“She still seemed whiny and bitchy to me,” I sighed as I took another long gulp of water. “I’m glad Trel is cooperating with us now, but I really don’t have the energy to deal with someone else like her. I would like Kacerie’s help, but we are just fine without her.”
“I am glad you feel that way,” Sheela said, and I noticed her eyes drift to my lips. “Still, she is an attractive woman. I would not be surprised if she tries to appeal to your masculine properties.”
I let out a bit of a long laugh and shook my head. “I don’t have that many masculine properties. I’m just trying to make sure we all survive.”
“And you are succeeding,” she said. “I find it attractive.”
“Uhhh, yeah. Thanks.” I turned my eyes to her, but she was looking down at the water and filling her jug again. The angle of her crouch let me easily see the shape of her firm breasts, and it almost looked like her tattered bikini top couldn’t contain them.
“So let’s get back and then get clay,” I said as I forced my eyes away from the shape of her beautiful body. “We’ll need to--”
My voice froze in my throat as I turned back to Hope. The parasaurs was turning toward the tree line of the redwood forest, and she was stamping her feet impatiently.
“There is something in the trees!” Sheela hissed as we both stepped across the shore toward Hope.
The hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end, and my stomach was trying to hold down a hundred angry butterflies.
“I don’t see anything,” I whispered as I desperately scanned my eyes through the dark shadows of the trees.
“Me either,” Sheela said, but Hope snorted angrily, and she actually took a step away from the edge of the water.
As if she was getting ready to run.
“Come back, Sweetie,” I called out to Hope, and the parasaur turned her head a bit so that she could see me with one eye. I half expected her to dash away and leave us stranded, but she stepped back toward us, and I quickly attached my jug to her saddle.
“Sheela, get your jug on and we’ll--” I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and turned my head sharply to the left. At the edge of one of the large redwood trunks, I saw a flash of feathers.
The shadows were dark, but I recognized the shade of green.
“Get on!” I jumped on Hope the instant four raptors leapt from behind a clump of ferns.
Sheela dropped her jug and leapt up to the saddle behind me. As soon as I felt one of her arms around my chest, I kicked Hope forward, and the parasaur sprang away from the edge of the stream. We were pointed away from the group charging us, and quickly outpaced them, but then my stomach dropped when I saw six of the large-clawed dinos pop out of the fern hedges some forty yards ahead.
These fuckers were herding us.
“Hold on!” I shouted to Sheela as I pulled left on Hope’s reins and pushed into her flank with my right leg.
The parasaur twisted to the left, and we shot toward the stump of the massive hollowed out tree. The twist in our direction allowed me to see the two groups of raptors chasing us, and Sheela reached over her shoulder so she could free her bow.
Hope let out a startled toot from her horn as I steered her into the wide open maw of the fallen log. There was plenty of space up top, but I still ducked my head a bit to ensure that I didn’t get clipped.
Sheela had her bow out, and her left arm slid free of my chest. I let out a cry of terror when I felt her let me go, but before I could reach back to grab her, I felt her legs wrap around my abdomen. I spared a quick glance behind me and saw the blonde warrior woman twist her upper body around so she could point her bow at the group chasing us. She was using her legs to anchor herself to my body, and I lowered my left hand to her shins to ensure that she didn’t accidentally bump loose.
Up ahead, the ground of the log-tunnel was broken by a jagged spike of petrified wood. It jutted out some four feet like a mini mountain, and I realized there wasn’t enough space to steer Hope around it.
“I’m going to jump it!” I shouted as I urged my mount to run faster. Hope sensed my desire, and she ducked her head down so that she could get more speed.
I felt Sheela’s arm pull her bow back. Then I heard the twang of the string and a howl of agony behind us. I didn’t have time to look, but I guessed that we had one less deinonychus to worry about.
Then we reached the hurdle of sharp wood, and I prayed for Hope to jump over it without cutting her belly open.
There was a moment of weightlessness, and I almost dropped my right hand from the reins so that I could push Sheela’s thighs into me. It would have been a mistake though since Hope’s landing was really bumpy, and I felt my legs start to slip free of the saddle.
“Shit!” I growled as I yanked my hand on the rein so that I could stay on top of Hope’s back. The movement made the parasaur toot angrily, but she didn’t stop her sprint.
“How soon until we are out of the tunnel?” Sheela shouted as I felt her body tense with the movement of another bow pull.
“Fifty yards!” I guesstimated as I looked at the distant hole of dim golden light.
Sheela let loose with another arrow, but I didn’t hear a scream behind us. I did, however, see a flurry of movement through the cracks in the ceiling of the massive hollow tree trunk. They were quick whips of black and green color that blocked the sunset from spilling through the breaks of the wood, and I guessed that some of the raptors were pursuing us from on top of the tree.
These fuckers were way too smart.
“We are going to have company as soon as we get outside!” I shouted to Sheela as I willed Hope to try to run faster. My eyes were stinging from our speed, and the cracks of gold light coming through the musty wood were causing a kaleidoscope effect on my vision.
Twenty yards left, and the shadows from the roof made me think the ones up there were just a bit behind us.
“How many are behind us?” I shouted without looking back.
“Five!” Sheela replied over the sound of the wind blowing past my ears, and I guessed that four of the ten had jumped up onto the log.
We reached the end of the hollowed out redwood, and I heard Sheela shoot another arrow. A howl of surprise echoed from behind us, and I guessed that she had gotten another.
Then we shot out of the end of the log like a bullet leaving the barrel of a gun.
I looked up as we ran and saw the raptors leap into the air. Sheela shouted something that I couldn’t understand, and I pulled Hope’s reins to the right while I pushed on my left foot. The parasaur angled in the direction I wanted to go, but two of the raptors still landed right next to her.
And they brought their clawed feet down as they landed.
The one on my left missed tearing my leg in half by just a few inches. His oversized toe claw tore through the saddle instead, and I kicked out with my left leg to push him away so he couldn’t bite at my chest.
The one on the right actually nicked Hope’s front shoulder, and the parasaur let out a startled honk from her horn as she twisted away from her attacker. I hadn’t quite expected Hope to shift as she did, but it wouldn’t have been much of a problem if the raptor on my left hadn’t sliced through the cord that held the saddle in place.
Hope twisted left, and our saddle kept going forward. Both Sheela and I were flung from the top of the parasaur’s back and we rolled on the ground like tossed marbles.
For half a moment, the world was just green grass, brown tree trunks, and a spinning blend of those colors. I rolled across a surprisingly soft ground and tried to protect my head the best I could with my arms. A rock dug into my shoulder a moment before I stopped tumbling, but it hadn’t really injured me, and I was able to pop back up on my feet only a second after Sheela.
Then I saw the raptors closing in on us.
I knew that Sheela and I were about to die, so I commanded Hope to keep running home. The saddle was still beside me, and even though the clay jug of water had broken in
the fall, my spear was still in its holder, and I was able to yank it free before the group of green feathered assholes made it to us.
“Stay close together!” Sheela ordered in a surprisingly calm voice as she pulled an arrow from her quiver and put it against her bowstring.
“Okay!” I replied, but my voice cracked in the middle, and I felt my limbs start to go numb. I’d been brave this morning and taken on four of these fucks, but this was almost twice that number, and they were charging toward us at full speed.
I lowered my spear and then watched Sheela’s arrow leave her bow in slow motion. It connected with the face of the fucker closest to us, and I pointed the tip of my own weapon at the raptor that was next in line.
Then they were on us.
Chapter 4
I thrust my spear forward and up at the green feathered raptor leaping toward me. His jump had taken him over the flailing body of the dino that Sheela just arrowed in the face, and the angle of his descent gave me a good view of his throat.
I didn’t really have any training with a spear beside the few hours I’d spent with Sheela and the combat I’ve been through, but the weapon was really easy to use, and I found it easy enough to angle the tip upward toward the target. I was also a bit lucky, and the point tore through the raptor’s throat at the side, and the beast didn’t get stuck on the weapon. Instead, he flopped on the ground beside me with a spray of crimson rain.
I carried my thrust to my left and aimed my weapon at the other fucker jumping toward Sheela. The cat-woman was still calmly loading an arrow, and I wondered if she somehow thought that she’d be able to get it on the string, pull it back, and then kill the raptor as it was in mid-air.
Maybe she could, but I was still going to try my best to defend her.
My spear-tip hit the thing in the chest below its left wing. He hadn’t leapt as high as the first one I’d just killed, but the impact of my thrust was powerful enough to dig a good four inches into his flesh, and the thing let out a screech when I managed to heave it backward into its friends.
“Good!” Sheela said as she raised her bow sideways and let loose with the arrow she had half-nocked.
The bolt flew the ten feet between the raptors and took another one in the chest. It screeched with surprise when it realized that it had gotten hit and then slowed its running speed suddenly.
And all the other raptors skidded to a halt.
“What. The. Fuck?” I whispered slowly as the raptors all turned to one Sheela had just hit.
“Maybe that is the leader,” Sheela said as we both took a step away from the group of dinosaurs. They were all hissing at the one Sheela had just shot, and it, in turn was hissing back at them between wheezes.
“Shit,” I gasped as I realized that they had some way of communicating to each other. “I totally underestimated these fucks.”
“There is a tree behind us,” Sheela whispered as she spared a quick glance back. “We need to be near it so they cannot surround us.
“Got it,” I replied as we started to step backward. Unfortunately, our movement got the attention of the raptors, and they turned away from their boss to screech at us.
Sheela let go of the arrow she had nocked, and it hit the leader again in the chest. He let out a bellow of surprise, and I had to make a quick few jabbing motions with my spear to keep the group at bay.
Then, just like Sheela predicted, they began to circle us.
“Fuck,” I gasped as we backpedaled toward the massive redwood tree behind us.
The leader was still standing, even with the two arrows sticking out of his ribs, and he let out a snarl as he took a few steps toward us. Most of these raptors were about the size of giant dogs, maybe two hundred pounds at the most, but this guy looked almost big enough for me to ride, and he must have been around two hundred and fifty pounds. He was probably the alpha for the whole little family we’d been murdering for the last day, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d decided that it was time to deal with us personally.
But then again, these fucking feathered dinos probably weren’t that smart.
At least, I hoped they weren’t smart enough to plan this whole ambush.
My feet felt the roots of the redwood under me, and I glanced down so I didn’t trip over anything. One of the raptors on my right saw me look away, and he darted forward toward my leg at the same time as one on the left jumped at Sheela. Her bow sang as I shoved my spear forward. My weapon went right into my attacker’s jaw, and it let out a hysterical screech when I tore through the back of its throat. The raptor Sheela shot with her bow tumbled on the ground between us and the group of his friends, and I saw the warrior woman had put her arrow through his throat.
“Victor, some of my arrows fell out of my quiver when we fell. I only have two left.”
“Fucking shit fuck,” I growled as I tried to keep my wits about me. There were still too many of these assholes around us, and I didn’t know if I’d be able to kill them all.
Maybe Sheela could.
“I’ll give you my spear after you use your arrows,” I said. I hated the idea of giving up my weapon, but Sheela was a better warrior than me, and it was the best chance we had for surviving.
“I believe we can climb the tree,” she said as the butt of my spear bumped into the massive trunk.
“Uhh, how? The thing is like ten feet in diameter, and the closest branch is thirty feet up.”
“The saddle is made of many lengths of cord,” she said as she pulled one of her arrows back. “We can use it to wrap around the trunk and then scale it.”
“Shit!” I shouted as one of the raptors jumped at me. The point of my spear missed him, and I overstepped a bit. His jaws snapped down and around my weapon, and I could have sworn that his teeth closed around the hairs of my knuckles.
“The saddle is all the way over there!” I shouted as I nodded toward the device Trel had made. It was some twenty feet to our left, and Sheela would have to run around the group of raptors to get to it.
Or she would have to go through them.
“I can get it,” she said nonchalantly.
“Uhh, then how are we going to untie all the rope and wrap it around the tree?” I asked as I swung my spear around to keep the raptors at bay. I figured we had about half a minute before they realized that they could all just attack at once, and then Sheela and I would be lunch.
“You can climb up first while I defend with your spear, then I will climb up.”
“I don’t know how to climb up the tree like--” A raptor interrupted me by making a sliding type movement toward my legs. I was caught completely off guard by his maneuver, and my spear passed harmlessly over his head. I stepped back in time to keep my legs from getting sliced open by his snapping jaws, but I knew I’d damned near gotten killed.
We couldn’t do this for much longer. There were too many of these oversized roosters, and they were slowly figuring out how to coordinate attacks.
“I will climb using my claws and then lower a rope to you. Then you can climb up.” Sheela’s plan sounded less crazy than me trying to lumberjack up the tree, but there was one thing she probably didn’t realize.
I couldn’t really do a pull-up, and I doubted that I’d be able to climb a rope fast enough.
A cold realization came over me, and I felt my brain begin to calm. At the moment, there were only three possible outcomes to this situation. The first was that both Sheela and I would get killed and devoured by the group of snarling raptors. The second was that one of us would live, and the other would die. The third was that we both lived.
I didn’t think I’d be able to climb the rope fast enough, but if I could buy some time, my friend could live.
Even if it meant my own death.
“Go run and get the saddle.” The words escaped my mouth as if someone else had said them. I almost didn’t feel like I was in control of my body anymore. I was looking at myself over my shoulder as if this was a game I played.
�
�I will wait until the ones on the left are--” Sheela interrupted her own words by sending an arrow into the one on our far left, it stumbled away from us when the shaft pierced its eyeball, and the two beside it turned to look at their snarling friend.
Then Sheela sprinted away from me.
The big-clawed raptors turned toward her, then glanced back toward me, and seemed conflicted about what to do. It was a bit of a blessing, and I stepped toward the one who had almost bitten off my hand and jabbed my spear at his face. The point of my weapon hit him in the head but didn’t pierce his skull. Still, he twisted away with a surprised screech of pain, and the entire group turned their attention back to me.
Uh oh.
I stepped back as the alpha raptor darted toward me. He moved like lightning, even though the asshole had two arrows sticking out of his chest, but I managed to lean my face out of the way before he could bite it off.
Another one on my left made a lunge at me, but I kicked out with my left leg and managed slam my foot into his throat before he could snap his jaws over my hip. I spun my spear around to the side and then thrust the weapon into the face of another raptor that had leapt toward me. He screamed when I tore his face open, and blood showered the ground as he turned to dash away from me.
I turned toward the saddle, but it wasn’t where I had seen it lying, and my heart dropped into my stomach. Where was Sheela? Had one of the raptors gotten her before she grabbed the saddle? Then where was it? I couldn’t believe that she’d been able to grab it so fast, but I didn’t hear her return.
“Victor!” she shouted from above me, and I raised my head slightly to see one of our ropes fall through the air. She had somehow already retrieved the saddle, and climbed up the tree, tied all the ropes from the saddle together, and then thrown it down to me in like thirty seconds.
“I’m not going to be able to pull myself up quick enough!” I shouted as I swung my spear around like it was some sort of long sword. The raptors were starting to close in around me, and I saw the alpha’s eyes focus on the rope next to me.
Tamer_King of Dinosaurs 2 Page 5
