Treachery (The Terra Trials Book 1)

by Dan Thomas

  Max pulled his fist back and punched forward again. Striker brought up his free arm into a guard, rolling the punch away then slamming his hand down onto Max’s wrist. Max lost his grip on Striker’s weapon.

  Max grabbed for his knife from his belt, bringing his other arm over his head as Striker jabbed high with his axe, which he nimbly turned into a swing. The metal axe slipped between Max’s armor plates, cutting through the hide beneath and biting into his flesh.

  Max cried out and brought his knife up and plunged it deep into Striker’s arm. When he didn’t let go of the axe, Max yanked the knife out, stabbing down again and again. It glanced off Striker’s armor twice before he managed to force the blade back down into flesh.

  Striker recoiled, his hand slipping from the axe, blood pouring down his arm, but Max didn’t let up. Leaning even farther forward in the saddle, he stabbed at Striker’s face. Striker managed to deflect Max’s arm, retaliating with a closed fist that Max managed to lean away from, before bringing the dagger down again.

  Striker planned to parry the attack with his forearm, but Max let go of the blade before the swing connected, the knife spinning out of his hand before sinking into Striker’s belly.

  Striker clutched at the wound, reaching for his own knife, but his lynx managed to get its leg behind the raptor’s head, shoving it away. The raptor lost its grip on the lynx, its teeth ripping out chunks of bloodied fur as it staggered away, fresh cuts down its own neck from the lynx’s claws.

  Max pulled the axe out of his chest, spinning it in his hand as he eyed his half-filled red bar dubiously.

  He could see Striker pull the knife out of his body before the lynx, whose light gray fur was quickly turning a dark red down its neck, reared onto its hind legs, swiping with both paws at once, which the raptor barely avoided. Max could feel that his mount was beginning to tire. It had been a long fight for both of them, and the injuries that the carnivore had sustained were beginning to sap its Stamina.

  A deep groan reverberated through the air, and Max glanced over to see the second Torosaurus collapse to the floor, the raptors on its back leaping off, next to one of the two players who had survived the fight with the herbivore.

  The lynx, its huge teeth showing as it panted, seemed reluctant to attack again, and Max shared the feeling. He glanced around the battlefield to see if anyone could help him.

  Sam stood with the three remaining boneheads, killing the last of the players they had been fighting, but Max saw her face drop as she spotted the remaining player and raptors who had finished off the Torosaurus.

  He looked toward their remaining large dinosaurs. The Torosaurus that had worn the battering ram was in a stalemate with the Carnotaur. The Carnotaur had retreated toward the stables, cornered on the stone yard, but both were hemorrhaging blood. With the Carnotaur unable to move around the Torosaurus from where it was trapped, and the Torosaurus too sluggish to move safely past the carnivore’s powerful jaws, it was a standoff.

  Toward the remains of the command tower, the Hesperosaurus was still fending off Goose, Nik, and their raptors, but was being peppered with arrows from the two Ravagers.

  “Pez, you’re clear! Call your raptors back and let’s wrap this up!” Chopsticks yelled.

  “About time!” Pez replied.

  Max looked toward the wall. The Coprolite’s own Deinonychus appeared, sprinting across the wall back toward the breach. The three huge dinos were locked in a battle of attrition, the Majungatholus’ jaws held wide open, lurching toward either of the Abelisaurus that tried to move in close enough to attack. It looked as though the Majungatholus was still eager to rush headlong at its opponents, but was being constantly held back by Remington, who knew how disastrous that would be.

  Even across the distance, Max could see the bite marks down Abe’s neck, as well as fresh blood staining Lis’ pale head, and the Majungatholus’ already rust-colored skin. Both Pez and Remington seemed to be out of ammunition. Remington was climbing along the trunk-like neck of his mount. It looked like he was getting ready to leap onto the back of Pez’s dino.

  The raptors reached the edge of the wall, and with incredible confidence, they threw themselves off of the wall, latching onto the sides of the Majungatholus, clawing their way up onto its back.

  Remington spotted them. He turned around, a sword in hand, but it was too late for him. He swung as they leaped at him, but he was immediately overpowered, being pinned to his mount’s back.

  Max winced and looked away as the Ravager was torn apart. It was only a game, but he had enough experience of being eaten alive to know that it sucked.

  His eye came back to rest on Striker who had also been watching the wall, his expression now looking closer to desperation than anger.

  Max’s Utahraptor had a limp as it squared up to the lynx, which was drooling as it huffed, crouching low as it prepared for another round.

  The two beasts cautiously approached each other, both reluctant to make the first move as they circled one another, their riders watching for an opportunity that they could exploit.

  Striker must have pushed the beast on, as it lunged forward, reaching out with its paws to try to grab the raptor. Instead of trying to avoid the attack, the dino sprang toward the oncoming Lynx. As the Lynx’s claws closed around empty air, the raptor landed on the animal’s head, digging its talons into a head vice, its wing-like arms and feathered tail all held out to balance itself.

  As it leaned forward, it snapped its jaws at Striker, who tilted away, batting the dino’s head aside with one arm, and bringing the other up to sink a knife into the dino’s neck.

  Max covered his ears as the dinosaur shrieked, careening off the back of Lynx.

  Not holding onto the saddle, Max was thrown from the back of the mount, landing heavily on the ground. He pushed himself to his feet just in time to see the Lynx bite down onto the reeling dino’s throat, its fangs more than enough to finish the exhausted dino that went down, twitching on the ground.

  Striker didn’t let the beast savor its kill, as it immediately turned toward Max.

  Max pulled his bag around and reached in as the Lynx stalked toward him, a shit-eating smirk covering Striker’s dirt-covered face.

  “Say your prayers, Holic! There’s not going to be anything for you to log back into after this,” Striker said.

  Max pulled out the second firebomb as the Lynx crouched just a few feet away from him, ready to pounce.

  Max threw the firebomb onto the ground just in front of him. He knew it was way too close, but he was out of options.

  As soon as it was out of his hand, he turned to run. There was a shattering sound and a wave of heat hit his back as he threw himself face-first onto the dirt.

  “Argh!” he yelled as he started rolling, patting out the flames that seared his arms and back. He waited until the burning sensation faded, and his depleted health bar stopped dropping before hauling himself back to his feet, picking up Striker’s metal axe that Max had dropped to his side.

  The fire burned low, the grass around the short flames blackening as it was once again set alight. He could see on the other side of it that Striker had been thrown to the ground, the Lynx fleeing from the flames toward the wall. Its blood-soaked fur did well to protect it from igniting, but the shock of the blaze was enough to panic the Svelkif creature.

  Max turned toward where Ticket was fighting with the last enemy player apart from Striker, while the two boneheads still standing were trying to batter the remaining two raptors to death.

  Max jogged toward her, wishing he still had his spear.

  As he approached, he could see TOD shooting a jet of blue flame at one of the raptors every time it tried to close in around the boneheads, not enough to do damage, but enough to dissuade it from coming any closer. Ticket held up her arm to block a club swing, taking the full force of it before stepping forward and slashing across the player’s body, who staggered back, sticking close to the raptor for protection.

&n
bsp; The Deinonychus near Ticket could smell the blood on Max as he came close, entirely forgetting about Ticket, it dashed past her, running for Max. Max slowed his jog, taking a few skipping steps before lobbing the axe at the dino as it came within a few feet of him.

  The axe blade sank deep into the dinosaur’s skull with a thunk, which collapsed, its body sliding across the ground, nearly tripping Max up as it collided with his shins.

  As he bent down to pull the axe free, he watched as TOD leaped from Ticket’s shoulder, wrapping its claws around the player’s raised arm. Ticket darted forward, planting her knife firmly into their chest, the hide armors no obstacle for the iron blade. The noob player hung for a moment with a shocked expression before sliding off the blade onto the blood-stained dirt.

  TOD scampered along the ground toward the last Ravager raptor which nipped at the boneheads as they tried to get around it. As TOD came close, he opened his wings and leaped toward it, grabbing into the dino’s back. It screeched, craning its head to try and reach its attacker as TOD bit down on its neck.

  One of the boneheads took the opportunity to rush forward and butt its domed skull into the side of the raptor’s head, sending it spiraling to the ground.

  Sam slumped forward, resting her hands on her knees. “That was too close.”

  Max lowered himself onto one knee next to her, clutching the wound on his chest as he pulled his bag around his body. He needed a bandage. “It was, even with knowing what we were up against and preparing for it—crap.”

  A roar coming from the stables caught their attention.

  The Torosaurus must have tried to crush the Carnotaur against the wall, judging by the broken door and damaged timber, but the Carnotaur had managed to move in time, trapping the bulkier dino against the side of the building, leaving one of the Torosaurus’ legs with wounds deep enough that it couldn’t support its own weight.

  No longer pinned, the injured predator charged toward the Hesperosaurus, its head down, horns bared.

  The Hesperosaurus, covered in arrows, turned at the sound, spinning its bulk around to face the new threat, its tail held ready to strike.

  Goose and Nik didn’t waste a second, dashing around the back of the Hesperosaurus with their remaining two Deinonychus.

  “Holic, get ready. We can’t lose now, we’ve come too far,” Ticket said, her voice filled with determination, TOD back on her shoulder. He was impressed the robot was still functioning.

  The two boneheads joined them, breathing heavily as they stood on either side of Ticket and Max.

  Max grabbed a bandage from his bag, wrapping it around the worst of his wounds to stem the bleeding and begin recovering some health, gripping Striker’s axe tight. “We aren’t going to lose to the Ravagers again.” They just had to hold out long enough for Pez, who was still struggling to get past the Majungatholus.

  Max spread his legs out, crouching low as the two Ravagers on raptors ran toward them, spears in hands, their two smaller raptors following close like hunting dogs.

  For a second, Max thought that the ground near the raptors was moving. At first, he put it down to heat haze from the smoldering grass fire, but then he made out the shapes of the little camouflaged dinos swarming toward the raptors.

  One of the Deinonychus screeched as it went down to the ground, disappearing underneath the writhing mass of Coelophysis.

  Nik slowed his mount, glancing behind him at the little dinos.

  Max then saw Chopsticks emerge from the tower, sprinting across the ground, atlatl in hand. Without stopping to aim, he raised it up, launching a spear-like projectile that sailed across the space, hitting Nik’s raptor, which tripped up, smashing into the ground. Nik rolled away from his downed mount.

  The air was then filled with a sound like thunder. Almost all eyes turned toward the wall where Lis lunged for the Majungatholus’ legs, jaws wide.

  The larger dino, with two of the three raptors ripping at its flesh from its back, twisted its body around, about to grab her. With its deadly jaws out of the way for only a split second, Abe stepped forward and slammed his jaws around the Majungatholus’ exposed throat.

  The Majungatholus tried to pull away, emitting another roar that quickly turned to a gurgle.

  Lis clamped her jaws around its leg, which was enough to pull the Majungatholus off-balance as it tried to back up. Its huge body crashed to the ground, sending dust flying into the air. Abe was nearly pulled over where he refused to let go of the beast. As its head hit the rubble, Abe wrenched his jaws up, tearing out the Majungatholus’ throat.

  Blood poured out of the Abelisaur’s jaws as it blasted a victorious roar, before stepping over the fallen carnivore, charging into the base, Lis close behind.

  Max felt only relief, looking back at the carnage around him.

  He watched Goose as they glanced away from Pez to Nik who was trying to get back in the saddle of their Utahraptor which had rolled onto its feet, then to Chopsticks who was grabbing another spear from the large quiver on his back.

  Goose set his eyes forward, their mount leaping into a run. Max braced himself, thinking that they were heading straight for him and Ticket, but they ran wide, disappearing through the gate at breakneck speed.

  “Coward,” Ticket spat as they watched Goose go. “Come on! We’ve got some cleaning up to do.” She broke into a run, flanked by the boneheads, charging for Nik and the remaining Deinonychus.

  Max went to follow, but another movement caught his eye.

  Striker was limping away from the battle, toward the Lynx which he must have called back to him after it recovered from the shock of the fire.

  Max glanced toward Ticket, who was knifing Nik to death while the boneheads dealt with the raptors by grouping and pummeling any of them remaining.

  The Carnotaur stepped away from the Hesperosaurus to face Abe who ran straight for it.

  Still breathing heavily, Max ran for Striker. Striker glanced over his shoulder and spotting Max, he stopped, spinning around and reaching for something on his hip.

  “Stop!” he shouted, a pistol in his hand, cocking it.

  Max stopped, already breathing heavily, his eyes resting on the flintlock pistol. Max was on low enough health that one shot might kill him, but one shot was all Striker had. Max’s arm fell by his side, ready to reach for the gun he had on his hip, the axe still held in his other hand.

  “You’ve got nowhere to go, Striker!” Max yelled over the roaring and stomping of Abe and the Hesperosaurus killing the Carnotaur. “Killing me isn’t going to change anything!” He could see the Lynx closing in behind Striker.

  “You’re wrong!” Striker bellowed. “Killing you is going to make me feel pretty fucking good!”

  Max went to roll out of the way, to at least attempt to avoid being shot, when Lis appeared behind Striker. Striker ducked and turned as her jaws snapped shut on the Lynx, almost severing the beast in half.

  Max dashed forward, grabbing the gun just as Striker pulled the trigger, the shot firing off into the dirt. Max swung the axe, a crunching sound coming from Striker’s face as it connected with the blunt back of the weapon. He toppled over. Max could hear the air exit his lungs as he hit the ground, a groan escaping him as he held his bloodied face.

  Max looked up as Pez hopped down from Lis’ saddle, walking over to him.

  “Holic, you’re a sight for sore eyes,” Pez chuckled, a smile plastered across his face as he looked down at Striker. “And it looks like you’re just sore.”

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  “Fuck you,” Striker moaned. “Fuck all of you!”

  “Geez, watch your language,” Chopsticks said as he and Ticket joined them, standing over Striker’s broken body.

  Striker coughed. “You’ve got no idea what you’ve done, no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into.”

  “Oh, we know,” Ticket said. “We know that the hack isn’t just a rumor and that you’ve been exploiting new players.”

  Striker propped himself u
p on his elbow, glaring at them with one eye, the other swollen closed. “So, you’re not completely clueless. That’s what prompted you all to finally grow a pair and attack us?”

  “It definitely helped knowing that you were all just a bunch of crooks,” Chopsticks said. “But mostly, you took our dinos, and no one fucks with my dinos and gets away with it.”

  Max couldn’t help but glance back at the scene of the battle. He appreciated his friend’s sentiment, but he wasn’t looking forward to his reaction when he realized how many of his tames they’d lost.

  “It doesn’t matter why,” Pez crouched lower to Striker. “The main thing is that you lost. I don’t even want to know how much coin you’ll be down after today. It’s going to take a long time to claw all this back if you bother to, and just know that we’ll be watching for if you show your ugly face again, to make sure we can stamp it back into the dirt.”

  Striker snickered. “Keep up the bravado, chumps. You’re going to regret this.” He turned his eye toward Max, staring straight through him. “You think you’ve won, but just know, this isn’t the end. You’re going to lose everything, and it’ll be me, ME, that has the last laugh.”

  Max suppressed a shudder. “Empty threats won’t scare us.”

  “Just you wait.” Striker snarled.

  “Come on, guys, the only thing this dude’s useful for is dino chow,” Chopsticks turned away. “And we’ve gotta get busy looting.”

  Max looked to Pez and Ticket, who nodded to one another, and they all turned away. Max heard Lis let out a grumble behind them, then there was a sickening sound of bones and armor being crunched by huge teeth.

  “Ugh, I wouldn’t want to be that guy,” Chopsticks hiked his thumb over his shoulder as they all caught up.

  Pez snorted. “You’re not wrong there.” He came to a stop and sighed. “We did it, guys. There was a moment when I didn’t think we would, but somehow we pulled it off.”

  “Not bad for our first full-scale raid,” Ticket said.

  “I gotta ask…” Chopsticks grimaced as he looked at the corpse-strewn base, his eyes resting on the Torosaurus slumped to one side. “How many did we lose?”