laid on the ground. Blood streamed from a wound in its side. Maeve had never seen anything like it. Large animals were rare in Palumbra, and this one was more than large. It stretched at least seven feet from head to stubby tail. Covered in scales, Maeve decided its body shape looked like a photo she had once seen of a horse. She tore her gaze away from the creature and scanned the rest of the clearing.

  "Where are the boys?"

  Ginger shook her head. "No idea. But what is that?"

  Emery stepped forward and peeked around Maeve's shoulder. "That's a plagoran. And it's hurt. We should do something for it." She took a step toward the injured animal, but Ginger placed a hand on her arm to stop her.

  Maeve whipped her head toward Emery. "A what?"

  "A plagoran," Emery said matter-of-factly, as if everyone had heard of it. "It's a reptile that can walk on two or four legs. No one knows where they came from, but they appeared after the Great Wars of 2090. They haven't been seen around here in probably 50 years."

  "How do you even know that?" Ginger asked as she continued to scan their surroundings for any sign of Gray and Tristan -- or another plagoran.

  "Oh, there's lots of things in the government database that we've never had access to before."

  "Have you been hacking into the government system again?" Ginger asked with exasperation.

  Emery vehemently shook her head. "No. You told me not to. The government made a whole bunch of stuff available to everyone, especially the history and nature stuff that was in the archives."

  "OK," Ginger said. "What can you tell us about the plagoran?"

  As Emery began to speak, Ginger moved around the creature and started walking across the clearing in hopes of finding Tristan and Gray. Emery and Maeve kept their distance from the injured animal but didn't move away.

  "There used to be lots of plagorans. No one knows where they came from, but some people thought they were some kind of mutant experiment gone wrong -- maybe some government project to use as a weapon. Their scales act like armor, and they're hard to kill, but that's not the most interesting thing about them."

  "Oh, what is?" Maeve asked.

  "If you milk the venom from their fangs, it can actually help heal people."

  Ginger stopped walking, turned to look at Emery and cocked a skeptical eyebrow. "So, I'm supposed to believe that this gigantic reptile has some kind of magical ability to heal people?"

  Emery shrugged. "I'm only telling you what I read in the government files."

  Maeve looked hopelessly around the clearing. "That's all great to know, but where are the boys?"

  Ginger started to answer when she was interrupted by the sound of a twig cracking. She grabbed her gun and hurried back to Maeve and Ginger. Maeve shoved Emery behind her, then whirled to meet the threat head on. "Maybe it's the boys?" Ginger whispered hopefully.

  A tree to Maeve's left began to shake and the ground trembled under her feet. Whatever was coming their way, it wasn't Gray and Tristan.

  Maeve gripped her knife tightly in her right hand as the ground continued to shake. "Did you and Gray run into any of these things when you were out here before?" Ginger asked as they stepped backward toward the shelter of the trees.

  Maeve shook her head. "No. Definitely not. I've never even heard of them before. Emery, how come we've never seen one of these before?"

  "They're really rare," Emery answered as she clutched Ginger's arm. "I don't know anyone who has actually seen one. I didn't know they lived this close to Palumbra. They live in pairs but keep to themselves."

  "Well, we've apparently disturbed them," Ginger said. "Where do you think the boys are?"

  Maeve looked around the clearing again, as if willing Gray and Tristan to appear, but their whereabouts remained a mystery. "What are we going to do?"

  Ginger stumbled. "No idea. No way this gun has bullets that will penetrate those scales. Emery, think. What do you know about these things?"

  As they passed the injured plagoran, Emery stopped. The giant animal's eye blinked open and stared at Emery. Emery remained frozen. The ground shook.

  "Emery!" Ginger whispered fiercely. "Let's go!"

  Emery looked from the giant reptile's open eye to her sister, then back to the dying animal. The plagoran's sides heaved. She took a step toward her sister, hesitated then flattened her lips and turned back to the plagoran. The ground shook again. Emery hurried back to the plagoran, careful to avoid its long, curved claws.

  "Emery!" Ginger screamed and aimed her gun.

  Emery raised pained eyes to Ginger's and with a hitch in her voice said, "It's dying, and it's all alone." Ginger gripped her gun more tightly but didn't shoot.

  Maeve stood frozen in horror as the plagoran slowly lifted its clawed arm that was as thick and tall as Emery's whole body. She lunged forward to snatch Emery out of the way, but Emery held up her hand and kneeled next to the plagoran's long, flat snout. The reptile lowered its claw back to the ground without harming Emery.

  "It's OK." She stroked the plagoran's snout. "You're going to be OK."

  Maeve shared a look with Ginger then went to sta
nd next to Emery with her knife easily accessible.

  "Can you help it?" Emery asked. She turned pleading eyes to Maeve.

  "Emery, I'm a nurse for people. I've never even heard of a plagoran before today, and I think this one's mate is about to find us. This thing is dangerous if Gray and Tristan injured it." Trees swayed at the opposite end of the clearing, and the ground gave another shake.

  "Please, Maeve. We have to try."

  Maeve knelt next to the scaly belly of the beast and examined the wound. She frowned. She had assumed the plagoran had been shot, but the wound was jagged and torn in a straight line. "Did you hear gunshots when the boys were fighting this thing?" she asked Emery.

  "No. Did you?" Emery looked up at Ginger who had taken Maeve's place next to Emery.

  Ginger shook her head. "No. I just assumed they had shot it, but now that I think about it, I never heard a gunshot."

  Maeve dug in her pack for a T-shirt and pressed it against the wound. She only hoped plagorans responded to the same first aid as humans. "Emery, I don't know how much good I'm doing. For all I know, whatever wounded this thing could have hit something important."

  "Just keep trying," Emery said as she stroked the plagoran's snout again. "I think it knows we're helping it."

  "How smart are these things?" Ginger asked.

  Emery shrugged. "I don't know. I've told you everything I know."

  Maeve worked frantically to stop the blood seeping from the plagoran's wound. She raised her head and swiped her hair out of her face with her forearm. "Emery, what is that?"

  "What is what?" Emery asked as she continued to stroke the plagoran's snout.

  "That yellow thing by its ear."

  Emery shifted on her knees and moved her head to the side to see where Maeve was pointing. Her nose scrunched, and her eyebrows drew together. "I don't know. It looks like a tag." She rose up on her knees and reached a hand toward it, but the plagoran gave a low growl before she could touch it.

  "Don't touch it, Emery," Maeve said quickly. "Just tell me what it looks like."

  Emery returned to stroking the plagoran's nose and said, "I can't see all of it, but it's just a yellow tag with numbers on it − 56823. It looks like someone punched a hole in its ear to attach it." She ran a finger between the plagoran's eyes and down its snout. "You've had a tough go, haven't you," she said quietly. The plagoran blinked.

  "Why would someone do that?" Maeve interrupted Emery's conversation with the plagoran.

  "I read about some people who would do that when they were studying animals, so they would know they were looking at an animal they had already seen. It helps them to track the animals."

  Ginger raised her eyebrows and kept her gun trained on the plagoran. "Who would want to mess with one of these guys?" Ginger asked.

  Emery shrugged.

  "Does it say anything else?" Maeve asked as she began working to tie a makeshift bandage on the plagoran. She didn't think the plagoran would be very cooperative if she tried to stitch the wound closed, and she wasn't willing to find out if she was right.

  Emery cocked her head again. "It looks like the letters P.U.P."

  Maeve snorted. "This thing is no pup."

  Just then a loud shriek echoed through the clearing, causing the plagoran to raise its head a few inches off the ground and let out a small shriek that sounded more like a whimper. The second plagoran broke through the tree line and headed straight for them. Ginger aimed her gun.

  "Don't shoot it!" Emery cried.

  "Then, let's go," Ginger replied. "That thing is coming. Let's move, Maeve." Emery gave the plagoran's snout one last pat and rose to her feet. Ginger grabbed her by the arm and started running. “Maeve! Move it.”

  Maeve had created a makeshift bandage out of the T-shirt and quickly rose to follow Emery and Ginger. She glanced at the charging plagoran as another high-pitched shriek filled the air. She hesitated as she passed the injured plagoran's head and looked into its open, pain-filled eye. The plagoran blinked. She placed her hand on the plagoran's snout and looked it in the eye.

  "I tried. I hope it was enough."

  The plagoran blinked again. The ground shook as the its angry mate charged toward Maeve. She turned and ran for the edge of the clearing.

  "Is it following us?" Maeve asked Ginger when she reached the edge of the clearing where Emery and Ginger were hiding behind some bushes.

  Ginger shook her head. "It stopped to check on its friend."

  "They live in pairs," Emery said. "I bet it would be really sad if its mate died."

  "Emery, did you see that thing?" Ginger asked. "It could have eaten us whole. Kneeling down next to that beast was a dumb thing to do."

  Emery straightened, pulling her shoulders back and lifting her chin. "It wasn't dumb. That creature was hurt, and it needed help."

  "Emery, it tried to kill Gray and Tristan."

  Maeve stepped between the feuding sisters. "Emery is right, Ginger. Just because something or someone is a threat doesn't mean we have to kill it."

  Ginger turned on Maeve. "It could have killed her," she whispered.

  "But it didn't," Maeve said gently. "She gave it a chance, and it didn't. We might have saved it. Look."

  They all turned back toward the clearing where the second plagoran was nuzzling the first with its snout. The injured plagoran raised its head and let out a small shriek as it struggled to its feet, Maeve's bandage still held in place on its underside.

  The injured plagoran looked in their direction, let out another shriek and slowly led its mate to the other side of the clearing.

  A twig cracked behind them, and all three spun quickly around. Ginger reached for her gun.

  "Whoa," Tristan said, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "It's just us."

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  "Where have you been?" Maeve nearly shouted.

  "Shh," Emery said, pointing back toward where the plagorans had disappeared on the other side of the clearing.

  "What were those things?" Gray asked. "We had a close call with one of them. Tristan managed to wound it with his knife."

  "They're plagoran," Emery answered.

  "Pla what?" Tristan asked. Emery filled them in on what little she knew about the creatures. When she was done, Ginger asked, "Why didn't you shoot at it?"

  "We followed the noise and before we could grab our guns, it was pretty much on top of us," Tristan said. "Clearly I didn't do too much damage to it since it managed to leave."

  "It had a little help," Ginger said gesturing to Emery and Maeve.

  Gray turned questioning eyes toward Maeve, and Maeve pointed to Emery. "It was all Emery's idea."

  Emery looked at the ground. "It was hurt. I didn't want to just leave it."

  Tristan stared at her in disbelief. "You got close to that thing? It almost ate me for dinner. What were you thinking?"

  Emery's lip trembled. "I was thinking that someone had wounded it and left it to die. I couldn't walk away, not again, not after what happened to mom."

  Emery and Ginger's mom had been killed by World Government soldiers as she tried to protect Ginger and Emery months before. Emery had watched the shooting and seen her mother die.

  Tristan hugged Emery. "It's OK, Em. I understand, but that was still a dangerous thing to do. Wounded animals don't always know you're trying to help."

  "Maeve was the one who helped it."

  Gray turned to Maeve. "You got near that thing, too?" His voice rose. "Tristan and I were trying to protect all of you from those things, and you three go waltzing up to play nurse?

  "Hey, leave me out of this," Ginger said. "I kept telling them to leave it alone."

  "What would you have done if that thing had decided to take a swipe at either one of you?" Gray asked Maeve. "How could you be so careless?"

  Maeve gave Gray a long look and took a deep breath. "What would you have me do? Leave it there to bleed to death and have another life on my conscience? One that I might have been able t
o save?"

  Gray rolled his shoulders and stared at Maeve then blew out a breath. "You can't save everyone, Maeve."

  Maeve turned to follow the others. "No," she threw over her shoulder, "but I can at least try."

  ###

  "We haven't seen any sign of the government group," Gray said. "Are you sure they went this way?"

  They had been walking for several hours and had reached the edge of the desert beyond the lake at the edge of Palumbra. The river wound off toward the caves where Emma had lived for so many years, but to the east a barren desert stretched as far as the eye could see.

  "No," Tristan replied. "But this was the most logical path to take." He stopped and pulled out the map, then knelt and laid it on the ground in front of him.

  "Look." He pointed to a spot on the map in what seemed like the middle of the desert. "This is where Corporal Shamus said they found the 'survivors.' The route we're taking is the fastest way to get there. I think the government group just got a big head start on us, especially if they weren't waylaid by any plagorans."

  Gray looked out over the desert. "Maybe. But I feel like we should be able to at least see their tracks at this point."

  Maeve pointed to the trees at the edge of The River. "I don't know. The wind is blowing, so the sand could have blown over and covered their tracks."

  "What do you want to do?" Ginger asked.

  "I guess we keep going," Tristan said. "I just think it's odd there's no sign of them."

  "Everyone fill up your canteens," Gray said as he knelt next to The River and dipped his canteen into the cold, clear water. "This is probably our last chance for a while."

  Maeve knelt next to Gray to fill her canteen, and he placed a hand on her shoulder. She flinched away. They hadn't spoken since their exchange about the plagorans. Maeve looked up, and Gray sighed.

  "I'm sorry," he said. "You scared me. When I think about how big that thing was and how small you and Emery are in comparison..." He trailed off. "I got scared, and it made me angry."

  Maeve capped her canteen and stood to be on level ground with Gray. She didn't want him towering over her as she spoke. "I know. I was scared, too." She gave him a long look. "But you have to trust me to make good decisions."