“A cave,” I stated the obvious to Emerald as Nicole trotted forward. The opening was about fourteen feet high at the top point and maybe ten feet wide. I caught the scent of water, moss, fungus, and faint fertilizer as I neared the entrance, but the space was super dark inside, and I couldn’t see more than five feet in.
“Hmmm,” I said as I glanced around the ledge. “There really isn’t a place to keep all our dinosaurs, but maybe there will be space inside? I’m doubtful this could be our new fort, but it would be super hard to find, and it’s right next to the malachite. What do you say we go inside and investigate?”
Emerald nodded, and I grabbed the Cricket Bat of Doom before I slid off the saddle. My friend took one of the axes, and I gestured for the troodons to follow us into the cave entrance after I waved up at Bruce to keep patrolling.
“Can you give us a li--” I started to say, but before I could finish the sentence, Emerald’s purple gem began to glow, and the inside was bathed in violet light.
The walls were smooth, but had organic swirls on the sides that made me think that water had once eroded the opening. The tunnel where we walked was about the same size as the entrance, but as we moved a few dozen feet deeper into the cave, the roof began to lift away, and then fifty feet later stalactites began to form.
“Smells really wet,” I whispered to Emerald as we began to walk toward the first stalagmites coming up from the ground.
Emerald nodded, and it made the light in the cave dance, but then she turned her neck to each side, and I was able to get a feel for how big this first cavern was. I guessed it was about fifty yards long and maybe forty wide, half of the space was filled with stalagmites, and the scent of water and fungus seemed to get stronger the deeper we walked inside.
“Scoob, you hear anything?” I asked the tiger-stripped troodon, and he gave a soft negative hoot.
We crept forward toward the far side of the small cavern and found two tunnels in the wall. The one to the left was a bit smaller and went downward, while the one on the right smelled slightly of old fertilizer but appeared to be level.
“Right first,” I whispered, and then Scoob and Shag took the point position.
I guessed the tunnel was about fifteen feet high, and it was probably wide enough to fit Tom through, but Youleena would be able to widen the passageways, and she might even be able to eliminate some of the stalagmites in the previous room so that we could have more living space there.
We walked the tunnel for another minute or so, and the smell of shit started to get a bit potent. My eyes weren’t quite watering yet, but it was obvious that there was something, or somethings, living down here.
Then we came to the end of the tunnel, and I quickly saw what inhabited the cave.
Bats. Thousands of them.
The cavern spread out farther than Emerald’s glow could illuminate, and I could only make out a bit of movement on the ceiling, but I’d seen enough Discovery videos to know what the floor of a bat cave looked like, and this was definitely one of them. The entire bottom was covered with guano, twisting worms eating the poop, and large spider webs that were trying to catch the worms. It was like a mini ecosystem in here, and I gestured for Emerald to glance up so that I could get an idea of the size of the bats.
She did so, and I let out a soft gasp.
Each of the hanging creatures were only a bit smaller than the troodons, and there must have been ten thousand resting on the ceiling.
“Well, this isn’t going to work,” I whispered as I gestured for everyone to follow me back out of the tunnel.
Emerald nodded, and then we silently made our way back to the stalagmite room. Then we began to walk down the other tunnel, and I tapped my chin as I thought through our options.
“You know,” I whispered. “There is no shit in the room we were just in.”
Emerald glanced at me, tilted her head, and then raised two fingers.
“Yeah, they probably leave through another entrance. Youleena might be able to seal that tunnel off, and then we wouldn’t have to worry about them.”
Emerald nodded, and then she pointed down the tunnel in the direction we were heading. I knew she was inferring that she wanted to see where this went before making a decision, but the scent of water was starting to get stronger, and I guessed there was going to be some sort of underground creek or river down here.
The walk down the second tunnel felt a bit longer than the first, but that could have been more because it was obvious we were descending, and the walls and ceiling were tighter around us. Probably only a minute or so passed, and then the ground leveled out and the tunnel gave way to another open cavern.
Emerald’s purple light bounced off dozens of still pools, and the violet rays seemed to illuminate the entire cavern like an LSD infused rave-party. The ceiling was a good fifty feet high, and I could see that the walls began to arch lower in the distance some two-hundred yards away, but a cluster of stalactites and mites made it hard to tell if there was another passage at the far end. The entirety of the place was a beehive-like network of small pools divided by narrow walkways of dirt colored stone, and my nose picked up something strange as I stepped toward the first ten foot wide pool.
“Smells like… huh. I dunno, but it’s familiar.” I sniffed the air around the water and tried to pick up the individual scents. I would have thought that the pools would have had more of a stale or swamp-like smell, but these smelled like the time I’d accidentally overheated the cast-iron frying pan in my apartment.
Along with rust.
“I wonder…” I muttered to myself as I took a few steps toward the nearest wall. It was hard to tell the color of the rock from Emerald’s purple light, but it did kind of seem that the rock was a dark earth color with black shiny streaks going through it.
Emerald tapped me on the shoulder and gave me a questioning look, and then I turned back to the wall, pulled out one of my flint knives, and tried to pick a piece of the darker rock from the streaks of brown. The first piece of flint broke easily, but my second knife was able to pry some free, and I took the small fragments and then placed them up near my nose.
“This totally smells like iron,” I whispered, and then I handed it to her.
Emerald sniffed it, and then her full lips split into a smile.
“It looks like this whole wall has these darker veins in them,” I said as I leaned against the wall, then I noticed that the darker brown rocks were also a bit reflective, and I scratched some of the surface to reveal a dark mustard color underneath.
“This also smells like iron,” I said after I inhaled it. “Shit, is the whole wall ore? I’m guessing the darker veins might be purer, but there is still a ton here if we count the browner rocks. Let’s walk around and see how far this goes.”
We continued along the right wall and carefully stepped around some of the pools of water while I traced my finger over the vertical surface. Emerald continued to light the way, and the iron-ore wall seemed to continue for another thirty feet until it gave way to gray stone.
“Looks like it ends here,” I whispered, “but there could be more up ahead. We should search this whole cavern.”
Emerald nodded, and we walked around the edges of a few more pools as we continued deeper into the cavern. The bodies of water were all perfectly still, and the silence of the place was a bit creepy, but I was really excited about the iron ore find, and I knew that the troodons would alert me to any danger.
“I have no idea how to process iron from ore,” I whispered to Emerald as we moved. “Is it the same as copper? Do we need to combine it with charcoal at high temperatures? Then we would have to figure out how to make steel from it. Can you imagine what we can do with steel tools? We’d be able to cut down trees and dig holes so much faster. I’m sure Trel, Galmine, and the others can figure out how to process it.”
Emerald nodded as I talked, and her neck movement caused the light to dance through the silent cave. We soon reached the end of the c
avern, and there was another shaft leading down at what I guessed was a twenty-degree angle. The opening was only about five feet high, so we couldn’t walk through it without crouching down.
“Can you shine your light in here?” I asked as I squatted in front of the opening.
Emerald did as I asked, and I saw the tunnel descend until her light gave out. The passageway looked pretty smooth, and it did seem to open up some thirty or so feet in, but I was starting to feel a bit claustrophobic, and I wanted to continue searching the other side of the cavern for any ore.
“Eh, we’ll leave this for now,” I whispered to Emerald. “If we decide to make this our new fort, or if we come back for the ore, we’ll take a look down there and see what we find.”
The green scaled supermodel nodded at me, and then we continued along the side of the wall heading back toward the entrance to the cave. About halfway around, we found another iron vein that looked to be almost the same size as the first one we found, and I gave Emerald a high five.
“This is awesome!” I laughed. “We’ve located a motherload of copper and iron ore. We are going to be able to--”
Scoob let out a hoot of alarm, and Emerald and I spun around to see my group of troodons facing back toward the narrow shaft at the back of the cavern. Their feathers were ruffled, and the group stood half crouched as if they were ready to attack.
For half a moment, I didn’t actually see any movement, but then I noticed something black and slick wiggle across the ponds as it moved toward us. As soon as I realized what it was, I let out a gasp of alarm and I raised up the Cricket Bat of Doom as my adrenaline burned through every muscle fiber in my body like lit gasoline.
“Don’t let it bite you!” I screamed as the giant centipede suddenly turbo charged forward across the dark ponds like a sprinting cheetah.
Only this wasn’t a spotted cat. It was a four foot wide, thirty foot long, hundred legged killing machine that could paralyze each of us with just a nick of its venomous fangs.
And once we were paralyzed, it would feast on our bodies.
Chapter 11
The monster centipede dove toward Scoob, since the troodon was closer, but I was already mentally commanding my pal to leap across the pool to our right. He escaped just in the nick of time, and the centipede’s forward spring missed Scoob’s leg by just inches.
I stepped forward and swung the Cricket Bat of Doom down onto the massive myriapod’s head. My blow somehow managed to connect with the creature, but the obsidian shards on the edge of my weapon just bounced off the hardened shell.
Uh oh.
Numb shock rang through my shoulders as I pivoted away from the centipede's two feeler antennae, and Fred tried to jump in on its back. The troodon actually landed just fine, but I could hear his leg claws scrape effortlessly across the myriapod’s shell.
Double uh oh.
The centipede twisted around more toward me, and I threw myself back as it tried to dart toward me. Its attack was a combination of lunge, grasp with front arms, and bite, but I somehow managed to roll away from everything trying to catch me while also avoiding the nearby pools of water.
The other troodons lunged at the sides of the centipede as it tried to bite me, but I didn’t really know if that was a good idea. All the many-legged-eating-machine had to do was sense one of my pets was near its side, and then it could easily twist around, capture one of them with its legs, and then bite.
Then my nightmares came true as I saw the centipede’s antenna twist away from me and toward where Velma was.
The giant myriapod began to twist down toward the female troodon, but then Emerald leaped toward the centipede and brought her axe down on its head. Her cut ripped free one of the monster’s antenna, and it twisted back around frantically while its back end bunched up with what I guessed was pain.
“Don’t get under it!” I called out as I felt that my troodons were thinking about attacking the underbelly. I knew that would be a mistake because the legs would just catch them, but the concept was too hard to communicate to my friends during the heat of battle.
The centipede lunged toward Emerald, and its front legs actually managed to grab around her shoulders. She would have been dead a few seconds later, but I managed to leap to her side, lift up the Cricket Bat of Doom, and slam the wide part of its blade in between the centipede’s mouth pincers.
Ichor from its bleeding antenna sprayed all over my shoulders, and I felt the monster’s mouth try to twist against my weapon. Tiny drops of venom flowed down the ends of the creature’s twin pinchers, but I managed to lift the handle of the Cricket Bat of Doom so that none of the drops landed on my hands or arms.
But holy shit, this thing was strong, and it felt like my arms were about to be ripped from my shoulders.
“I can’t hold it much longer!” I growled through my teeth as Emerald tried to squirm free of our attacker’s legs.
She wasn’t making much progress, though, and I tried to think of a way to win.
Then the beast shifted forward and put all its weight on my arms. I felt myself fall back, and then a dozen pointy arms were digging into my back and shoulders.
The centipede had just wrapped up Emerald and I together, and it was going to squeeze us until I didn’t have the strength to hold up my weapon against its maw.
Then we’d be done for.
“Shiiittt,” I gasped as I felt Emerald’s left shoulder press into my ribs. My arms were still raised above my head so that I could hold on to the Cricket Bat of Doom, but Emerald’s arms were trapped to her side against me, and I didn’t think I could hold the centipede’s maw away from us for much longer.
My brain screamed out hundreds of different ideas, but it was almost like a wall of idea vomit, and the only thing I felt was the ache in my body and the panic flooding my veins.
Emerald’s light flashed brilliantly, and the entire cavern was illuminated for half a moment with a bright purple light, but the centipede wasn’t bothered by it, and I realized that it didn’t have eyeballs. It must have sensed us through sound, and I’d probably given away our position earlier when I had gotten so excited about the iron ore.
It was hard to breathe, but the weight on my chest loosened a bit when Scoob suddenly launched himself through the air and scratched his talons across the centipede's face. The last remaining antenna tore free with a spray of dark blood, and my attacker let go of my Cricket Bat of Doom so that it could try to lash sideways at the flying troodon. Scoob was too fast, though, and the creature’s mouth pinchers just closed on empty air.
With as much strength as I could muster, I tilted back my weapon and tried to bury the narrow obsidian spiked edge into the centipede’s maw.
My arms were super tired, numb, and it felt like I was swinging through molasses, but the edge of the top most tooth on my weapon actually bit into the giant centipede’s face, and it thrashed away from me desperately. The movement almost pulled the Cricket Bat of Doom from my exhausted fingers, but I was somehow able to hold on, and the sharp volcanic rock tore a wide seam through the creature’s mouth.
Our captor spasmed around violently, and it felt like I was being spun in a clothes dryer for a few seconds. The arms around us finally stopped moving, and I was able to inhale a deep breath of air as the centipede relaxed its grip on Emerald and me.
Then I realized it was just coming back to try to bite me again.
“Stubborn asshole!” I shouted as the pinchers tried to gnaw my face off. I got my weapon up almost too late, and a few flecks of the poison sprayed across my chest and shoulders.
“Stop!” I shouted as I finally remembered that I could tame animals. I actually didn’t think my ability would work on the thirty foot long myriapod, but the creature suddenly paused, and its pincher-teeth flared open.
I yanked my Cricket Bat of Doom free, raised it back over my shoulder like an axe, and then brought it down with an angry shout. I knew my ability had just confused the creature for a second, and while the
re might have actually been an opportunity for me to try to tame this creature, the circumstances were too dangerous if I fucked up.
My angry weapon came down right on the forehead of the beast, and this time I had the proper angle and strength behind my attack.
There was a wet watermelon-dropping-off-the-kitchen-table-and-landing-on the-floor-tile-like-crack as the teeth of the Cricket Bat of Doom smashed through the centipede’s face, but then my weapon tore free, and the creature’s front part dropped to the cavern floor like a felled tree.
Then the cavern was still.
“Damn,” I grunted, but then I gasped with surprise when the centipede’s body started to spasm, shake, and roll on the group.
I grabbed Emerald’s arm with my left hand and pulled her free as the dying creature tried to make a final grab at her. We were just in time, since the beast quickly coiled back on itself like a tight ball. For half a moment, I thought it was still alive, but then it spasmed again, and I realized that this was just its death throes, and it wasn’t going to be a danger to us as long as we gave the massive body room to work itself out
“Well, now we know what was in that shaft in the back of the room,” I coughed when the monster’s body finally stopped shaking, and my troodons had all pushed against me for happy pets.
Emerald nodded to me, and then she patted my shoulder, threaded through the troodons pushing against my legs, and gently kissed my lips. As soon as she pulled away, her white eyes darted down to the spray of poison on my chest, and then frantically pointed at the liquid.
“I’m kind of numb there,” I admitted, “but I don’t think it will do much unless it gets into my bloodstream.”
Emerald was already pulling on my arm though, and she didn’t stop until we’d made it out of the cavern and back to Nicole and the other waiting dinosaurs. The green-haired beauty deftly leapt up onto the trike’s back, and then she slid back down with one of our water jugs in her hands. A few moments later she had washed the poison from my skin, and the fiery-numbness was starting to fade.
Tamer- King of Dinosaurs Book 6 Page 16
