by Pj Belanger
Sergeant was right; one look at the witchdoctor’s crazy eyes and his insaneness came roaring through.
Polk signed quickly to Yoria, “He considers himself a god, so he feels since you are the messengers sent by his deities then you are also his servants.”
Just what we need, Yoria thought, a fanatic that’s going to slow us down. She nodded her head at the funny looking man who was covered in fancy beads, animal bones and had a necklace made of some type of sharp pointed fangs. Perhaps if they just placated him, the witchdoctor would go away. Not likely!
They headed toward the village, Polk leading the way with the soothsayer dancing in front of them. It was at the beginning of the road leading into the village that the man who’d run away was standing with several villagers armed with spears. Lily sniffed the air, a growling rumble emanating from her snout. The lizard smelled the villagers along with any other animals that were within the town’s limits. The faster they got through the settlement the better, Yoria reflected. If the beasts smelled food, they would become restless and unpredictable.
Polk started forward, with the chief and crazy witchdoctor following him. The village warriors guarded both sides of the street. It’s a friggin parade, Yoria sarcastically thought. The inhabitants of Ponstria lined both sides of the street. Women, with frightened expressions, held tightly to their children, some of them cried loudly at seeing the beasts stomp down the wide main road.
The native men, each of them armed with spears, stood stoically with only fear in their eyes to give them away. The riders kept the beasts looking straight ahead, rubbing their tiny pointed back ears to keep them calm. The sand kicked up from the animals’ large feet and swishing tails. The dust particles filled the air. Yoria had trouble breathing; both her eyes and mouth were covered in grime. Then came the damn bridge spanning the village’s river. Although well built for Ponstria traffic, it was debatable whether it could take four-tons of animal crossing it. Never mind the Red.
She stopped and waited for Polk to come back to her. “That bridge was not made for the weight of the beast,” her hands signed.
“It is the only way across,” he replied. His hands became very animated, “The river is too deep for even the beasts to cross on their own, never mind the sizeable sharp-toothed predator fish that swim in the waters.”
Mitch brought his Brown next to her. The two animals hardly fit given the constraints of the street. His hands moved rapidly, “We can’t cross that!”
“I’ll go first,” Yoria motioned to her first lieutenant. “If we don’t make it, we will have to double back and go around another way. Forget trying to skirt the other towns.” Yoria edged Lily forward. The beast hesitated at the start of the bridge, giving out a great roar as the animal took in the raging river flowing under the bridge.
Yoria rubbed Lily’s ears, softly whispering encouragement despite the ban on talking. Lily started across the bridge. The large wooden slats slightly bent under the creature's weight but held. Despite the bridge violently bouncing, they made it to the other side. Yoria breathed deeply and waved back at the others. Mitch came next, and then Moria, followed by the rest until finally the Red crossed. Under the huge beast, the boards loudly cracked but held. Again Yoria took a deep breath as Volcano passed by Lily. The Red, however, was not happy and let out a giant deafening roar causing the other beasts to join in the cacophony of loud reverberations. She noticed the natives, including the men, ran for their houses; scared faces could now be seen peeking out the hut’s coarse windows. The street was completely empty.
When they’d passed by the last hut and headed into the Hellgate Plains, it was nearing sunset. “Where are the pens you built?” Yoria asked Polk, using her hands.
“A mile out past the town,” the sergeant fingers told her.
Sure enough, Polk had gotten the villagers to build a large wooden fenced-in area; big enough to fit all twelve beasts. Of course, if the animals wanted to break through, they could. Nothing would stop a four-ton body, but if their bellies were kept full and the animals kept calm, all would be fine.
Yoria’s muscles ached from the tension of the day. Dismounting, she led Lily into the enclosure and took off the saddle with its heavy bags but kept the harness intact. The riders could manage reattaching the saddles but the harnesses were difficult without the handlers.
When the twelve beasts were in the pen, all twelve riders collapsed near the shade offered by the trees in the area. Just a few large scrub pines dotted the sparse grasslands. Still, it was a relief from the dry desert that had preceded the village and was now behind them.
“Where are the cattle I was promised?” she signed to Polk, who turned to the chief, asking about the guaranteed steers. Through Yoria’s amulet she heard the chief giving the sergeant a hard time.
Angry, her hands animatedly confronted Polk. “Tell the chief, I will let my beasts eat his entire village!”
“I don’t think we should…” the sergeant started arguing with her but Yoria had had enough.
“Tell him or I’ll tell him myself,” her hands almost barked out the reply.
The chief’s eyes suddenly went wide. It was at that moment the beasts decided to take up howling. They did that when the animals were hungry. The howling was a combination of roaring and snorting. Both the chief and the witchdoctor hightailed it back to the village.
“They are hungry,” Mitch motioned at the beasts. Yoria nodded. If the animals weren’t satisfied soon the pens would not be enough to stop them from charging down to the village where they had smelled food earlier.
The riders fanned out along the outer rim of the fencing trying to use a calming effect of slowly waving their arms up and down and chanting a high noted hum. It worked for a while but soon the hungry beasts started getting restless, stomping around the pen. Shortly the reptiles would begin to fight among themselves. Yoria was betting the Red would start the trouble.
Sure enough! Volcano started swishing his tail rapidly, and started turning in a tight circle; a sign of agitation. He roared loudly, the Browns followed with roars of their own.
Yoria hated to do it but they’d have to dig into their precious saddlebags to at least try and placate their appetites. It meant that once on Hellgate they’d find themselves in the same predicament of angry hungry beasts. Shit! That damn Chief!
Just when they were dragging the bags out, the sound of cattle mooing filtered in from the direction of the village. Fifteen steers approached their camp. The beasts smelled the food. The roaring reached an even higher tone. “Hurry,” she motioned to her team, let’s get those cattle in the pen.
The villagers would not get near the beast’s enclosure so it was the riders that hurried the steers into the retaining fence. Immediately the beasts grabbed steers, the bigger ones, getting to the food first, were followed by the smaller Browns. Of course, the Red had forced its way to grab the leading steer. Twelve great jaws tore into their food. The crunching sound was horrendously loud. Even though the riders had often seen the feeding frenzy, the spectacle still was not pleasant. Yoria, however, did not turn away. It was imperative that each reptile got fed. All did. The Red ate two of the cattle.
The sun was almost gone when the beasts settled down satisfied. Each one curled into a tight ball, even the large Red, despite its huge size; closing their eyes, their bellies satisfied. The silence was a welcomed relief. “Get your sheep skin capes out, it gets cold here at night.” The soldiers all nodded, they were used to these planets with hot dessert days and cool nights. “Get the fire going,” she motioned to the wood that Polk had made sure was stacked by a large opening nearby. The place was a perfectly safe place for a bonfire without disturbing the penned animals.
It wasn’t long before the fire was roaring. Nearby they could see the silhouettes of their sleeping mounts. Yoria pointed at Mitch, “You and Margo take the first watch, then each of us will take a two hour turn.” She put her saddle and bags down near the fire and slumped against them, exhausted. Pol
k showed up shortly after she’d settled in bringing a small cart full of a type of yellow melon. The fruit was a little bitter and bland but it served its purpose of filling them up and taking the edge off their hunger. Soon the camp fell sound asleep.
Near dawn, she was awakened to take her turn at patrolling. The rising sun outlined the distant mountain ranges. The ragged peaks looked ominous and dangerously steep even this far away. Yoria walked the perimeter of the pen. The monstrous reptiles were still sleeping. They snored loudly, a few snorting when they changed positions. She wondered if they dreamt and what their dreams would entail.
When the sun’s rays peaked over the ridges and reached the pen, the giant lizards came awake. Each animal stretched, an almost human gesture. The riders were already up dragging their saddles over to the pens getting ready to start on their journey.
The Chief and the witchdoctor, however, showed up at camp with Polk who had brought more melons for breakfast. The riders stopped to each grab a large piece of fruit. Yoria wondered if the Chief and the witchdoctor were related as both had protruding large bellies and extremely large hairy feet. Like all the natives of this planet, they had dark eyes. But what astounded her most was they hardly blinked.
She bowed her head to the