by Saxon Andrew
“What is going on?”
“This is a camouflage uniform left for us by the Time Takers. The glider I’m going to use is also covered in this fabric and I’ll be pretty much invisible from the ground.”
“Then you’re being serious about flying there?”
Andy nodded. “Harmony, in order to qualify to be a Master Archer, the candidate must be able to take a glider up and stay in the air for seven days.”
“What?”
“I had to eat and sleep while staying aloft for a week. Flying south where that smoke is rising will not be difficult.”
Harmony looked him in the eyes and said, “Then you could have flown there a long time ago; why didn’t you?”
“If you weren’t here, that’s exactly what I would have done. I would have sent Dinah home and flown back.”
“You took this long to make sure I’d be safe.” Andy nodded. Harmony shook her head, “So what do you want me to do?”
“I want you to start moving back north. Stay in the center of the plain and make sure you and Dinah are not surprised by carnivores.” Andy reached inside his shirt and pulled out the whistle and held it out to her. She started shaking her head and Andy reached forward and put his hand on her cheek and made her look in his eyes, “I can’t use this a mile up. Most of the predators here have not been whistle trained but many of them have. Use it to stay safe. When I’ve seen enough, I’ll come back and find you.”
“How do you know you can find us from a mile up?”
“You won’t be able to see me but Dinah will smell me. She’ll let you know when I’m close.”
Harmony reached out and pulled Andy close, “Please come back to me. I’ll be lost without you.”
Andy shook his head, “If the worst does happen and I’m not back in two days, keep heading north and tell Dinah, ‘Home!’ She’ll take you back to the community and you should give the leader, whose name is Maxius, everything I’ve written on the pad in my main pouch. Just keep your eyes open and use her to warn of trouble. You’ve seen how fast she is; you won’t be caught if you just use what you’ve learned.”
“I will stop and wait if you’re not back in two days.”
“Then you’ll be breaking your promise to defend Dinah! I have to count on you to keep your word.”
Harmony fought her tears but lost. She stepped back and said, “How do you want to do this?”
“I’m going to take Dinah about two hundred yards east and then have her sprint toward you. I’ll launch off her back toward the air coming from the river and move over the cliffs. Yell at Dinah to stop and I’ll make sure she does before I fly off. Remember, keep moving north.”
Harmony nodded and took the rifle off her shoulder. Andy rode Dinah away from the river. Harmony saw him put something over his head and he disappeared. Suddenly Dinah turned and came running toward her at an incredible speed. She moved close and Harmony yelled, “STOP, DINAH!” Dinah slid to a stop and Harmony jumped up into the saddle. She saw a large shadow moving toward the river but then it was over the trees and disappeared. She blew out a breath and tapped Dinah with her right knee. Dinah turned north and started jogging. She now knew that Andy’s community was much more advanced than she thought. Maybe they could stand up to the Destroyers. A small voice in her head kept telling her they wouldn’t.
• • •
Andy went to his knees on Dinah’s back and pulled a chord on the backpack. The spine of the glider’s frame pushed out behind him and he said, “Run!” Dinah accelerated and Andy felt the two wings shoot out to the sides and the vertical bars fall in front of him. He was ripped upward and he released the rope around Dinah’s neck as the glider moved rapidly upward as he raised the front edge of the glider. He saw Dinah sprint up to Harmony and slide to a stop. Good; he lifted the glider’s nose and it caught the breeze blowing from the ocean over the cliff. He flew slowly upward keeping the nose of the glider pointed into the wind. After ten minutes he reached the cliff and the wind blowing up the cliff walls jerked him viciously upward. He moved over the updraft and then turned and used it to move him higher as he flew south. Soon he was a speck in the sky, if an invisible speck could be seen.
He looked south and saw some of the largest Pterodactyls he had ever seen. He pulled a small vial out of a pocket on the vertical bar. He popped the top off and sprinkled the contents on him. The early flyers had determined that even though they were invisible, the flying reptiles could smell them; their sense of smell was even better than Dinah’s. One of the first ancestors had made it his mission to learn how the giant flying carnivores operated in hopes of finding a way to stop them from homing in on the gliders. He discovered, by accident, that young males were ignored by all the adults. They weren’t of breeding age and represented no danger to the giant males.
Some of the young males were collected and a small gland was found that produced a liquid that gave them a distinctive odor. The Early Flier doused himself with it and went up into a large flock of the flying carnivores. He feared that other young males might still come and investigate but found out quickly that the young males were afraid of everything, even each other. They would become aggressive as they aged and started breeding; that gland disappeared as the young males matured into adults.
Andy was headed south toward the smoke plume that was still rising as it was blown inland. He knew that the fire was still hot and that something was being deliberately burned. He flew for an hour and finally arrived at the site of the fire. He found what remained of a small community. There were humans walking among the structures removing items. Once the small dwelling was emptied, it was torched. He saw the ones dressed in green had rifles slung over their shoulders. The captured inhabitants were all chained together by age and sex. The men and older boys were in one collection area and the very young boys, women and young girls were a hundred yards away. Andy flew away from the shoreline. The cliff had ended ten miles north of the community and a vast forest grew inland. He flew over the forest and caught the air blowing in off the ocean and rose higher. He finally saw numerous humans fleeing into the thick forest about eight miles from the site of destruction. Most of them were carrying bows and they looked organized at keeping the predators at bay. He whipped the glider around and flew back toward the shoreline.
That’s where he saw the huge ships anchored offshore. They were further south and he moved over them. As he moved closer he heard rifle fire from the trees a mile inland. As he watched he heard a giant explosion and saw a black plume of smoke blow out from one of the boats. He looked inland and saw a huge explosion. He thought about the Community and saw that these ships could fire over the cliff, where it was lower, into the Community. He knew that stone walls would not stand up to the explosion he saw in the forest. He flew back over the Community and saw the females were being led away to the beach. They were taken on small boats and rowed out to the large ships. Once they were offshore, the guards watching the men and older boys began executing them. Even young boys around the age of eight were shot down. Andy felt something inside him harden. He looked south and turned the glider along the shoreline. He had to use several thunder clouds to maintain his altitude but he eventually arrived at the point where the shore turned back east. He flew for another twenty miles and saw that the ocean beside the Community did end. There was land connecting the continents. He saw it was covered in dinosaurs and many of them were moving east.
He flew back to the site of the Destroyer invasion and saw that Harmony was right; they were organized to a fault and they knew how to eradicate the local inhabitants. He flew back to the cliff and used the drafts to stay aloft. He had wondered how Harmony could have been a part of these monsters but he kept seeing in his mind one of the Destroyers turning his rifle on one of the guards that refused to shoot the young boys. The guard was shot in the leg and had his rifle ripped away as three other Destroyers came forward and hacked him to death with long sword blades. The last thing hacked off was the guard’s head a
nd as the helmet rolled off, Andy saw the guard was a young female.
He now knew why Harmony didn’t want him to come here; he would see what she had done and would hate her for it. Her sorrow was clear when he left and he didn’t know what was causing it. Now, he did. Andy stayed aloft all night thinking about all that he had witnessed. The explosions from the boat could be heard ten miles away. They continued through the night until they stopped a few hours before sunrise.
He flew the glider more than two miles above the cliff and felt the cold air as it whipped around him. He turned toward the shore line to the south and noticed that it was eerily quiet. He moved over the water and saw that the boats were no longer anchored offshore. He looked to the east and saw them sailing away.
He didn’t know what humans had been brought back in time to produce the bloodthirsty civilization that murdered, pillaged, and plundered other humans but it didn’t appear it was the Atlantans; he had not seen a cutter blade anywhere during the invasion. The guards had used swords to hack the guard which added more confirmation that the Destroyers did not have cutter technology. Without cutters and the metal used to build them, gliders would be impossible. The Destroyers controlled the seas but the Archers controlled the air. He turned the glider north and flew back toward the cliff. An unexpected downdraft blew him to within two hundred yards of the forest but he managed to fight the air currents and arrive just in time to catch the winds blowing over the cliff. He turned north and thought about all he had seen. He was going to have to violate his banishment and return to the community. He would tell them what he had discovered and leave to complete his sentence.
As he moved north he kept flying over the plain searching for Dinah and Harmony. He suddenly thought that he hadn’t thought about Lyla once. He was troubled by that thought.
Chapter Five
Harmony sat on Dinah and knew Andy was going to see the Destroyers and would find out what she had done. She knew in her heart that he would despise her. As they moved north there were ten occasions where carnivores came out of the tree lines to attack. A T-Rex had made the effort a mile back and Harmony looked around and saw there were thousands of dinosaurs inhabiting the plain. Many of them were closer to the tree lines than they were. Why did they pass up all the others to attack Dinah? Something had to be going on.
She edged Dinah closer to the tree line and watched the trees closely. She finally saw a T-Rex stick its head out of the trees and raise its head. It sniffed the air and looked directly at them. She tapped Dinah with her right knee and she ran away from the forest. The T-Rex stepped out but saw a chase was hopeless. The carnivores were drawn to Dinah because of the way she smelled. She thought about all the carnivores they had encountered and remembered that one of the T-Rexes attacking the Triceratops had turned from them to come after Dinah. She said, “Dinah.” The Cursor looked at her over her shoulder and Harmony gave her the water gesture. Dinah veered to the left and picked up speed. Just before they topped a rise Dinah came to a stop. Harmony slid out of the saddle and walked to the top of the rise with her rifle in her hands. She saw two T-Rexes drinking at a pond. She gave the down gesture to Dinah and she went to ground. It was getting hot and Harmony hoped the two Apex Predators would go back to the forest soon. After thirty minutes the two giants walked away from the pond toward the tree line four hundred yards away and disappear. They were downwind from the T-Rexes and they gave no indication they smelled Dinah. Harmony gave the up gesture and jumped in the saddle. Dinah lifted her nose into the air and ran toward the water. Harmony kept her rifle in her hands while Dinah drank and ate the grass around the pond.
Harmony walked over to a group of thick plants growing about fifteen yards from the pond. The plants had sharp pointed leaves but there were several brown pods growing on the edge. She picked the pods and squinted against the smell. Andy told her that these were called stink bushes and she had to agree that the name was absolutely an understatement. She held her nose and carried them over to the pond. She filled a water pouch that was close to empty and drank quickly. She called Dinah over and she jogged up and suddenly came to a stumbling stop. Harmony gave her the down gesture and Dinah reluctantly obeyed. She moved her head away from Harmony and for her part, Harmony couldn’t blame her. She appeared to be taking a breath and holding it for as long as possible.
Harmony took several strips of leather out of a pouch and tied the pods to Dinah’s harness. She jumped in the saddle and said go. For the next hour Dinah moved north, furiously shaking her head. It was all Harmony could do to breathe. Harmony watched the tree lines they passed and saw two instances where a T-Rex stuck its head out and jerked it back. After two hours, the smell was only awful and Dinah appeared to be able to smell other odors. The nose could only bear so much before it filtered out really offensive smells. Even the herbivores moved out of their path. It would really be a good thing if the Cursors could eat those pods. She smiled and looked up at a clear sky and felt good to be alive. Whatever happened, she was at least finally free of those who had made her a slave.
Andy had flown over Dinah and Harmony while they were adjusting to the smell of the stink bush. He knew he had to have missed them. There was no way they could have moved this far north. His heart went into his throat and he prayed nothing had happened to them. His fear was as great as it had ever been. He whipped the glider around and moved south. His tears started and he suspected the worse. He never should have left them. It was his fault if they had been killed by a carnivore. He moved down the forest line and an hour later he knew he had lost them. Then…he heard…”DINAH!”
He whipped the glider around. He was downwind from the source of the roar and he flew at his highest speed into the breeze and finally saw them out in the middle of the plain. Dinah was at her full height roaring. Harmony was holding on wondering what was going on. Andy came in at full speed and pulled the retract cord on the glider and the two wings snapped in as he caught his feet under him and stumbled toward them. He took off the face mask and Harmony saw him. Her expression was another vision he would never forget. Then the smell hit his nostrils and he dropped to his knees. “WHAT IN GOD’S NAME IS THAT SMELL?”
Harmony had jumped out of the saddle and started running toward him but stopped short. Andy was shaking his head and Harmony said, “Dinah has an odor that attracts predators. I used the stink bush to gather pods.”
Andy shook his head and Harmony hesitated but then said, “To hell with it.” She rushed forward and wrapped her arms around Andy’s neck, “You don’t know how good it is to see you.”
Andy held his nose and pulled her close, “I thought you were dead. I flew past you and didn’t see you. You nearly scared me out of ten years of my life.”
Harmony held him tight and then leaned back. “Did you find them?” Andy nodded. Harmony took her arms from around his neck and turned away.
Andy reached forward and grabbed one of her arms and pulled her back. He immediately grabbed his nose and pinched it close, “Damn, you stink. Harmony, I saw one of the guards hacked to death for refusing to execute some young boys. You had no choice. What you were forced to do hurt you to your core and I know what it cost you. You were a child when you were first forced to do what they wanted. You weren’t wise enough to stand up to them on principle.” Harmony started crying and shaking her head. Andy grabbed her chin with his free hand and made her look at him, “But you never lost your heart. They weren’t able to kill that part of you that makes you the wonderful person you are. You have to let it go and try to atone for what you’ve done.” Andy shook his head, “God, why did you do this? Death by a carnivore is better than this smell.”
Harmony’s tears continued and she couldn’t help but smile, “We have not been bothered by any predators since I put these pods on the saddle.”
“I can understand why!”
“You’ll get used to it in about two hours and then you’ll only notice it when you focus on it.”
Andy shook his head and
noticed that there were no dinosaurs downwind from them. “I need to repack the glider.”
“You should stop holding your nose. It’ll only take longer to grow accustomed to the smell.”
Andy released his nose and winced. He walked over to the glider and began sliding the frame into the hollow rods. “What made you do this?”
“I saw a T-Rex stick his head out of the forest and sniff the air. It immediately turned toward Dinah. It started a charge but I moved her too far away. I confirmed that Dinah has an odor that attracts carnivores. I figured the only way to prevent it was to use the stink bush pods to cover her smell.”
“How did she take it?”
“About like you’d expect. She doesn’t like it but her sense of smell is back. She can smell predators again.”
“I must have flown by when her nose was deactivated by this malicious odor.”
Harmony sat down with her rifle over her legs, “What do you think about what you saw?”
Andy looked at her and winced as a breeze blew the smell toward him, “Are you sure about getting used to this?”
“I don’t really notice it. I suspect we’ll have to pick some more pods at the next source of water.”
“The Destroyers are heartless. Why didn’t you tell me about their boats and those huge guns?”
“I would have eventually. I guess I don’t want to think about when I was captured and taken by them.”
“You’re going to need to get over that; my Elders need to hear everything you know.” Harmony sighed and nodded. “We’re going to have to plan on how to counter them.”
“What do you mean?”
“Their large guns can fire on my community from the ocean.” Harmony looked at the tall cliff and her eyes narrowed. “We have cut the height of the cliff at my community to build stone walls around it. I guess no one ever considered that danger would come from the water.”
