by Jack Geurts
Io frowned. “You think they intended for us to come back?”
Jasper nodded. “Yeah, I do. I think they wanted us to work together to make sure the world wasn’t destroyed a second time. Even they didn’t think their descendants would be cruel enough to just sit back and watch us kill ourselves.”
“But I was not even supposed to come here. If Janus had not come, I would not have been sent.”
“But you are here, aren’t you?”
“That does not prove anything.”
“It might. Touch the Marker.”
“What?”
“Touch the Marker. I want to see something.”
Io hesitated, then stepped forward. She lay her bare hand on the metal flank of the pyramid, but the holographic image wasn’t projected up again.
Instead, there came from beneath them a deep rumbling. The earth began to shake and pieces of rock began to fall down around them from the sheer walls of the cave.
They looked at each other in fright, both remembering all too well what had happened at Eridu after they found the first Marker. As a larger piece of rock broke apart right nearby, Io snapped out of it, grabbing Jasper by the arm.
“Come on!”
Together, they made a run for it up the front tunnel that the priests had used, guided by the light of their gloves. There was no time to go back the way they had come – they sprinted instead for the amphitheatre. Ahead, the flickering light of the bonfire grew brighter and brighter, guiding them to safety and taunting them at the same time – seeming to retreat before them, instead of draw closer.
They kept running, half-blind through a haze of dust, deafened by the shaking of the world, pelted with smaller bits of rubble as the pyramid came down on top of them...
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
A Test Of Courage
They burst out into the night, just as the monumental doorway collapsed behind them with a thunderous boom. Jasper and Io turned to watch as the tunnel caved in on itself, forming a crater in the face of the pyramid.
As the dust settled and silence returned, they stood gazing numbly at the ruined temple. It took them a moment to remember where they were and what they had done. They looked at each other, then slowly turned to see thousands of people staring at them – Jasper in his jeans and jacket, Io with her scales and feathers. He didn’t know who they would be more afraid of – Io, probably, since Jasper at least looked human.
The earthquake had caused the crowd to move away from the amphitheatre, and now they retreated even further. Jasper couldn’t imagine how it would have looked to a primitive civilisation, even a people as advanced as the Norte Chico were. They still had their supernatural beliefs as all ancient cultures did – to see their sacred pyramid collapse after two mysterious figures emerged from within, it must have appeared like some kind of divine omen. Though whether it was a good or a bad omen, Jasper couldn’t quite tell.
They weren’t allowed to be seen in the past, but somehow Io’s rule had been forgotten as they ran for their lives with the pyramid collapsing all around them. The procession of priests were standing off to the side, and even they didn’t know what to make of it. It seemed like they had begun to ascend the staircase on the left-hand side of the door and backtracked when the tremor began.
The crowd waited for the priests to do something. The priests waited for the high priest. But he was just as terrified of these strangers as everyone else. Face-to-face with what appeared to be otherworldly beings, he was suddenly stripped of all the confidence he had previously possessed. Slowly, he began backing up a staircase that led out of the amphitheatre to join the crowd, and the other holy men followed suit.
It wasn’t long after they had left the plaza that a wall of flames shot up all around it with a giant whoosh – a ring of fire, encircling the entire amphitheatre.
Jasper heard the panicked screams of people beyond the flames as they ran. If the crumbling of the pyramid and the appearance of Jasper and Io hadn’t done the trick, the wall of fire sure did – there was a stampede of bodies fleeing the scene in terror, running back to the safety of their homes.
Jasper and Io, on the other hand, stayed right where they were. They stood and beheld the ring of fire closing them in, ten metres high at least, with no gaps – just a continuous circle of flames. They wheeled around, looking every which way, but it was no good.
They were trapped.
For a strange moment, Jasper found himself wondering where the flames were coming from. The ring of fire couldn’t have been built when the third Marker was laid – it must have been set up after the amphitheatre had been constructed, likely by whoever had altered the second Marker.
“How the hell do we get out?” Jasper said.
“I do not...” she started, feeling hopeless. Then she remembered something. “The Flight Pod!”
Io turned back to face the pyramid, behind which was parked her spaceship. She summoned it with her mind, and within seconds, loose sand began to blow against their legs. The Flight Pod touched down, unseen, right before them. Io turned off its invisibility shield and lowered the ramp. They were just about to climb inside when the earth began to shake again.
This time, a crack appeared in the floor of the amphitheatre, and Jasper and Io stood by the spaceship, watching as it widened – the very surface of the earth seeming to split apart right before their eyes.
Sand poured into the void like a waterfall, and a sudden breeze ruffled their clothes, his hair, her feathers. The ground beneath their feet began to swirl with dust, and within seconds, a gale-force wind had picked up, created out of nothing.
Jasper had the sinking feeling he had been here before, and it wasn’t long before a swirling vortex of sand and dust began to climb high into the sky, confined entirely to the pit. The only difference between this and the dig site in Australia was that the vortex was wider this time, the pit larger. He was sure that the world beyond the amphitheatre was totally calm, if only the wall of fire wasn’t there to keep them penned in.
They both watched the raging tornado as it billowed up out of the pit, Jasper frozen by a sense of déjà vu he couldn’t seem to shake – the screams of people and the snapping of jaws still echoing in his mind.
But where the Australovenator had been hidden by its tornado, this time Jasper could clearly make out a shape within. A massive, hulking shape, rising to its full height within the sandstorm, silhouetted by the flames and the night sky.
Right away, he could see that this dinosaur was bigger than an Australovenator.
Much bigger.
As it poked its head out of the dust, Jasper saw that it wasn’t fully formed yet. Its skull was still exposed as pieces of skin and muscle reattached themselves to the bone. Before the whirlwind had even ceased, the two-legged carnivore was coming at them. Its ribcage and leg bones and part of its tail were still uncovered, but that wasn’t about to slow it down.
Flesh and scales and feathers whirled around it, recreating the prehistoric beast – the tornado moving with the creature it was bringing back to life. By the time it first snapped its jaws at them, the dinosaur looked exactly as it had at the time of its death, a hundred million years ago.
Jasper and Io ran backwards to avoid the sharp-toothed, slavering jaws and then split up, each heading in a different direction. The dinosaur didn’t know who to ignore and who to follow. In any case, it had to slow to turn around, being as big as it was, and narrowly missed coming into contact with the flames. As it turned and saw Jasper and Io on opposite sides of the amphitheatre, they got a chance to see the thing in its full expression.
The whirlwind had died away now and no more of the dinosaur’s skeleton was exposed – every muscle and scale and feather in place, all of it gearing up to devour them both. What was left in the wake of the tornado was one of the largest theropods to have ever walked the earth. Thirteen metres long, four metres tall at the hip and seven when standing upright, the Giganotosaurus – or G-Rex – weighed in at nearly eight tonnes and was
capable of speeds of up to fifty kilometres per hour. It was larger and faster than the T-Rex, and made the Australovenator seem positively cute by comparison. Like a Chihuahua next to an Irish wolfhound.
The giant predator stood there, backlit by the flames. Its hide was mostly beige, with brown stripes and bony ridges over its eyes. Presently, it lowered its head, opened its jaws and let out a deafening roar that seemed to distort the very air.
Though he should have been more concerned about his own life, for some reason, Jasper wondered what the people of Caral must be thinking as they watched from a distance.
They had seen a wall of fire shoot up to encircle the plaza, then a tornado come and go in the space of thirty seconds. Now, they were hearing a blood-curdling roar and had no idea what it belonged to. All of this strangeness was confined within the flaming amphitheatre and had seemingly been brought about by the priests’ ritual.
Something caught Jasper’s eye.
Beyond the tip of the flame wall behind the G-Rex, he could see the uppermost levels of the pyramid. For the most part, they appeared undamaged, but that wasn’t what drew his attention.
What drew his attention was a shadowy figure standing atop its peak, watching the gladiatorial combat taking place below. With the sun gone down, his hood had been cast back off his head, exposing the hairless, eyeless skull beneath – the moonlight causing his translucent skin to glow.
Janus was very much alive. And likely, very angry.
“He’s here,” Jasper called. Io followed his gaze and saw what he was talking about. Her eyes burned.
“Is this him?” Jasper said. “Is he doing this?”
The spiny feathers running along the G-Rex’s backbone were bristling now, its gigantic head looking from Jasper to Io, trying to decide which one it was going to eat first. In the end, it chose Io, maybe because they shared more in the way of physical characteristics – she likely resembled the prey it once hunted a hundred million years ago.
It began to walk slowly towards her, each step shaking the ground. The G-Rex knew she was trapped and wasn’t in any hurry to finish her off. Keeping her eyes on the dinosaur, Io began to back up, trying to keep a good distance between them.
“I do not think so,” she called. “This is too elaborate for him. And you said so yourself, the Marker did not lead anywhere. This is not a test of wits – it is a test of courage.”
The one thing standing between the dinosaur and its prey was the Flight Pod, and it was only now that Io remembered who was still inside...
“Dia...” she breathed.
The dinosaur barged right on through it, knocking the spaceship aside as if it were a soccer ball. Io didn’t have time to react to any potential damage to Dia or the Pod as the dinosaur was still moving. Faster now. Coming straight at her like a reptilian freight train. It opened its jaws, long strands of saliva dripping from its dagger-like teeth...
Io waited until it was almost upon her, then she raised her glove and fired a bolt of blue Elemental down its throat. She dived out of the way just as its jaws snapped shut on the empty air and rolled to a stop as the G-Rex reared up, shaking its head.
For a moment, it was still, as if trying to decide whether it was hurt or not. Then it sneezed, and was fine. The Elemental had done nothing more than irritate its sinuses. Io and Jasper exchanged a panicked look, then she pointed to the spaceship. It had been overturned, so the telescopic legs and the ramp were sticking up into the air. The open entrance facing the sky.
“Make sure Dia is alright,” she called.
Jasper nodded, setting off toward the Flight Pod at a full sprint.
The G-Rex noticed movement and its immense head snapped over to see what it was, watching Jasper as he ran across the amphitheatre. It was about to go after him when Io realised she had to do something and fired another blast of Elemental at the dinosaur’s head. Once again, it did almost nothing to the great saurian, except get its attention.
The G-Rex lurched after Io, lumbering forth in a great swaggering gait. The Precursor princess fled, firing backwards at its face and body to delay the beast. It might not have been the smartest course of action where self-preservation was concerned, but she had to keep it from noticing what Jasper was up to, and in that, she succeeded. For how long, though...that was another question.
Jasper arrived at the overturned Flight Pod and jumped up to grab hold of the closest leg. He latched on at the base of it, where the leg connected to the hull, and hauled himself up with all his might. The smooth, rounded exterior didn’t exactly provide an optimal climbing surface, but somehow he managed to get up, reaching out and taking hold of the opening’s edge.
As Io ran between the dinosaur’s legs in an effort to confuse it, Jasper dropped down into the capsized cabin and immediately saw what he was looking for.
A small, red, birdlike creature, cowering beneath the dinosaur saddle, wings over his eyes and trembling with fear. Jasper breathed a sigh of relief, glad that Dia was okay. He ducked beneath one of the seats and gently lifted the saddle, causing the bird to withdraw further into itself.
“It’s alright, buddy,” Jasper said. “It’s just me.”
Dia recognised the voice and parted his wings to reveal wide, frightened eyes.
“You’re not hurt, are you?” Jasper said, looking him over.
In place of a response, Dia leapt up onto Jasper’s chest, clinging to his shirt. The boy was surprised at first, having to plant a foot behind him to keep from falling back. The bird nestled against his chest, eyes closed, pressing himself close to Jasper. The boy didn’t know what to do except smile.
Outside, the dinosaur roared again, and Jasper felt Dia tremble against him. He stroked the bird, telling him everything was going to be okay, though he didn’t really know if he believed it.
He knew he had to act fast. Searching for something, anything that could help them, his eyes fell to the saddle, and slowly a plan began to take shape in his mind. He picked it up, having forgotten how heavy it was, and pushed it out through the opening. He repositioned Dia on his back and climbed up after it.
From his vantage point on the upside-down Flight Pod, Jasper watched as Io ran close to the flames – as close as she could without burning herself. The G-Rex wasn’t so lucky. With its immense girth, it kept accidentally touching the wall of fire – burning its nose when it leaned in to snap at her, burning its tail as it swung from side to side with each step.
All of this was frustrating the dinosaur, making it madder, more dangerous. It roared as it lumbered after her, a few of the spiny feathers alight on its back.
“Io!” Jasper called, and she looked over to see him standing there with the saddle. “How do we get this thing on?”
It took her a moment to realise what his plan was. She looked over her shoulder at the G-Rex, then back at Jasper. “Are you insane?!”
“I might be.”
“We need to knock him down,” she called back.
“Any ideas on how to do that?”
“Just one. Be ready with the saddle. You will only have one shot at this.”
Jasper threw the saddle down onto the sand and told Dia to hold on, then jumped down after it. He landed with a thud and picked up the saddle again, then stood there, waiting. Watching for whatever Io had planned to bring this mighty beast down. Preparing himself for what he would have to do when she did.
Io ran to one end of the amphitheatre, then cut back around the dinosaur as it slowed to turn before running into the fire again. She bolted back in a direct line to the opposite side and when she was about halfway, Io turned to face the prehistoric giant bearing down on her.
Jasper held his breath as Io stood there – the theropod getting closer and closer, and her just standing there. Io narrowed her eyes as she faced down the dinosaur. She raised her glove. But this time it wasn’t pointed at the G-Rex – this time, it was pointed at the ground between them.
She fired, and as the Elemental blast hit the ground, it
sent up a shower of dust and debris. The dinosaur tried to pull up, but it was already going too fast. As it stepped into the crater left by Io’s bolt, its foot caught against the side and it tripped...
The toppling of a G-Rex was an immense spectacle to behold. Jasper and Io could only watch as all eight tonnes of it came crashing to the earth with a sound louder even than the pyramid collapsing – the impact sending out a tremor not unlike the quake that had brought it into existence.
Io didn’t move as the theropod slid forward through the sand under its own momentum, still coming directly for her. It opened its jaws wide as if expecting to gobble her up on the way through. Io stared at the rows of pointed teeth, the powerful jaw muscles and the black hole of its throat. She swallowed in fear, but steeled herself and didn’t budge an inch.
The dinosaur slowed, and slowed, and finally came to a stop just short of Io. Its jaw slammed shut only inches from her face, the teeth meshing hideously but without her between them. The G-Rex stared dumbly for a moment as if it couldn’t quite believe how she had gotten the better of it.
Then it snorted in frustration, spraying Io with mucus – if it couldn’t eat her, at least it could do that.
Io tensed up immediately, eyes closed and covered in slime, a look of utter revulsion on her face. Jasper came in from the side and lay the saddle down. He took Dia off his back and set him on the ground, and the bird waddled over to his master in a wide circle, terrified of the giant beast laid out before her.
Meanwhile, Jasper approached the outstretched neck of the dinosaur and hesitated before laying his gloved palm on the scaly hide.
The G-Rex twitched, and Jasper noticed the glove wasn’t glowing. He began to panic as the dinosaur turned its head to get a better look at whoever was touching it. A small, beady eye zeroed in on him, narrowing in rage.
“What’s going on?” he said. “Why isn’t it working?”
“Channel your thoughts,” Io replied, wiping the mucus from her face. “Focus.”
Jasper wanted to tell her that it was hard to focus with a carnivorous dinosaur staring right at you – its head was longer than he was tall and its jaws were still well within chomping distance – but he found himself unable to speak. Unable to move.