by Saxon Andrew
“I’m trying to find a place where we can bed down for the night.”
“Tell me what you’re thinking; I need to learn how you do things.”
“I’m looking at the tops of the trees to each side of the plain. We are downwind from those horned horrors.”
“They’re called Triceratops.”
“What?”
“That’s what the original colonists called them.”
“They’ve been around that long?”
“They’re pretty much everywhere along the southern coast.”
“Southern coast?”
“The ocean beyond those cliffs ends in about a hundred miles and the land moves around its southern shore.”
“We’ve been told that the ocean separates the land with the cliffs from the lands to the east.”
“That’s not accurate. It’s from the lands to the East that the Destroyers come. Now what are you looking for?”
“I want to move upwind from those…what do you call them?”
“Triceratops.”
“Ok, anyway, I want to move up wind from them and settle down.”
“Tell me why?”
“Dinah has a keen sense of smell. She’ll know if anything is approaching us from the south.”
Harmony nodded, “And anything coming from the north would have to pass those Triceratops in order to get to us.”
“Now you have it.”
“What if the wind shifts from out of the north?”
“Dinah will smell the Triceratops and wake me. We’ll then move to the south of them.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“You can stay up and see. Personally, I have to get some rest.”
“Are you going to give me my rifle back?”
Andy stared at Harmony and sighed, “I’ll give it to you when we stop.” He paused, “I think you should know that Dinah will not follow anyone’s orders but mine.”
“You’re worried I might shoot you and try to escape with her?”
“The thought has crossed my mind but you’d be dead within a day without us. Dinah would probably be dead with you. I think I can use you more as an ally against the carnivores than dead weight I’m carrying around. I’m certain I can use your knowledge when I find the Destroyers.”
“I really wish you would forget about going there.”
Andy nudged Dinah with his left knee and she made a wide circle around the resting Triceratops. And brought her to a halt two hundred yards south of them and dismounted. Harmony started to jump off but Andy stopped her. “What?”
“This might not be far enough.” Andy raised his hand to his mouth and Dinah started grazing. The huge horned guards standing next to the other Triceratops started moving their way until Dinah lowered her head and started grazing. Its small brain recognized that she wasn’t a predator; they didn’t eat grass. It snorted and backed up to the group on the ground. Andy said, “I think we’ll be alright here.” Harmony slid down to the ground and Andy took one of the rifles off one of the clips and handed it to Harmony. He pulled one of the belts with the metal objects on it and handed it to her as well.
“Are you going to take it from me in the morning?”
“No, being unarmed out here is not something I’d do to anyone. I’m going to have to trust that you see your survival hangs on my wellbeing.”
“Your survival is precarious at best if you’re going to go anywhere near a Destroyer Hunting Team.”
“We’ll see. You and your brother survived one.”
“Only because the Destroyer Warrior had laid the rifle down to have his fun with one of our females.”
“I’ll try to take a look at them without getting too close.”
Harmony shook her head, “That should prove to be interesting.”
Andy shrugged as he took a water pouch off Dinah and handed it to Harmony, “This is for your head.” Andy took the other water pouch and laid it on the ground. He laid down and took his bow off his shoulder and set it next to him. He then unclipped a cutter and wrapped the leather tong on its handle around his wrist. He put his head on the water pouch and said, “Guard.” Dinah looked at him and he held both hands above his head and moved them down to his sides. Dinah went up and sniffed the air which brought a snort from the Triceratops. She came down and stretched out on the ground. She would occasionally lift her head and sniff the air.
Harmony watched them and was surprised that Andy was asleep in less than a minute. She knew she wasn’t going to be able to sleep. She put her head on the pouch and thought about all that had happened and the next thing she felt was Andy shaking her. “Time to get up.”
She climbed on Dinah and they moved south. She was surprised that there were numerous water holes along the path she had taken fleeing north. Dinah would smell them and lead them directly to them. Many were just small depressions with a few inches of water. She saw that Andy and Dinah were equals. Both of them brought talents to their ability to survive.
Three weeks of travel taught her more about survival than she had ever learned in her entire life. One day Andy said, “Harmony, the Triceratops and that giant predator appear to have been trained.”
“The giant predator is called a T-Rex.”
“A what?”
“It’s short for Tyrannosaurus Rex. It’s Latin for…”
“King of all reptiles.” Harmony nodded. “It appears they have been whistle trained.” Harmony shook her head. Andy looked ahead and saw a group of six Triceratops and pulled a whistle out from under his shirt and put it in his mouth. He nudged Dinah toward them and a hundred yards away she saw his cheeks swell and then deflate. She didn’t hear a thing but the six Triceratops turned and stampeded away.
“What is that?”
“It’s a whistle that the first colonists to arrive found in one of the caves. Humans can’t hear it but the dinosaurs can. We blew them whenever we attacked any carnivores and they soon learned to run from it. Those two species also run from the whistle. Someone has been training them.”
“I know there has been a migration of sorts taking place since the first day our ancestors arrived.”
“What do you mean?”
“The T-Rexes and Triceratops are just two of the species that are moving along the southern shore this way. There are also huge numbers of raptors and other carnivores that have been moving in the opposite direction. Some of the giant plant eaters have also made the trip.”
“This is something the Elders will have to discuss. I don’t have enough information to know why they would be coming this way. However, I suspect it has to be the Destroyers that are training them to fear the whistle.”
“I can’t imagine anyone else with the power to do it.”
“How did your community survive?”
Harmony shrugged, “We originally had some kind of handgun that fired a red beam.” It took all of Andy’s will power not to show any emotion. “They killed anything they were fired at but they eventually ran out of whatever powered them.”
“Surely you must have had enough to last you for a very long time.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because there were thousands of everything left for us by the Time Takers.”
“Time Takers?”
“The ones that took the original humans from the future and put them here in the distant past.”
Harmony stared at Andy for a long moment, “Are you serious?”
Andy sighed, “You have a lot to learn. What happened to the guns?”
“They were stored in a cave along the shore but a storm flooded it. Whatever made the guns operate was destroyed by the salt water from the flood. We had a thousand in our possession but after a hundred years, they lost their power. We started learning to use wooden bows and arrows that weren’t damaged by the flood. Our bows are nothing like the one you’re carrying.”
Suddenly Harmony’s eyes turned to slits and she started shaking her head, “Oh my God!”
•
• •
“What?”
She spun around and looked behind her and started talking fast, “I didn’t think we’d get this far so quickly.”
“What’s going on, Harmony?”
“We’re in the middle of a huge Raptor Colony. We lost most of our group here and Singer and I were lucky to have gotten away.”
Andy raised both hands and Dinah lifted her head. Andy noticed that the wind was blowing out of the north from straight behind them. Dinah went to her back legs and looked in all directions. Andy saw the first Raptors moving out of the tree line behind them. There were more moving out from in front and on the sides. Andy lifted the whistle and blew it. There were more than a hundred Raptors moving in on them but half of them stopped and fled back into the tree lines. “It looks like those remaining haven’t gone to school.”
“What are we going to do?”
Andy saw that running was not an option. He looked at Dinah and started removing the saddle and pouches. She was trembling and knew that Andy was not going to ride her out. He put the gear on the ground and put both hands out palms down. Dinah immediately went to her belly and lowered her head. Andy walked to one side and said, “I hope you know how to use that thing.”
“It makes a loud noise. Put your hand on Dinah and don’t let her panic. I’ll take a couple of shots now so she can get used to the noise.” Andy put his hand on Dinah’s head and rubbed it as Harmony raised the thing called a rifle and aimed it at a Raptor more than a hundred and fifty yards away. There was a sudden explosion and Andy had to fight to keep Dinah on the ground. Another explosion and Dinah jerked but stayed down. Three more explosions and Dinah flinched but didn’t get up. Andy took his bow off his shoulder and turned to the north. He stared firing at the Raptors moving in and they began falling. He saw five Raptors lying in the dirt to the south twitching. She was good with that thing. The Raptors started their charge and Andy took out eight moving in from the south. He saw the majority of the others were coming from the north. He yelled, “UP!” Dinah jumped to her feet and Andy grabbed Harmony and threw her on Dinah’s back. “Hold on to the rope!”
“I CAN’T LEAVE YOU!!”
“I can’t fight them with you here.” Andy hit Dinah on the back and yelled, “Go!”
Dinah sprinted away and Harmony barely had time to sling the rifle over her shoulder before Dinah was at full speed. She blew by the five Raptors to the south and Andy smiled. He continued to fire his bow but the Raptors were closing in quickly.
Andy threw the bow down and pulled both cutters off his belt and activated their fifteen-foot blades. The brilliant blue beams extended and Andy whipped them around in a full circle as the first Raptors arrived. Six of them had their heads cut off and three more lost their legs to the bright atomic blades. The other Raptors slid to a stop and surrounded Andy. He stood in the center of the flock with both blades over his head and saw the huge female that was leading them standing to his right. He turned and started walking her way and five Raptors charged him from behind. He lowered the blades to waist level and did a three hundred and sixty degree spin. All three Raptors fell to the ground cut in two pieces. Andy came out of his spin and continued to walk toward the huge leader. He had his whistle in his mouth and he noticed that every time he blew it the Raptors would flinch. Four more charged from behind but were cut apart before they could get in striking range. One jumped and Andy stepped slightly to the left and cut it in half as it passed overhead.
The Leader had seen enough. She roared as she turned and ran. The surviving members of the flock ran away with her. Andy watched them run and blew three short bursts on the whistle.
Harmony was hanging on to Dinah for dear life and was amazed at how fast she could run. Her speed was unbelievable. She felt anger and sorrow at having been thrown on Dinah and forced to leave. Andy had given his life to save her. Suddenly, Dinah veered into a half circle and ran back toward the Raptors. Harmony yelled stop, pulled on the rope, and kneed Dinah but she ignored everything she tried. She shook her head but saw something ahead of them. As they came closer she saw a huge pile of dead Raptors with Andy standing in the center of them. There were two bright blue lights over his head that went out as they arrived. Harmony jumped off Dinah and ran up to Andy and hit him on the arm, “That’s for forcing me to leave. You could have died!”
Andy grabbed her arm before she could hit him again and smiled, “I couldn’t defend myself and you. I had to get you and Dinah away.”
Harmony looked at the dead Raptors and slowly shook her head, “You did all this?”
Andy pointed around them and said, “Those were killed by your rifle and my bow. I’m going to need your help recovering my arrows and we need to get moving before the opportunists arrive.”
Andy took a knife out of a pouch and pointed, “Most of them are to the south.”
• • •
An hour later, the Pterodactyls were moving in but all of the arrows had been extracted from the dead Raptors. Andy showed Harmony how to saddle Dinah and attach all of his gear. “What’s in this pack?”
Andy smiled, “A tool. I’ll show it to you later.” Harmony nodded and climbed up on Dinah. Dinah was ready to go. There were too many carnivores around for her taste, even if most of them were dead. Andy saw several Raptors stick their heads out of the trees and he blew the whistle. They immediately disappeared.
Harmony laughed, “They’re not as dumb as I thought.” Dinah picked up speed as they moved ever further south.
• • •
That night the moon was full and high overhead. The roars of the giant carnivores echoed across the plain as they bounced back from the cliffs on the other side of the river. “Andy.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you have someone back at your home?”
“Do you mean a mate?”
“Yes.”
“I have someone waiting on me but we have not been bonded yet.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. I guess I had things going on and didn’t do it. It just didn’t seem to be the right time.”
“Are you going to…bond with her when you go back?”
“I guess. Why are you asking this?”
“In my community most young men your age have been mated. I just assumed you had a mate.” She paused and said, “What were you doing out here. Aren’t you a long way from home?”
Andy sighed, “I was banished from the Community for a year.” Harmony remained silent. Andy waited for the obvious question and finally said, “The punishment was fair and I deserved it.”
“What did you do that would warrant such harsh treatment?”
“I failed a test for becoming the leader of our community.”
“Failed?”
“I put my own ambitions ahead of the Community’s welfare.”
“Oh.”
“It’s not that simple. My test was being told that my best friend had been chose to lead the Community ahead of me. They requested I open the Holy Door and I refused. I told them to have Maxius do it if they wanted him instead of me.”
“You were disappointed.”
“You have no idea. I learned that Maxius’ test was being told that he had been chosen ahead of me even though I was better skilled than him. He refused to accept the job. He did put the Community first.”
“What did you do?”
“I realized it immediately and I opened the Holy Door.”
“What is this Holy Door?”
“When our original ancestors arrived, there were many doors in the cave they were brought to that could only be opened by those that came from the time of the contents in the rooms behind the doors. The Holy Door will only open for those with the genetics of the far future ancestors and our original Leader. Maxius doesn’t have those genes; I do.”
“And you’re going to endanger your life for those that banished you?”
Andy looked at Harmony in the moon light and slowly shook his head as he sighed. “I
made that mistake once. I won’t make it again. All of our warriors are sworn to defend and protect the community ahead of all other considerations. I will not forget that oath again.”
“I think you would make a great leader, Andy.”
“Why do you say that?”
“What normally happens when a man finds a female alone in the wilderness?” Andy didn’t say anything. “I know I’m attractive. You’ve been nothing but kind and patient with me. You have the heart of a leader. Thank you for telling me your feelings about your community. I won’t resist going to look at the Destroyers anymore.”
“Why?”
“You’re taking care of me the same way you would take care of your community. I can’t respect it for me and not for them. I’ll do all I can to help you. Good night.”
“Good night, Harmony. Sleep well.”
Andy heard Harmony’s regular breathing and stared at the moon. Why hadn’t he asked Lyla to be his mate before now? He knew she would have accepted. Was it his ambition that ruled him and everything else was secondary? He looked at Harmony and saw her beauty. Blonde hair was rare. She would stand out in a crowd. He stared at her for two hours before he closed his eyes.
He leaped up hearing Dinah roar. The moon was close to the horizon so he knew it was close to daylight. He saw the family of Triceratops facing off against two of the giant predators. He had an arrow notched in less than a heartbeat and saw Harmony come off the ground bringing her rifle to bear. Dinah was trembling and he ran and leaped in the saddle and pulled Harmony up with him. Dinah sprinted away from the confrontation and Andy lifted his whistle and blew it. The Triceratops flinched but refused to run and turn their backs on the two T-Rexes. The T-Rexes ignored the whistle. One of them looked at Dinah and saw a possible meal that was easier prey than the Triceratops. It took a step toward them and Andy flinched as he heard the rifle blast. Blood shot out of one of the T-Rex’s eyes and it collapsed to the ground. Two Triceratops charged the other giant and it moved to the left but was impaled by two horns of the largest horned dinosaur. It roared its pain and ran away. Andy slowed Dinah and said, “That was an amazing shot.”
