by Pj Belanger
on their side.
The twelve riders approached the sheer cliff carefully. No sign of anyone or anything, including the snakes. The ground was becoming rocky and probably not conducive for the big snakes to crawl on. Thank goodness, the riders had had enough of the threatening serpents.
When they had reached the base of the plateau, she motioned for the riders to span out. The riders would need to keep several meters between each beast so as to prevent any collisions during the climb. Her eyes looked up at the cliff. It was almost straight up with some deep crevices that could impede their climb. “Saddle up,” Yoria commanded. All twelve riders hitched up their harnesses cinching them as tight as the straps would go. The riders were leaning forward over the beginning of their beast’s neck. She grabbed onto the two handles that jutted out the front of the saddle.
“Let me start first,” she softly spoke into her amulet.
Yoria nudged Lily forward. The huge lizard took a few steps, growling softly in protest but climb the beast did! At the bottom of the cliff were fallen rocks. At first her beasts slipped and slid as its feet climbed upward. “Come on girl,” Yoria whispered into Lily’s set of small ears. She rubbed them lightly encouraging her mount to continue. Lily kept climbing until the beast had reached the solid rock of Hellgate’s side. Lily’s webbed feet spread out. Yoria heard the lizard’s suction cups grip ahold of the surface and then lift itself upward.
“All right, start climbing,” she croaked into her transmitter. They had just begun the climb and already she was winded from just holding on as tight as was possible. The twelve beasts were now heading up the mountain; each grabbing onto the rock with their massive webbed suction cup paws. Moria and Mitch were close by; their faces were strained with the effort to remain on their beasts’ back despite the harnesses. The team all made steady progress. The valley was left far below them. About half way up Yoria noticed the Red had taken the lead. It was amazing to see the humongous iron colored lizard climb easily up the sheer rock wall.
She felt something whiz past her ear. Damn, someone was shooting arrows from above. They could not penetrate the beast’s scales, only by a direct hit on their eyes could the reptiles be hurt. Her human body however, could be. With great effort one of her hands let go of the saddle’s handle and took the shield that was tied to her back swinging it in front of her. Her arms’ muscles strained but she managed to get it in place.
Good thing as several pings hit the shield. The beasts weren’t all visible to her but the ones close by were doing the same kind of protection. Her eyes glanced left. The valley lay far below. The air seemed colder up near the top. Her whole body ached from the strain of the restraint straps. Lily was also breathing deeply as the lizard headed toward the uppermost part of the cliff. The Red had passed all the rest, the reptile was almost at the pinnacle. Calston was hanging low on the big monster’s body.
They whole group came up onto the top. The cliff, at the uppermost level, had a rocky section that slowly leveled out and finally Lily grabbed on to the flat surface and the lizard lifted itself onto the top of the plateau. Yoria immediately released the restraining straps and sat upright. Several natives with bows and arrows were shooting at the beasts. Most, however, were running away as fast as they could, screaming loudly as they did so.
“Regroup,” she said into her communicator. The Red, which had reached the top first, was running rampant. Swinging its head violently, the huge jaws were snapping at the retreating natives. They were being knocked left and right as the giant legs also crushed some of them. “Calston, get that animal under control!” she yelled into her amulet. Calston was trying. Her best rider was pulling hard on his reigns but the Red was resisting him in its easy pursuit of panicking prey. The chaos of the natives’ retreat was even getting to the Browns that were roaring loudly. Yoria could feel Lily’s massive muscles straining against the reigns’ restraints. “Come on girl, calm down,” she whispered softly in the beast’s ears, rubbing them slightly.
Finally, the twelve beasts were brought under control but not before the landscape was littered with bodies. “Shit,” Yoria got down from her Brown. She walked over to Volcano who was snorting loudly and pulling against Calston’s control. She’d had enough. Going against regulations, Yoria held up her hand to the side of its monstrous head letting her stun rod shoot 500 volts into the Red.
It was a very risky chance that it would get him under control. The jolt could also spark resistance. To her relief, the black eyes clouded over in submission letting her stare directly into the beady orbs. “Stay!” she quietly but firmly said. The giant beast sat quietly on its haunches.
Calston dropped down, “Damn, we’ll have to come up with some new kind of harness and other restraints for the Reds. They are too volatile.” The rider was out of breath, sweat covered his brow.
“ Or not use them at all,” Yoria expounded vehemently.
All twelve beasts now stood in formation, sitting on their backsides but not quietly. Many strained their necks forward smelling the meat that lay sprawled out in front of them.
“Get these bodies out of here!” she instructed, now reverting back to sign language. Who knew who was listening or recording, probably no one but it wasn’t worth taking the chance. “If they are dead throw them over the cliff, if not at least drag them down wind.” She pointed to her left.
All were dead and ended up being dragged over the side. With that done, the beasts quieted down and she could take stock of the flat top plateau. On the far side shooting straight up was another large precipice that was dotted with caves. “No wonder that satellites showed nothing,” she expounded to her scout, Clarot. “The caves have huge overhangs and would not be visible from the circling satellites.”
The precipice was just over a half mile away. Ropes hung down from the flat area in front of the caves, and were full of natives scampering up. Even from this distance the panic stricken fear of the caves’ inhabitants could be felt. “Getting up there won’t be easy,” her scout hands spelled out.
“Up there, we have to go,” she similarly replied. Yoria ordered a remount and slowly headed the large reptiles to the flat ground before the caves. The ropes had been drawn up. As they got closer there began a pounding of thrown rocks that the natives were heaving down on them.
“Back up,” Yoria spoke into her amulet. The rocks couldn’t hurt the beasts but they sure as hell could do damage to the riders. The twelve riders brought their beasts back out of range and stared upwards. “We will take five beasts, each carrying two soldiers. Two of you will wait down here. Do not let anyone escape! Keep the other seven beasts as calm as you can.”
Her team nodded, it wasn’t the first time that they’d used this strategy. Once we reach the top of the wall, one person will stay with each beast clinging to the cliff just below the caves. The other five will dismount and attack the five caverns’ openings.”
“And how are we going to do that?” said Mitch, skepticism filling his rough handsome face.
Yoria looked around the area. Small scrub bushes dotted the ground. She went over and gathered some of the top dried brush. Looking around she saw the small outcrops of flint that also surrounded the area. Taking two rocks she sparked onto some of the brush. Immediately the twigs caught and smoke rose. “We smoke them out!”
It took almost half an hour to gather enough brush onto the back of the five attacking riders and to add more onto the back of the beasts. “That should do it,” she surveyed their work. “Let’s get this done! As soon as you’ve set the fires, the beasts can be brought up to the ledge in front of the caves. The animals then will keep the natives corralled as they come out. Be on the look out for any Rolles who will be disguised as natives.”
“How are we supposed to recognize the bastards? They look just like us,” Moria said, shaking her head.
“I don’t know but we will figure it out. Look for anything out of place!” she told them.
Yoria took a place behind Mitch, holding tight
ly to his climbing harness. Her legs grabbed on to the beast’s scaly hide. Her muscles strained, her training taking over. It was tight and restraining but she’d done it before. The rough brush rubbed irritatingly against her back.
As they approached the cliff, rocks rang down again. “Shields up,” Yoria ordered. She helped Mitch pull his shield in front of him. Her body crouched as close to him as possible. Rocks flew all around, many hitting the scales of the animals and bouncing off. A few hit Mitch’s shield and he grunted in pain but up the short cliff they went. As they reached the top, she climbed over her lieutenant and pulled herself over the beast’s neck. Her arms flung out grabbing the top ridge’s rough surface. She knew from experience that her hands would be cut in several places. Immediately jumping up, she had her large ax out, swinging it.
No one was on the ledge; all had run into the caves. She ran to the nearest opening, unstrapping her twigs and placed them inside the opening and then quickly set them on fire. The other five were doing the same. She notice Margo was bleeding from her arm. The dry kindling immediately caught and smoke billowed inward. She coughed as the smoke became overwhelming and stepped out of the way.
Mitch had already brought the beasts onto the