Thunder Run

by Daniel José Older

  The president spoke slowly, like he was plucking every word from a magnificent garden in his mind. It was a wonder a man could be so calm amidst such dire circumstances. Magdalys thought it might be a frustrating quality in someone else, but somehow she sensed that this man was not in any kind of denial about what was going on around him. She still had a million questions, but according to Mapper, the T. rex attack wasn’t due till sometime that night, and anyway, what was there to do with such a small, broken army? Whatever was going to happen next, it would fall to Magdalys and her powers to deal with it. She took a deep breath of fresh air. For the moment, she just wanted to enjoy the amazing view and good company.

  “War,” Juárez said after a few moments of silence, “more than almost anything else, is a time that shows us things are not what they seem to be.”

  “Oh?”

  “You, for instance.” His calm voice wavered with a gentle chuckle. “Small in stature but very powerful, no?”

  Magdalys wasn’t used to having her powers understood before she’d proven them. “How do you know that?”

  “I saw it in a dream,” the president said. Then he laughed. “Ah, I’m just kidding. General Zalaka is a fool. Your Lieutenant Colonel Parker is a good friend of mine, a … what’s the word in English? Pen pal, you could say. He sent me a message about you.”

  “Ohhh …” Parker’s sources … She’d never thought it would be the actual head of state. But it made sense somehow, especially given what Juárez had just said. “I guess you catch a lot of people off guard too, huh?”

  “What, because I’m just a poor Zapotecan from Oaxaca, eh?”

  “No! I mean —”

  But the president was still laughing.

  “Okay,” Magdalys admitted. “Yes, I was caught off guard too. I’m … I’m sorry!”

  “No, no, no.” Juárez chuckled. “You don’t have to apologize for the terrible things that cruel men have taught you to believe. You just have to learn when the real world shows them to be lies, that’s all. That’s how I got here, you know. I never thought I could get a degree, let alone become a lawyer and then, one day, president. But over and over, the world proved me wrong. I had to fight for every bit of it, and I did. And here I am: riding a pterodactyl over the borderlands with a brand-new friend from New York City who also happens to be the greatest dinowrangler of all time!” His laughter seemed like it rang out over the whole countryside beneath them.

  “I don’t … I mean!” Magdalys tried to figure out what to say and then just burst out laughing instead.

  “Look.” They swooped a slow circle around the rising and falling sierras, and the rugged campsite came into view below. “It’s not much to look at, eh? My little army. We are few and wounded. Even our dinos are starving. Soon, we may have to eat them. Over that way” — he pointed across the cactus fields to where Magdalys could make out a long dark shape in the distance — “is the Imperial Army. They are about four thousand strong, well supplied and, with the exception of last May, almost entirely undefeated.”

  “Four thousand?” Magdalys gasped.

  “Mm. Not to mention this imminent threat from the Confederate dinowrangler you have come to warn us about. It seems over, doesn’t it?”

  Magdalys gazed out at the vast enemy army. Juárez didn’t sound defeated — far from it. “My friend Redd says ain’t no such thing as fried.”

  “¿Qué?”

  She grinned, shook her head. “Fried means defeated.”

  “Ah, yes. Because, as I said, in war, nothing is as it seems. Four thousand is just a part of the Imperial Army, you see. The other half is —”

  “Down south fighting General Porfirio Díaz?”

  “Ahh, you’ve been paying attention. Very good. Yes, and he’s been crushing them, from what I keep hearing. Meanwhile, out there beyond the thorn forest, a settlement of Lipan Apaches has been sending out small bands to harass any army that gets near them. Whether they are destroyed or decide to join forces with one side or another could determine the whole course of the war.”

  Amaya’s people. Magdalys wondered if she was there maybe, or if she’d found her father and figured out her destiny. She hoped she’d see her friend again, one way or another.

  “And our friend Lieutenant Colonel Parker has dispatched General Banks with an army to reinforce ours along the border. If they show up — and I realize, knowing what I know about this Banks, that that is a big if —”

  Magdalys snorted.

  “— then their very presence may well keep the Imperials at bay, or perhaps provide safe haven for my army should we need to flee.”

  “But if that T. rex stampede reaches us first …”

  “There will be no escape from that,” Juárez agreed. “My point though is that the battlefield is more dynamic than it seems. We must always look deeper. I believe we will overthrow the French. The man who today calls himself emperor will one day be at the mercy of the very people he subjugated. The hungry cowards across the ocean from us who dispatch entire armadas to claim ownership of the world will watch their very empires disintegrate before their eyes. It may be in one year or a hundred, but I know it will be so, not from dreams or mystical visions, but simply because I look, and then I look deeper, and then I see.”

  “Whoa …” Magdalys’s mind reeled with images of sinking ships, cities on fire…. What did the president see that she couldn’t?

  “Speaking of seeing things,” Juárez said. “Is that pillar of dust in the west not one that would be churned up by a stampeding herd of tyrannosauruses?”

  Magdalys’s heart sank. The dust rose in a tall spiral over the nearby mountains. “They weren’t due to arrive until tonight!”

  “And over there …” Juárez raised a spyglass. “The Imperials are making their move.”

  “What?”

  He passed it to her. A regiment of soldiers had detached from the larger army and now moved quickly across the plains toward them.

  “They’re trying to keep us busy with battle so we won’t be able to escape the stampede.”

  “But … then their own troops will be crushed too!”

  “A small price to pay for the total annihilation of your enemy, no?”

  Magdalys sent Beans into a sharp dive. “What do we do?”

  “I must prepare my troops for battle. As for you, young Magdalys, now is the time for you to do what you and your team have come here to do.”

  She shuddered, the wind whipping through her. “Most of my men will help you fight. I only need a few for what I have to face.”

  The frantic cries of a lookout sounded through the valley. “¡Ya vienen! ¡Prepárense!”

  “Very well,” President Juárez said as they careened toward the camp. “We have work to do.”

  “MAPPER!” MAGDALYS YELLED, sliding off Beans and breaking into a run through the camp as word spread about the attack. “Montez! Saddle up Grappler and Dizz. The stampede is heading our way!”

  “Already?” Mapper leapt up from where he and the rest of the 9th sat cleaning their weapons. “But! But!”

  Around them, the small army began coming to life. Urgency spread like a wave as Juárez marched in long strides across the campsite, yelling, “¡Prepárense, mi gente! ¡Ya vienen los imperialistas! ¡Ármanse!”

  “What do you want us to do?” Wolfgang asked.

  “The French are sending a detachment to attack the camp so we’re caught up in battle when the T. rexes crash through,” Magdalys explained. “You guys hold them off with the others.”

  He nodded. “On it. Bijoux! Briggs! Toussaint! Summers! Gear up, fellas! We heading to war with the French!”

  “Finally!” Toussaint said.

  “Sir, yes sir!” Summers and Bijoux hollered.

  Breeka! Milo squawked.

  “Help those men hauling the cannons to the top of that hill,” Wolfgang ordered. “And see what else needs doing. Remember, we’re not here on any official capacity, so …”

  “
Don’t die,” Toussaint finished.

  Wolfgang sighed. “Basically.”

  Bijoux made a face. “That might b-b-b-be easier s-said than done.”

  “That’s a direct order!” Wolfgang barked. “Don’t you dare disobey me!”

  “Sir, yes sir!” the whole Louisiana 9th said at once.

  “¡Son casi trescientos soldados!” a soldier at the top of the hill called. “¡Montados en gallimimuses! ¡Y vienen rápidos!”

  “He says there are about three hundred,” Montez reported as he threw a saddle over Dizz and strapped it on. “They’re mounted on galli — gallimim …”

  “Gallimimuses,” Magdalys said. “That’s one of the —”

  “That, and they’re coming in fast.”

  “— fastest dinos ever,” she finished. “So yeah.”

  “I wonder why so few,” Wolfgang said. “The Imperial Army has to have more men than that at their disposal.”

  “They do,” Magdalys said. “President Juárez told me they’re at four thousand. But they know those soldiers aren’t coming back. They don’t need to defeat us, just keep us tangled up.”

  “How far out is the stampede?” Mapper asked.

  Magdalys had been trying to figure that out based on the dust cloud, but it was impossible to tell. Drek must’ve gotten to them early and driven them into a rush, probably assuming Magdalys would show up to try and stop him. “They were still a ways out, from what I could see, but they gotta be moving faster than we knew they could.”

  “Can we try to just get the army moved out of the way?” said Montez. “Pull back to the American side of the border, maybe.”

  “It’ll never work,” Wolfgang said. “A group this size would be impossible to move fast enough to dodge a whole onslaught of T. rexes.”

  BABOOM!! One of the cannons overhead burst to life amidst wild cheering from the soldiers.

  Magdalys gaped. “They’re that close already?”

  The sound of rifle fire erupted as another cannon kaboomed across the valley. Up above, the cheering turned suddenly to yells and clashing steel. They’re on us! Magdalys realized. She knew gallimimuses were fast, but she didn’t know they were that fast!

  “Up the hill!” Wolfgang yelled as the rest of the army ran forward around them. “We gotta do what we can!”

  Mapper looked at Magdalys with wide eyes. “What do we do?”

  “Right now,” she said, pulling out her carbine, “we fight. Won’t be any point in stopping the stampede if there’s no army to keep them from stampeding through.”

  MAGDALYS CLUTCHED HER carbine and turned toward the sounds of fighting, then stopped in her tracks. Gallimimus-mounted soldiers were spreading along the tops of the hills around them. Those tall, two-legged dinos with scrawny front arms and skinny necks galloped with long strides as their riders took aim with bayoneted rifles.

  Blam! A shot burst out and Magdalys saw one collapse and then tumble down the hillside, its rider rolling over and over in the dust. But there were so many more. The Mexican soldiers ran to either side, shooting and stabbing with everything they had.

  Chaos erupted in the camp. Gunshots exploded all around — the Imperials were attacking from three different sides at once. Tiny bursts of dirt flung upward as the bullets peppered the ground. Magdalys, Mapper, and Montez dove for cover behind a barrel of dried meat, but the tall, gangly forms of gallimimuses already stomped along the hillside in front of them.

  “We gotta —” Montez said, but a group of Mexican soldiers rushed in front of them before he could finish and more shooting started.

  From nearby, Magdalys heard the sudden squeal of a wounded dactyl. “Dizz!” She crawled around the other side of the barrel where Dizz was sprawled in the dust, bleeding from one wing and mewling softly. Beans and Grappler had crouched low and were nuzzling him, trying to stay out of the line of fire. “Come on, old buddy,” Magdalys said, trying to ignore the sudden eruption of Dizz’s frenzied caws of pain inside her mind. “I know, I know, Dizz.” She grabbed his shoulder and then Mapper was beside her, taking the dactyl’s legs.

  “Oh no!” Mapper panted. “Not Dizz!”

  “Bring him over here,” Montez called. “They chased off the guys who were coming for us.”

  People were yelling all around them now, and the sound of steel clanging with steel and bodies dropping rose amidst scattered gunfire.

  Magdalys and Mapper hauled Dizz around the barrel, and Beans and Grappler ducked behind them. They wouldn’t be safe for long. “What now?” Mapper asked.

  BLAM! Ba-BLAM! Montez let off two shots, each followed by a nearby scream, and then crouched beside them.

  “There,” Magdalys said, pointing up a hill to where one of the scutosaurs had been abandoned and was turning in circles, growling. She reached out for it and immediately felt a rumbling bobadoo bobadoo inside herself. The scutosaur stopped, raised its tiny head, and looked directly at Magdalys.

  Come on, big guy, she thought, and the beast lumbered toward her.

  Up on the hill behind it, the Mexican army had launched an impressive counterattack. They’d already cut down a lot of Imperial riders and were chasing another group of them across the hilltops. Down in the camp, chaos still reigned as soldiers and dinos ran every which way, cutting each other down at random and trampling bodies.

  Blam! BLAM BLAM! shrieked Montez’s rifle. A gallimimus shrieked and Magdalys heard it collapse in the dirt as its rider yelled something rude in French.

  The scutosaur made his way obediently to Magdalys and then sat on his haunches, staring at her expectantly.

  “Help me,” she said, grabbing Dizz by the shoulders. Mapper took the feet and together they lifted the flailing dactyl onto the scutosaur’s saddle. “Strap him down.”

  It took some work, but Magdalys kept sending Dizz calming thoughts with her mind and finally they got him secured.

  Blam blam blam! Dust flew up around them as bullets rained down from above.

  Go! Magdalys commanded. Get out of here! Head for the thorn forest. There are people on the other side. Stay with them. The scutosaur blinked at her once, then galloped off with astonishing speed, Dizz squealing on his back.

  How much time had passed? She had no idea. In battle, a few seconds could seem like an hour. The T. rexes could be bearing down on them at any moment, and then none of this would matter.

  “Montez,” she said, “you ride with Mapper. Take Beans. We gotta —”

  “Watch out!” Montez yelled, and then Magdalys felt her whole body fly backward as a sharp blast of pain tore through her shoulder.

  “Magdalys!” Mapper screamed.

  She was on the ground, on her back, dust wafting up from where she’d fallen, bullets still singing past overhead. Was she dead?

  Mapper and Montez crouched over her, their faces twisted with concern. “Are you okay?” Montez said, wiping his eyes. “Please be okay.”

  Her shoulder stung but she could move everything. “I think so?” She let them help her up, looked down. Blood soaked her sleeve, but she could feel the wound and it didn’t seem too deep. Definitely nothing important had been hit.

  BLAM BLAM BLAM! The Imperials were getting closer. Those tall beasts leapt forward in groups of two or three, and then sank into a crouch for just long enough to let the rider get off a few shots. Then they flitted back to the front lines like awkward ballerinas of death.

  “Can you stand?” Mapper asked, offering his hand.

  “Yeah.” She took it, pulled herself to her feet but stayed at a low crouch behind the barrels. “But how are we gonna get out of here? We’re hemmed in.”

  Montez glanced around, shook his head. “Just gotta make a run for it, I guess. The T. rexes’ll be on us any minute.”

  Magdalys glanced at the sky, saw no pillars of dust in the distance, thankfully, but it was only a matter of time. “Ready?”

  Montez and Mapper nodded, but they looked terrified.

  “HEEEEYAH!!!” came a yell from nea
rby, and then the sound of thundering feet.

  Magdalys whirled around. Was it the stampede already? Could they have snuck up on them like that? Instead, Magdalys almost leapt for joy as Colonel Wolfgang Hands came galloping toward them on scutoback along with Summers, Toussaint, Briggs, and Bijoux, two to a scutosaur. A whole crew of Mexican soldiers rode with them, firing off their rifles in every direction and whooping wildly.

  “¡VIVA MÉXICO!” Briggs yelled in a terrible accent.

  “You guys get out of here!” Wolfgang called, blasting away with a six-shooter. “We’ll keep these fancy clowns busy!”

  Magdalys almost burst into tears with relief. Instead she firmed her face, nodded sharply, and used her nonwounded arm to climb up on Grappler as the Mexican soldiers and Louisiana 9th charged the French lines, guns blazing.

  The Imperial gallimimus riders danced back a few paces as if winding up and then burst forward with blades drawn, flooding through the scutosaur attack. Dust rose over the skirmish like a curtain from below, but Magdalys could make out the shapes of those tall, skinny dinos prancing through the rows of mounted riders. She saw two collapse beneath the fray, saw another Imperial slash a Mexican soldier and then leap over the tumbling catastrophe of his panicked scutosaur and keep fighting.

  Montez started to climb up behind her but she stopped him. “You ride with Mapper,” she said.

  “But your arm, Mags!”

  She shook her head. “I’m alright.” It was mostly true. Sure, she’d just been shot, but it hadn’t gone deep. And anyway, this was no time to get sentimental. “Ride with Mapper. Find Drek and take him out. He’ll be hiding, but he’s got to keep moving somehow to keep up with the herd. The second he surfaces, take the shot. And don’t … !”

  Montez was already giving her a know-it-all face.

  Magdalys sighed. “Yes, Montez Gabriel Roca, you were right …”

  “Thank you.”

  “… from a certain point of view.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Ugh! Who says that? You’re impossible.”

  “The wrong point of view, just to clarify.”