by K. T. Tomb
“Shoot it, Mr Lee. Shoot it now.” Pikeham’s voice was a hoarse whisper. John didn’t have the rifle with him, but felt unable to form the words in his mouth. No more than thirty yards away, a creature was grazing from the trees. The tops of some of the younger trees were barely taller than the beast. It was hard to judge from this distance, but John guessed it was perhaps five times the height of a man and many times as heavy. How had a creature of this size got so close without running into one of their scout parties? The animal seemed not to notice them, for now, as its attention was fully occupied with eating; its long body hauled part way vertical on relatively short arms.
“What is it, Doctor?” said John, his voice a whisper in hushed awe.
“I don’t know. It looks like nothing else I’ve seen. There have been finds of the bones of creatures like this for some time, but they were thought to be extinct. The study of the fossils is still quite new however, so I suppose, I mean, given this new evidence… Oh my. Mr. Darwin is going to want to hear all about this when I return.” The doctor had clearly ceased talking to anyone except himself at that point. John gently shook the man’s shoulder. It must be hard, he reasoned, to have lost all his equipment, survived a tempest and now be witness to this giant. John felt blessed that his intellect was not so great as to be troubled as the doctor’s was now. The great beast appeared to be slightly feathered, though not quite like a bird would be. Wingless, and far too heavy for flight, which ruled out the creature being a dragon of legend. But, John thought, this is a creature out of legend. Nothing walked the Earth known to man like this. The creature stopped eating, and put its great head to the sky, releasing a noise like a dozen trumpets that resonated through the trees and forced the men to involuntarily cower on their knees. Four more of the animals stomped through the undergrowth, their patterned, feathered hides dappling in the sunlight. Despite their huge size, their natural camouflage was excellent and when standing still; the eye wanted to skip over it, pretend the creature wasn’t there at all.
“Hey, John. Don’t they remind you of cows?” Rajeev had crept forward, now he was crouched at John’s elbow. John crouched with him, and looked at the giants. They did indeed appear to be quite bovine, in a way that had nothing to do with their appearance. There was clearly a bull, the largest of the group, that had just arrived. The other three, he supposed, were his cows. A rustling at the ankles of the giants disturbed the brackens, and half a dozen calves of the species no more than four feet high came into view. The bull roared his great horn of a head, blasting bass notes. The giants moved away with a strange silence, as if their feet were clothed in silk.
John quietly led the doctor and Rajeev back to the beach. The crew they had left were surrounding Captain Sykes as he tried to restore some order. Evidently they too had heard the noise of the creatures, and it was only a few minutes before the first of the scout parties came hurrying back through the woods. They too had seen strange animals, fast lizards the size of turkeys, and they had heard the roar of some great beast. Through trying to replicate the noise, the deduction was made that it was a different noise to that made by the great crested monster that John had seen. Confusion reigned. Some of the crew believed that they had come to an island ruled over by the devil himself. Several of the men dropped to their knees at this idea. Sykes grabbed Pikeham by the shoulders, his own eyes clearly troubled by the strange events.
“Come, man, you’re the learned one. What are these things? Do you know of any such beast under God?” he said.
Pikeham collected himself, brushing off the captain’s hands.
“I believe… that is to say, I do need to do more research. But, I do declare that some two decades ago it was discovered there was a taxonomic group of creatures that do indeed fit into these descriptions.” The doctor smiled, but the smile faded when he saw the lack of comprehension on faces of the captain and John.
“And that means what, exactly?” John said.
“The problem is,” the doctor said, ignoring the question, “that these creatures were thought to be long extinct. For many millions of years, no less. It seems impossible, my good captain, but I do declare that this island is populated with several species of dinosaur.” Sykes gaped. John had a vague idea of what a dinosaur was. There had been a public museum he had visited when on leave from the army in London that proclaimed to have the skeleton of one such creature. While it was remarkably impressive in size, John had not believed it to be real at the time. Now with the evidence of his own eyes, he realized that he had been either wrong then, or had gone mad now.
“So,” he said, “what do we do, Doctor? Captain?”
“We’re getting out of here as fast as we can, which was the only plan to begin with. We take the wood we need t’fix the mast, and then we mark this place on the map. I ain’t risking my crew and my cargo. I’ve only heard the beasts, and it was enough.” Sykes said. John was inclined to agree with him. He had only wanted to travel east to expedite his return to England. To get to England, first the Nannie Dee must go east, bearing the opium in its belly to China. Pikeham wagged his finger.
“I am also part of your cargo, Captain. Our accord, that you signed, allows me to stop at any islands on our path, for any reasonable amount of time, so that I may conduct my studies. I’ll allow you that we need to repair your ship, but we need not rush. These discoveries will make rich men of us all, you mark my words.” The doctor folded his arms, and looked actually quite pleased with himself. Sykes glowered, but said nothing in reply. Instead he turned to the few crewmen on the beach, John and Rajeev included, and gave his orders in Hindi while drawing a crude map in the sand.
“All hands, listen up. We need to dig in the camp. Consider the woods to be a great danger to us. We are going to build defenses here and here. Chop branches, spike the ends and drive them into the earth. Got it? Make each one twenty hands high.”
The crew set about their work. John wondered if anything would stop the creatures—no, the dinosaurs—if they meant to destroy them. Were they really like Hindu cows, vegetarian and holy? Or were there dragons amongst the trees, hidden? Surely an animal must have a predator. How big a beast it must be, to feed on the crested leaf eaters he had already seen.
Chapter Six
Vishwamitra understood the king’s pain. But the sage also had no choice. He knew that Rama was an avatar, or incarnation of Vishnu on earth. He also knew that only Vishnu in human form could kill Ravana. The king told Rama about Vishwamitra’s request. Rama understood and willingly went with the sage.
“I shall go, too, father,” declared Lakshmana. The king did not protest. Rama and Lakshmana, weapons slung over their shoulders, followed the sage along the Sarayu River bank.
The journey was a long one. Whenever the three stopped to rest, the sage took the time to teach the boys how to use the powerful weapons of the gods to fight the demons. They journeyed until they reached the foot of a frightening forest. They paused. The sage said, “This was once a beautiful and prosperous country. Now the terrible she-demon, Tataka, lives here. She attacks and kills anyone who enters.” Neither Rama nor Lakshmana were afraid. The sage turned to Rama and said, “Now it is up to you to rid this forest of these demons. By doing so, you will restore the land to the prosperity and the peace it once enjoyed.”
Rama clutched his bow and removed arrows from his quiver. Rama and Lakshmana followed Vishwamitra into the forest. They heard many strange and frightening sounds. Each step they took brought them deeper into the forest. Suddenly there was an unearthly roar. The three men stopped. From nowhere a huge rock came hurling out of the sky heading straight for Rama. He slipped an arrow in place and drew his bow. He fired just as the rock was about to hit him. The arrow split the rock in two. The pieces fell harmlessly to earth. —Ramayana
***
No Dominion Here
By nightfall, the men sent to survey the land had returned, all but three.
The men who had rowed out to sea had managed to row
out far enough to guess that they had landed on an island, albeit a very large one. The men from the on-land exploration brought tales of many strange creatures, which John found himself translating for Pikeham to write down in one of his many leather-bound notebooks. Little Gupta spoke of a mountain to the west, which was too steep to climb and around its summit flew great winged shadows, winged like bats, but strange and terribly beaked. Raj and Arif had encountered a plain field to the east that stretched many miles and was home to beasts the size of elephants, with many great horns around a large bony frill at the top of the skull. Everywhere the sailors had seen insects of massive sizes, giant dragonflies and hornets. Sykes ordered the men to continue the watch system they had at sea, to ensure that their makeshift camp was never undefended. Sharpened stakes now ringed the forest side of the camp, with the rear of the camp toward the sea and the row boats. John deduced that the captain’s plan, in case of danger, would be to flee back to the boats and from there to the Nannie Dee. John did not like the odds of these mere twigs halting a dinosaur. He thought about them as he lay, looking up at the stars on this strange island. The stars seemed unfamiliar and remote, as if they weren’t the same stars he had slept under for his years in the wilderness of India. He had almost half a thought, but exhausted, fell asleep before he could bring the idea to full realization.
Dawn brought heavy rain, and no news of the missing scouts. Apparently the missing men had been exploring the area directly to the south, the beach that the crew had made their camp by being on the north coast of whatever land this was. Sykes made the decision to go and retrieve them, and surprisingly, Dr. Pikeham insisted on accompanying them; saying that he must see these different species of creatures for himself and, of course, to assist in the search for the lost men. Sykes left Mandeep in charge of the camp and the men who were to find a suitable supply of wood to make the repairs to the ship, and took it upon himself to lead Dr. Pikeham, Rajeev, John and Little Gupta into the woods. Gupta had traveled with the missing men for some time until they split up to go in opposite directions, and the tiny man had clearly no desire to make the journey twice. Despite his fear, the little man bravely strapped his machete to his waist once again, and stepped into the trees at the head of their single file column. John bore Pikeham’s rifle, but was sure it would be less than useless against a beast as large as the dinosaurs they had seen. Pikeham said the creatures they had already witnessed grazing the trees were likely to be vegetarians, but this information did not settle his nerves. He had seen elephants go berserk in India, and after all, they were also plant eaters. The diet of the animal did not prevent them from crushing men to death when they were annoyed.
As the five men progressed into the island, John saw the land change. There were different environments within the island itself. By the beach where they landed, the thick vegetation spread across the coastline for a mile in all directions, and then suddenly petered out into a vast grassy plain to the east and south. Now that they were free of the trees preventing them from looking to the horizon, they could see the mountain Gupta had spoken of the night previously. If he squinted, John thought he could see black winged shapes circling the mountain, riding the warm air thermals as vultures might do. Sykes led them on under Gupta’s directions, into the plains, in the direction the lost men had been exploring. The plains, broad and golden despite the gray clouds overhead, were teaming with life. Dinosaurs of all sizes moved in herds across the plateau, some the size of the Nannie Dee itself, but four legged ships of the land, with comically long necks and proportionally tiny heads. They moved slowly, browsing the tree line at the edges of the plains, and in their presence, no man said a word. Pikeham sketched the beasts as they walked, making hurried notes using a small piece of charcoal; looking over his shoulder, John saw that his eye was good and had rendered the creatures in reasonable accuracy—not so much in the details, but the form of the beasts. Gupta led them skirting the tree line away from the long-necked animals. It was after a mile of progress in this manner that they discovered the bodies.
Every man knew what lay under the great cloud of flies, which could be seen from some distance away, but no man really admitted it to himself until they could see it for themselves. A dozen bipedal reptiles, sharp toothed and the size of a chicken, were scared up from their carrion meal. The three bodies of the crewmen had been trampled by something huge, and heavy. John looked out over the plain, spying many of the three-horned, frilled dinosaurs Raj had described. They looked docile, but could they have done this? No doubt they had the power to do so. The little scavengers had eaten soft tissues, eyes and tongues, but no other teeth marks seemed in evidence. Gupta wept and cried aloud. These were the remains of his friends, and he wept for them viciously.
“Cap’n, what do we do with them? We can’t move them from here with just the five of us.” John looked at the dead men. Hindu tradition would dictate that the bodies needed to be burned. Sykes evidently knew this as well as he did, his eyes flitting from his two living Indian crew with him to the three bodies. He was pale, and suddenly looked very old.
“We cut wood for gurneys. We can’t leave these poor buggers here. It’s not the most dignified thing, but to hell with leaving them here to be eaten.” The captain turned and headed for the forest again, where giant conifers grew, shading bracken and other shrub undergrowth. The sailors hacked branches, and tied them together with vines to form crude litters onto which the grisly remains of the men were loaded. It would have been easier to just tie the bodies to a single branch, and carry it as you would a sheep to market, but none of the men could bring themselves to do it. It would be wrong, somehow. Even though no man wanted to remain where they were, they took the extra time to treat the bodies with respect.
With the litters in tow, Sykes was about to lead them back to camp when the plains erupted with the thunder of many heavy bodies moving together. The great horned beasts were stampeding. No doubt this is what had killed the poor crewmen, John thought, and now he was going to die the same way. Looking out over the plain, he could see the massive creatures running, pursued—no, hunted—by bipedal hunters, with large heads brimming with spears of teeth.
“Run!” Sykes yelled, and sprinted off into the trees, dragging the corpse of his sailor behind him, Gupta and Rajeev on his tail. John gave chase for a dozen yards, then turned to see Pikeham, stood frozen, enraptured by the terrible clash of monsters taking place in front of him. John had to physically drag him away and into the relative safety of the tree line; what protection it might give if the great animals headed for them he did not know, but it was infinitely preferable to being caught in the open. Pikeham came to his senses somewhat, and wild-eyed, ran with John after the captain. As they retreated into the woods, they saw one of the horned quadrupeds taken down by a pair of the sharp toothed predators, who leapt on its back with wicked claws mounted on their hind legs, digging into flesh. The prey animal bellowed and screamed as it died, and it put fear into the hearts of all the men who heard it.
At the beach, the crew piled up all the wood they had managed to collect that day for repairs to the boat into three pyres for the dead. In the Hindu way, the crew sang the songs of the antim-sanskara, the funeral rites as fire carried the souls of the dead into their next lives. Pikeham sat with John as the stink of burning flesh mixed with the fragrant flowers they had piled on the bodies.
“John, we are no longer the favored of God on this island.” Pikeham’s eyes were stressed and worn. Like the captain, he looked to have aged.
“What do you mean?” John said. He would rather have not gotten into theology with the doctor, seeing as his own beliefs were so muddled; yet he was still of lower class than Pikeham and the conditioned deference he still bore toward his social superiors prevented him from speaking his mind.
“‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’ The book of
Genesis, I take it you know it well,” Pikeham said. John nodded that he did. The Bible was the only book that he had ever come into regular contact with, through church in England, and through the pastors in the army. The doctor continued. “You see, we have no dominion here. I have seen the tribes of Africa, who are godless at least as we understand it, and they live in fear of the hyena and the lion. Even civilized man does not have suzerainty over the lions.”
“Nor in India. Everyone respects the tiger,” John said. He had once hunted the tiger himself, but had not caught it. He had merely been part of a group of villagers who had succeeded in driving a tiger away—and only for a night. The great cat had returned a week later, bringing more terror and death to the village.
“Just so. How can man rule over living creatures on the ground, when these creatures don’t notice us when they step on us?” John had no answer. That night, Captain Sykes ordered the water rations to be halved to preserve stores until a fresh supply could be found. John lay under the stars, staring up again, when the idea he had almost had the night before came back to him.
And it changed everything.
Chapter Seven
Then appearing out of between two trees, Rama saw a horrible sight. It was the hideous form of the demoness, Tataka. She was enormous. Around her neck was a human skull. She had sharp claws on her hands. She looked at Rama and made a growling noise. Lakshmana decided to wait no longer. He fired his arrow and gravely wounded the demoness.
A strange look came over her face as she felt the arrow pierce her flesh. Placing her hand to the wound she moaned, “What mortals have wounded me?” Then taking careful aim, Rama fired his arrow into Tataka’s heart, killing her.
No sooner had the she-demon died, than the gods in heaven rained lotus blossoms down on Rama blessing him. The three continued on their journey deeper into the forest. Along the way, Rama and Lakshmana killed many demons. The sage told Rama: “I am delighted with you. I shall give you even greater weapons to defeat any enemy.” He knew that Rama’s work was far from complete. There was still the powerful Ravana to deal with. It was one thing to kill Ravana’s demons; it was another to kill Ravana himself.
