“I’ve never seen a dog like that before,” she said.
“He’s a one of a kind. Or was, the last time I knew,” Scott replied.
She raised her spear and planted the butt into the dirt. “I’m Tamara. We need to get you out of here and back to someplace safe. Our people will want to hear about the dragon and what you did.”
“Um, OK, I guess. Do you have a phone there?” he asked her.
She looked at him, her eyes quizzical. “I do not know that word.”
“A phone. A communication device. Some way I can get in touch with civilization?” Scott asked.
“Around here, the Keep is civilization. What we have of it. You’ll want to come with us. I’ll show you what I mean,” Tamara said.
“Um,” Scott said. He wasn’t sure this was a good plan at all.
“You will be safest with us,” Tamara said. “Trust me.”
He looked into her eyes. Something there said she was a person he could believe in. Scott nodded to her. “All right.”
She turned to her companions. “Kendall, Piper, come.”
The five of them set off through the forest, massive trees towering overhead. Scott was incredibly impressed by the stature of those towering trunks. He’d never seen anything so large. Redwoods — on the Pacific coast — they were as big as these trees, or close to it. But these weren’t coniferous, so he didn’t know what they were or where he was.
The first mile was the worst. Scott had been in superb shape before he left, the peak of physical fitness. That was no longer the case after spending two years on a spaceship. The steady acceleration had given him gravity so his muscles hadn’t atrophied too badly, but there just wasn’t all that much room to run around on the Stargazer. He’d brought a treadmill for just that reason, but he was forced to admit to himself that maybe he hadn’t been using it as often as he ought to have been these past six months.
Scott was sweating profusely before they completed the second mile, and the forest was showing no signs of breaking up. There was plenty of life around the place. Bugs as big as his hand buzzed around between the trees, and he spotted a few darting movements slip away between ferns as the party approached.
“How much further are we going?” Scott asked, panting. “And is it always this hot?”
“Another five miles. Not far. It’s usually warmer than this, though. It’s still spring,” Tamara said. “You really aren’t from around here, are you?”
“No, I’m not. I’ve been on a very long trip,” Scott said.
How did one explain to a spear-carrying woman that he’d been in space, flying farther from the Earth than any person ever had before? He didn’t know what she might know or not know. If he said the wrong thing, she might be offended or think he was lying. Better to play his cards close to his chest until he had a better feel for the place.
Toby froze in place, his head erect. He turned to Scott. “My audio receptors are picking up something strange.”
“It spoke!” Kendall said as he aimed his spear at Toby again.
“Yes, he does that sometimes,” Scott said. “Toby, what do you hear?”
The robot’s audio pickup was far better than his own hearing. If he was picking up something and calling it strange, it was probably worth paying attention to whatever it was.
“Wingbeats.”
A moment later a massive roar echoed across the treetops.
Nine
The roar echoed over the treetops. It was coming from somewhere above them. Scott looked up, trying to see through the canopy. Wingbeats sounded overhead.
Was it another dragon? How many of the things were there?
He glanced at his companions, but they’d all crouched down, ducking into the ferns that grew on the forest floor.
Tamara darted up, grabbing Scott by the shoulders and hauling him to the ground. He hit the dirt with a thud and was about to cry out when she slapped a palm over his mouth to silence him.
“Are you crazy? Do you want to get us all killed?” she growled softly in his ear.
Scott could smell the adrenaline in her sweat, the sharp tang that told him she wasn’t kidding around. Tamara was scared. He swallowed hard, shaking his head. She removed her hand from his mouth and raised a finger to her lips, gesturing for him to keep quiet.
The wingbeats flew by overhead and faded away back in the direction of the Stargazer. Scott winced, hoping this other dragon wasn’t going to finish the job of eating his ship that the first had begun. There wasn’t much he could do about it right now, anyway.
“You must be from far away if you don’t know to seek cover when a dragon flies by,” Tamara said.
“I’ll be honest, I’d never seen a dragon before last night,” Scott replied.
“Where you are from, there are no dragons?” Piper asked. “That must be a wonderful place. Is it because you have slain them all? Is that why you came here?”
She seemed very excited about the idea of him killing dragons for them. Getting involved probably wasn’t going to be good for his health.
Scott was becoming concerned. One rogue bio-engineered dragon that escaped from a high-tech lab, he could understand. Multiple dragons running around causing enough problems that the humans living here were frightened of them rang all sorts of alarm bells in his head. Something was very wrong.
He was a couple of hundred years in the future, which should have meant that things had gotten better for humanity. Science and technology should be elevated to new levels. But even back in the twenty-first century, Scott was pretty sure flying lizards flapping about on any corner of the planet, no matter how remote, would have warranted a military response.
So where were all the F-22 fighter jets shooting down these big lizards?
Scott glanced at the spear Tamara was holding. The tip was steel, the shaft carefully crafted. But it was just a spear. Even a handgun had to be a better weapon than that. If they were using spears, it was either because they had some bizarre cultural taboo against firearms — or they didn’t have any.
What sort of world had he returned to, anyway?
His thoughts kept circling around as they marched, the thinking not really helping Scott reach any conclusions, but it served to keep his mind off his screaming legs. The sooner they were to this Keep, whatever it was, the safer they’d be, apparently. If it was someplace the dragons couldn’t chew their way in, he was all for it.
“We’re almost there,” Piper said, waking him from his brooding.
The woods showed no signs of stopping, but the ground had begun sloping upward and changed from damp to dry dirt. At last they stepped out onto a flatter patch of land, covered in what looked like grey flagstones. A few hundred feet ahead were a pair of arches built into the hillside and bricked over with massive stones, like a set of tunnels someone had sealed off.
“We’re here. Welcome to Hero’s Keep,” Tamara said. She started forward across the flagstones, whistling sharply as she came. Someone half hidden at the top of the stone wall whistled back. Scott gave Toby a glance and then followed Tamara. What other options did he have?
The stones set into the wall were massive, each standing as tall as he was. It must have been hell to move all of them and stack them up like that. They towered all the way to the top of the arches.
At the center base of the wall was a heavy steel door. That was where Tamara was headed, and Scott hurried to catch up.
As they drew closer to the wall, Scott thought the stonework of the arches looked familiar. Two arches tunnels, side by side, rang a bell. Where had he seen that before? He knelt down to examine the flagstone beneath his feet. To his surprise, it wasn’t a single stone at all, but a conglomerate. Many smaller rocks were pressed together inside another substrate of darker material.
A flash of color caught his eye. Scott brushed dust off the spot, showing more of the patchy yellow color beneath. Was it some sort of lichen, growing on the stone? He peered more closely.
It wasn’t
lichen. It was paint.
Scott stood abruptly, staring back the way he’d come. As far as he could see through the thick forest, the flagstones ran in a straight line. Broken chunks of the stuff were everywhere. He turned back to the arches and for the first time knew what he was looking at.
The flagstones were shattered chunks of asphalt. The paint was the last flecks of what had been a center line for a road. And those arches in front of him? Those were the opening of a highway tunnel.
“My god,” Scott whispered.
The reason for the lack of communication had become incredibly clear. No one responded to his radio calls because no one still had radio. The Earth he knew was gone. It was replaced by this impossible mess. Dragons flew in the sky and humans ran around wearing loincloths with spears in their hands.
“Are you coming?” Tamara asked. She had already reached the door. Scott nodded dumbly at her, unable to find the words he needed.
All his hopes came crashing down. There was no cure waiting for him here, no high-tech society. He’d dropped onto a planet where the surviving humans weren’t even as far along as the Dark Ages.
Scott followed Tamara through the gate, Toby and the others close behind them. The steel door ground shut after they were through, giving a loud boom as it slid completely into place. The noise had a finality to it, like the tolling of a bell. That was his death knell, Scott figured. He was a dead man walking. Ten years he’d spent, working to fund and create the technology required to build a photon rocket. Two more years in space, soaring across time in the hopes of a cure. All of it for nothing.
The time bomb in his head was still there. He had to be almost out of time. Scott’s father was only about ten years older when he started seeing poodles, and the doctors had said it could set in anytime during adulthood, but likely before middle age. Everything he’d gone through to avoid this fate, and now there was no way he could solve the problem.
Scott wanted nothing more than to crawl into a hole and give up. Instead, he followed Tamara into the dark tunnel she called home, wondering what else fate had in store for him today.
Ten
The tunnel was dark and filled with enough smoke that Scott found himself coughing almost immediately. Lamps lit the space, sparsely located along the walls to cast just enough illumination that one wasn’t stumbling around completely blind.
That made it difficult to see much, but Scott caught glimpses of a series of small huts to his right. Some of them had small fires out front, with gaunt, frightened-looking people huddled over them.
Tamara ignored it all, pressing onward into the gloom. He wondered where precisely they were headed. Maybe to her place? Or to see whoever was in charge of it all, perhaps. That thought brightened his mood a little. Surely the entire planet couldn’t be this bad? Someone would still have working technology, somewhere. Perhaps the leader would be able to direct Scott toward someone who could help him.
“Through here,” Tamara said, gesturing ahead. “The smoke is bad, sorry. We can only leave the doors open at night. That vents all the smoke. During the day, the dragons are out.”
Scott nodded his understanding. Each torch, campfire, or oil-burning brazier was putting out its own sooty cloud, making the air in the tunnel thick with the stuff.
Tamara led him off to the left, up a series of steps to a closed metal door. A man stood at the door, spear in hand. He made ready to bar their path, but then saw Tamara and relaxed.
“I’m bringing him to my father. He’ll want to see this one,” she said.
“As you say,” the guard replied, stepping clear of her path and holding the door open.
The space inside was a flight of stone steps, leading upward. Tamara took them up the stairs rapidly, Scott and Toby right behind her. The other two people brought up the rear.
“Your father?” Scott asked, huffing a little for breath.
“Yes. He is chief of Heroes Keep,” she replied.
Well, that was interesting. At least he’d run into a useful person right off the bat. Her dad was in charge. That made her, what? A princess? Something like that, Scott figured. If she was willing to speak on his behalf, maybe he would be more likely to get help from these people.
The steps stopped at another door. Scott felt a wall. It was rough, cracks running through the stone, but the construction was unmistakable. It was poured concrete, heavily patched over time with other materials. This must have been some sort of access passage in the tunnel, once. How long had the place been used as a residence? He had no way of knowing.
Tamara opened the door and walked out into an open hall with an arched ceiling. The walls here were stone again, but seemed more natural stone and less concrete. Scott had the feeling some of this space had been hewn from rock by hand sometime after the people had taken up residence in the tunnel.
At the far end of the hall was a large table where six men sat, talking with one another. Tamara started forward. As soon as one of them saw her, he stopped speaking and stood. The other men ended their conversation as well but remained seated.
“Father. I’ve brought someone you should speak with. A stranger to the land,” Tamara said.
“I do not have time for foolishness, Tamara. We are discussing war here,” the standing man replied.
“Oh, you’ll want to speak with this one,” she replied with a little more edge to her voice. She was only a few feet from the table now and tossed something through the air.
The dragon horn landed in the middle of the table, clattering loudly as it settled into place.
“What? How?” The standing man took a step back, and Scott thought he lost several shades of color, although it was hard to tell in the dim light.
Tamara pointed at Scott. “He slew a dragon.”
That set all the men at the table to whispering with one another. The buzz was loud enough that Scott could easily hear them speaking, but couldn’t make out individual words. He looked down at Toby, wondering if the dog was able to pick up more.
“Woof,” Toby replied, nodding.
Sometimes, the robot was better at predicting what Scott needed than he expected. He flashed a smile at the dog. Toby would fill him in on any word he’d picked up later. Well, that was assuming he’d actually understood the semi-silent language. It could also be that Toby was agreeing with something entirely different. One never knew with robots.
“Is this true?” The standing man, who must be their chief, stepped around the others and came forward. He eyed Scott up and down. “He doesn’t look like much of a warrior.”
That got under Scott’s skin more than he thought it would. Not much of a warrior? He had taken self-defense classes, fenced in college, and spearfished with great white sharks. Although the latter was by accident, but that was another story entirely. He had plenty of martial experience and wanted to say so.
Toby caught his eye. The dog shook its head almost imperceptibly.
It wanted him to keep quiet. Well, Scott didn’t think so.
“I killed it,” Scott said.
Toby let out a sigh.
“So, you are a dragonslayer,” the chief said, walking a circle around Scott. “Where is your spear? Your shield?”
“Father, the bright light we saw last night was his spear. It was a massive spear, hurled from the sky to stab into the ground. With that, he slew the dragon — smashed it to the ground and cut off its head.”
Well, that was most of the truth. Of course, killing the thing had been an accident, but Scott figured these people didn’t need to know that. They seemed very interested in him as a dragonslayer. If they knew he’d done it by accident, he might lose whatever limited celebrity status that had won for him.
“Yes, but I am new here. I was seeking a place that had a treasure I need very badly,” Scott said. “Do you know how to get to California? Or at least where it might be from here? I’m afraid I don’t know at all.”
The chief snapped a look at the wall. Something hung there. “Br
ing the map, Poltius.”
One of the other men stood from the table and carefully removed the map from the wall. As he brought it closer, Scott realized that it was a map of the old United States, laminated with plastic. It was yellowed with age, torn and carefully mended, but it still showed everything.
Or almost everything, anyway. Someone had taken blue paint and blurred out the edge of the New England coastline.
Poltius laid the map out on the table. Scott stepped up to the thing and tapped on the spot that was California. “That’s it. That’s where I need to go. Where are we?”
The chief strode forward and tapped Connecticut, near where the blue paint had been added. “This is our Keep, here.”
Scott let out a frustrated sound. There were over three thousand miles of continent between him and where he had to go.
Eleven
Of all the awful luck, Scott figured his had to be the worst. He looked down at the map, running his fingers over the massive distance between the two points. The map was telling him as clear as day what sort of journey he had ahead. On foot? It was impossible. With his ship, perhaps he could get to Berkeley. That was probably his only hope.
That was assuming he could still find the cure when he got out there. After all, if things were this bad here, who knew what they were like elsewhere? It was a long shot, but it seemed the only option he had left.
He glanced around at the people gathered at the table. They were dirty and tired-looking, but despite that, they had a vitality about them he’d only seen among surfers and other athletes back home. These were people used to hard work. And to fighting as well, judging by how the guards held their weapons.
“Are things like this everywhere?” Scott asked, hoping to hear some good news for a change. Maybe civilization had continued unabated elsewhere?
“Oh, no. Not at all,” the chief replied.
“Thank goodness…” Scott started to say. If he could get in touch with another place with higher tech, repairing the ship should be a breeze.
The Quantum Dragonslayer Page 4
