by Eddie Patin
Did the minotaur really believe that Jason had killed him? That the Wilderlands was his personal happy hunting grounds?
Jason didn't know what to say. He briefly thought about clearing up the misunderstanding, but what would be the point of bursting that bubble?
They walked on, two dangerous creatures in the woods, and headed to an area of thick trees and dense shadows that Jason had never visited before...
Chapter 18
Jason headed south through the deepening woods alongside the massive, black minotaur that shook the earth with his heavy steps.
It all felt surreal.
Up until now, Jason hadn't traveled this far to the south along the eastern tree line of the valley. Back when he was stuck in the Wilderlands, he'd gone south for a while along the west side of the clearing, but the area where he was now with Nargog had been pretty much off-limits. It had been pretty clear that the mini-rexes spent a lot of time where Jason was now. He'd seen them emerge from these woods on several occasions when he witnessed them hunting. He'd never had any reason to skulk around here, this possible domain of the Albertosaurus family...
The sudden thought that he might be wandering into the equivalent of the mini-rexes' lair turned Jason's stomach cold. Yet, Nargog seemed completely unafraid, striding along, shaking the ground under Jason's feet with each mighty, thumping step of his thick legs and basketball-sized hooves.
Yet, having the alpha minotaur with him was only a small comfort when Jason figured that all three mini-rexes might be waiting—perhaps bedded down together—up ahead.
Nargog clearly intended to start a fight with the wounded Albertosaurus with nothing more than his (considerable) natural weapons and that big T-Rex femur club. Honestly, Jason figured that the alpha minotaur would be able to take the beast. However, if the mini-rex's mate and its nearly-matured juvenile were there too ... well...
Jason idly rubbed at the lava key around his wrist.
This felt pointless, but he didn't want to offend the monster that he'd made his neighbor on this wild world. As chaotic and terrible as he was, Nargog might make a good ally at some point in Jason's future. There was no way to tell. Riley and Gliath had both been certain that Nargog would try to kill them one day. Maybe if Jason 'made friends' with this monster by going along with his primitive ritual offering of 'finishing his kill' and sharing its heart, it might eliminate that potential danger from the future.
The forest was gently sloped. Tall pines and strange trees from another era stretched into the sky all around Jason. It was muggy, but not as hot as being out in the valley or up on the ridge. The tree canopies provided shade. Every moment in the Wilderlands was accompanied with a constant drone of prehistoric insects singing and buzzing and calling out to each other in search of sex or food. Walking through this primordial forest, Jason also heard the ever-present trills and cries of many dinosaur-like birds hunting tiny prey—or each other—and leaping from branch to branch or zig-zagging through the underbrush. Bushes full of vines grew in thickets here and there, which Jason avoided, and vivid green ferns as tall as Jason's chest blanketed the entire area, frequently waving and rustling in the warm wind passing through.
Jason checked his AK's safety then went back to fingering his lava key.
Even if the other two mini-rexes attacked them, Nargog would surely slow them down long enough for Jason to kill them with rifts to lava world, if needed.
He blanched at the thought of killing all three Albertosaurs, but he didn't know why. Maybe it was because they were the apex predators of the valley now? At least—they might have been if it wasn't for Nargog. Perhaps all of the history that Jason shared with those three great carnivores made him hesitate to see them gone. It felt a little stupid, but he'd been sort of bound to the mini-rexes by the circle of life. He ran away from them ... at least three times? And that didn't count him driving them off yesterday. No—there were several times before when Jason had almost ended up as a meal for those three Albertosaurs. Yet, he'd managed to evade them each time by the skin of his teeth and more than a little bit of luck and grit.
For some crazy reason, those vicious, loping predators felt like the closest thing Jason had to friends here ... aside from Nargog, perhaps.
He chuckled as they walked along, which made one of the minotaur's huge black ears twitch.
Jason supposed that if he asked the mini-rexes if they felt the same way, they'd simply eat him.
What a silly idea; the circle of life.
Still, he wasn't too keen on killing them; even one of them.
Then again, if that big Albertosaurus was wounded enough to draw the minotaur's attention like it did, it might be in pain and down the road to actually dying. It might be good after all to go along with Nargog's plan to kill it, even if only to put it out of its misery.
Jason suddenly heard a trill and a chirp from his left.
He looked, swinging his AK around and shouldering its buttstock, and saw a medium-sized raptor standing nearby, emerging from the ferns. It was about as tall as Jason's chest—definitely big enough to take seriously—and thick with soft feathers of dark brown with cream and white markings spread throughout. The dromaeosaur bobbed back and forth considering him, turning its head to gaze at Jason more intently with one striking, copper-colored eye. Its snout was closed and its feet were hidden in the underbrush, but Jason was well-acquainted with the tiny fangs lining its snout and the sickle-like claws extending above its smaller toes.
Nargog paused with a low huff. Jason looked up at the big, black monster to see him eyeing the raptor as well. Then, when Jason looked back at the curious dinosaur, he saw two more flanking it.
"Shit..." Jason muttered, putting his front sight on the closest of the three.
Those raptors were freaking crazy. What the hell were they thinking, considering attacking him with an eight-foot-tall minotaur—a shaggy black wall of iron muscle—standing so close by?
Jason felt his heartbeat quicken as he aimed at the nearest raptor. The three predators made birdlike noises and trills at each other, each apparently very interested in Jason. He saw the large tuft-like feathers of one of their tails rise briefly from the ferns, waving back and forth before disappearing again.
If he had to fire, he'd make a huge noise, and his lightning gun was back in the cave. They'd alert the mini-rexes for sure...
As if sensing his thoughts, Nargog suddenly turned to face the three raptors straight-on, waved his massive club through the air, then let out a low, growling sound that made Jason jump. It wasn't quite a roar—it reminded Jason of hearing a lion casually bellow at the zoo. He saw the minotaur's yellow teeth appear for an instant.
When Jason looked back at the raptors, he saw that they'd turned and fled, dashing and hopping away through the ferns. Their long, tufted tails bobbed up and down as they disappeared.
"I didn't want to shoot and give away our position," Jason said, feeling awkward under the heavy gaze of the minotaur.
Nargog pondered that, nodded, then turned and continued.
Jason was reminded by the encounter that his new alpha minotaur friend was still a predator, through and through. He'd have to be careful not to appear weak or afraid. Those small, glinting dark eyes carried the law of the jungle inside, and Jason knew that if Nargog ever changed his mind about his misplaced respect of him ... well, Nargog was an actual monster and would probably eat him.
After a while of walking on, Jason started checking his OCS from time to time to confirm that they were still headed south. The thick ferns began lightening up and it felt like they were going down. Jason had a feeling that if he looked at the equivalent map of the National Park area east of Ridgeview back home, they had to be heading toward the floodplain south of the valley, near the area where the ridge turned and melded with the Rocky Mountains.
Then, there was a low sound from up ahead that reminded Jason of the Dreadwraith; a sound like the deep bass of a car stereo that turned his blood cold.
> The last time Jason had heard that deep, vibrating sound, he found a freaking Tyrannosaurus Rex. But, once Jason made it past the shock and the terrifying memory, he realized that the sound wasn't as big as the famous predator from the other side of the ridge; wasn't as robust.
He looked at Nargog and saw that the he'd noticed the sound, too. The minotaur had slowed, and was stalking the woods with his thick, muscled legs bent and broad head low.
A cold bolt of fear burst in Jason's guts.
He'd always run away from the Albertosaurs before. What the hell was he doing, seeking one out now?!
Nargog tilted his mighty rack of horns—as wide as a freaking bicycle—and looked back at Jason.
"With your permission, great one...?" he asked, his voice low like rolling thunder.
"Very well," Jason replied, feeling like a dork. "Go ahead. I'll observe."
He was a scared dork. Those mini-rexes were freaking scary. He clenched the grip and handguard of his rifle. He'd shot that thing how many times? And it just wandered off, all the way over here?
With that, Nargog exploded into action, shocking Jason and making that small bolt of fear in his guts burst like fireworks! The minotaur launched himself at where the sound had come from like a goddamned freight train, crashing through the woods and making the ground shudder, cracking and snapping through bushes, holding his club over the underbrush.
There was movement up ahead. Jason gasped as he saw the huge mini-rex suddenly stand up a mere twenty feet ahead of them! Its dark feathers were blending into the shadows and it was low enough that Jason hadn't even seen it!
"Holy shit!" he exclaimed.
The carnivore was ten feet tall again at the hip and shoulders, its tail long and steady behind it. It turned to face Nargog's charge and cracked open its huge maw full of knife-like teeth. Some of its brown feathery quills were puffed out just as if it was a gigantic, pissed off bird.
Nargog bowled into the toothy dinosaur with a tremendous crash and a dangerous speed that would have surprised Jason if he hadn't already seen it before. The alpha minotaur was huge but the Albertosaurus was bigger. This was the closest Jason had ever been to the mini-rex without either it being directly under him—snapping its tremendous jaws and trying to climb a tree after him—or trying to chase him down. As the dark-feathered Albertosaurus—so much like a giant, wingless eagle with a long tail and a snout like a T-Rex—spun and turned, stomping around on its long legs as it danced with Nargog, Jason figured that it had to be around thirty feet long from its nose to the feathered tip of its tail. The alpha minotaur was almost as tall as the carnivore's shoulders and as wide as three men or more, but definitely smaller. Size-wise, it was like a man fighting a horse; or maybe duking it out with a grizzly bear.
And what a fight! It was like a battle of titans.
Jason shrank back some, terrified by the sheer tonnage being thrown around in front of him and the shaking earth under his feet. He put the front sight of his AK over the three-foot-long skull of the mini-rex. If the dinosaur had been wounded by his rifle yesterday, it sure didn't look like it. Then again, it would be hard to see blood on those dark feathers of its body...
There was suddenly blood on Nargog's horns. As the two huge creatures slammed around—the Albertosaurus spinning and constantly seeking out pieces of the minotaur to seize with his teeth, and Nargog beating on its body and neck with his club while roaring and flashing his yellow fangs—bright red dinosaur blood coated the horns' curved, pointed tips.
Kill it with lava, Jason thought frantically, trying to hold back the terror coursing through his blood. You can kill it with lava...
There was a sudden loud smack. The Albertosaurus shoved Nargog into a tree, which creaked and swayed. The minotaur responded by lifting his man-sized club high into the air, then swung it down onto the carnivore's back, making the beast bellow in pain with a reptilian sound.
Nargog then lowered his mighty head and thrust his horns and heavy skull into the mini-rex's side and neck. The creature reeled, throwing its mouth into the air, half-heartedly twisting to catch a sideways bite but it missed. Nargog raised the club high in the air again with both massive hands—Jason saw spatters of red on the stony spikes and several feathers stuck to it—then smashed the huge predator on its hip and thigh. The Albertosaurus grunted and faltered.
With the dinosaur apparently off-balance, the alpha minotaur reared back and charged again, slamming into the dinosaur's side with his head and horns. The mini-rex let out a shrieking yelp that was surprisingly bird-like, and they both tumbled down into the underbrush!
In an instant, the mini-rex was on its side on the ground and Nargog rose up again, hefting the club high. He savagely smashed the dinosaur with a vertical strike that would have probably shattered every bone in Jason's body if he'd received the blow instead. The frantic carnivore let out another cry of pain, thrashing around in the underbrush—Jason could only see parts of its writhing, feathered form through the bushes and ferns—then Nargog bellowed in pain. The thunderous sound quickly transformed into an enraged roar, and the minotaur smashed his club into the fallen Albertosaurus again and again.
As they fought, Jason saw one monstrous clawed dinosaur foot swipe wildly through the air, and as Nargog struggled, smashing and roaring, Jason caught sight of the Albertosaur's huge mouth clamped down over the minotaur's lower leg.
After several more blasting hits, Nargog dropped his club and dove in at the Albertosaurus, trying to free his leg and flashing his yellow fangs. His glinting eyes were full of murder. The minotaur reached for the mini-rex's mouth, grabbed the teeth and lower jaw with one hand and the upper jaw in the other. He let out a booming groan that grew to a growl then a violent roar, and pulled the jaws apart away from his leg. The dinosaur thrashed and writhed under him, its long tail whipping around as Nargog strengthened his hold, roaring like ten lions and shaking the ground and the trees around them...
There was a terrible crack.
Jason gasped, staring in wonder and flying with fear, torn between running away as fast as he could but also stuck to the scene...
The battle paused. Both huge creatures froze, motionless in their struggles.
Then, the Albertosaurus sagged to the ground. Its flailing tail collapsed, limp.
Nargog released a huge, huffing breath. Jason could see his heavy, shaggy form heaving from exertion as he held the dinosaur's broken jaw in his powerful hands. Blood dripped from the minotaur's horns and flecked his thick, black fur in several places that Jason hadn't noticed before.
Then, the minotaur relaxed and stood, letting out several more long huffs. He snorted and shook his broad, horned head.
"You did it!" Jason exclaimed.
He realized that he sounded a lot happier than he felt. Jason exclaimed the words like a burst of relief. He was excited; of course he was. What a battle! But as Nargog straightened and reclaimed his bloodied club, staring down at the carnivore that he'd just beaten and wrestled to death, Jason figured that he couldn't remotely understand the thrill that the minotaur must have been experiencing.
This was probably the largest foe that Nargog had ever taken on. What did that mean to him?
The black, shaggy monster turned and looked at Jason evenly. He nodded.
"Thank you, Jason. Have I earned your mercy, great one?"
Jason barely avoided scoffing. "Yes, you have, Nargog. Well done."
After several awkward seconds of Jason trying to pretend that this was something he'd wanted, they ate the beast's massive, bloody heart without a word. It was an ugly ordeal. Jason's 3.5" pocketknife blade definitely wasn't adequate for cutting into the thirty-foot-long predator's chest cavity, so Nargog forced his way in by breaking its huge ribs with his club and pulling and searching through the mess with blood-soaked hands and claws.
The dinosaur's heart was like any other heart, but it was perhaps forty pounds and about the size of a large medicine ball. Jason didn't know how heavy it was for sure,
because he only helped to support the heart's weight for an instant before Nargog tore off a piece to offer him.
Jason had never eaten a raw heart before. He supposed that a huge carnivorous dinosaur's heart wasn't a bad heart to start with. He'd eaten roasted chicken hearts before and loved them. One Thanksgiving that he spent with Tom and Amanda years ago, he ate the turkey's heart, but didn't really remember how it tasted.
Something told Jason that he would always remember this.
Sitting on a piece of deadfall, he helped eat the raw heart of the Albertosaurus; a chunk of it that Nargog had given him about the size of Jason's fist. The meat was lean as hell and rigid. It was a muscle, after all. There was a strong flavor like a mix of bloody beef and the dark meat of a turkey leg, perhaps, with strong undertones of iron and copper; probably because of the blood. Then again, Jason hadn't ever eaten raw beef or raw turkey before either, so it was hard to put his finger on a proper comparison. After several bites, the blood was starting to make him feel a little green, so he took several long sips from his CamelBak's bite valve and finished his chunk of mini-rex heart as respectfully as he could manage.
Nargog tore the rest of the heart up fondly, almost lovingly, pulling the tough organ meat apart with his yellow predator's teeth with ease.
When Jason was finished, he stood and cleaned his bloody hands and face with water from his backpack.
His leg was still sore, but he figured that it was healed up enough to head back to the Shattered Swamp.
He heard the sounds of small dinosaurs scampering around in the bushes. The trills and chirps told him that little raptors were waiting in the wings to scavenge some meat for themselves.
"So, what are you gonna do now?" Jason asked the minotaur.
Nargog looked down at the huge, feathered corpse, then met Jason's gaze.
"There is much meat. I will bring what I can back to my cave. I will make a trophy out of this great feathertooth."
