Dino riders, p.9
Dino Riders, page 9
“It was nice,” the other man said and stared longingly at Sara’s breasts. “Maybe we can keep her around for a couple of days. They don’t start to smell for a little while.”
“I thought you didn’t touch the dead,” I said in a dry tone as I hefted Sara into my harm.
“There’s always exceptions to every rule,” he laughed. “And she was exceptional.”
“Come on,” the pimpled guard said and tugged his friend toward the stairs. “We need to tell the Governor General that his new tracker killed the witch before he could get any information out of her.”
“Make sure that you tell him that I’m going to clear the land as soon as I’ve dumped her in the pit,” I said as the two men retreated. “And that the job will be done in two weeks.”
They both waved their hands dismissively over their shoulders and then headed to the surface while I was left to clean up the mess. Sara took a deep breath the second that their voices faded, and I turned to offer the tall woman a hand up. The guards had been in a hurry to tell the governor about what happened, so we didn’t have much time to get the hell out of Dodge, but at least everyone would think that the witch was dead.
“That went well,” she said as I hoisted her up. “I was sure that they’d see me breathing. Though, my brother did teach me how to play dead when we were little. Of course, that doesn’t usually work on the dinosaurs.”
“Most reptiles can sense heat,” I said. “Honestly, I’m a little surprised that they don’t have feathers. There were some recent discoveries back home that said that they were closer to birds than lizards. But I guess they evolved differently here.”
Sara stared at me for a few seconds and then shrugged as if whatever questions had overwhelmed her could wait for the moment. The brunette motioned for me to lead the way to the stairs, and I double-checked that we had everything before following her.
“We’re going to have to move fast,” she said as we snuck up the steps. “And you’ll have to carry me for most of the way since I’m supposed to be dead.”
“All part of the plan,” I winked and then scooped the tall woman into my arms.
“Oh!” she gasped and stared up at me with wide teal eyes. “Y-you’re very strong.”
“I try,” I chuckled as I hugged her close. “Now, play dead.”
The colonial woman nodded and then went limp so fast that I had to catch myself before we both careened back down the stairs. It was hard to even tell if Sara was breathing, because her chest barely moved, and I shook my head in awe at how good of an actress she was. She was definitely the ally that I needed to at least get out of the colony and find my way through a forest filled with dinosaurs.
“It’s always good to have local help,” Addo’s voice whispered in the back of my mind as I trudged across the field toward the wall.
Addo had been a poacher hunter for most of his life, even before puberty had hit, and most of his adult life had been colored with various tribe leaders and locals that either wanted to help us get rid of the illegal animal killers or they wanted to add us to the extinction list. Either way, he’d learned quickly, and I’d been lucky enough to be his mentee over the years. His lessons would no doubt help me get through the strange world, though admittedly, I’d still rolled my eyes at the idea of reaching out to complete strangers whenever he brought it up.
“Where are you going?” a man’s voice snapped me out of the past.
I looked up at the guard station tucked into a curve in the wall and squinted in the last rays of sunlight. It was hard to see the man’s face with the light that reflected off his shiny metal plate armor, but there was no way to miss the pike in his hand. I was sure that he’d be able to toss it right through me if necessary, and that was not the way that I wanted to go out, especially with Sara still clutched in my arms.
“The witch is dead,” I said and motioned to the prone woman. “I was told to dump her in some kind of pit for the dead.”
“She’s dead?” another man gasped. “But she was so--”
“Quiet. She was a witch, and that’s all that you need to know about her,” the first man snapped and then turned back to me. “The pit is right through the woods. It shouldn’t take you long to find it. Just follow the stench.”
“Sure thing,” I said.
A thin young man in plate armor three sizes too big for him ran out to open the small gate for me. It was barely more than a doorway that led outside of the colony, and I took a deep steadying breath as I neared it. The soldier’s attention was glued to Sara as we passed, and the beautiful woman managed to hold her breath so that the guard didn’t figure out our ruse.
“Will you be coming back?” the first guard shouted from the tower.
“In two weeks,” I said with a glance over my shoulder. “I have some property to clear out. The witch didn’t give me anything, but the work still needs to be done.”
The only response the soldiers gave me was to close the door with a snap, and the heavy thud of a wooden bar being slammed into place.
Sara and I had officially made it through the guards, so now all we had to do was get far enough into the woods to make a break for it. My arms were starting to get tired, but I told myself there wasn’t much further to go. I probably could have slung her over my shoulder, though I had a suspicion that the guards would have asked for one last look if I had.
So I kept her in my arms as I passed underneath the prehistoric trees. At least she didn’t weigh too much, and since Addo had always had me carry the heavier gear so that I could bulk up, I was up for the task.
“We should be far enough away,” I said with a look over my shoulder to make sure that the guards couldn’t see us.
“I’m surprised that they didn’t try to check to see if I was breathing,” Sara said as she dropped to the ground. “I never thought that I’d be grateful for the Governor General’s witch accusation.”
“It did seem to help,” I chuckled and wiped the sweat from my brow. “Though I was worried they’d ask for one last look at your face… or your breasts.”
“Bastards,” she muttered.
A salty breeze rustled the ferns at our feet, and my heart raced as I waited for more Compy to jump out and try to eat us. But there was nothing in the area except for the strong death smell that lingered after the wind had gone on without us. The sour scent made my stomach churn, and I had a flashback to a pride of lions that had been slaughtered for sport and left to rot in the summer sun. I swallowed hard, pulled the tunic over my nose, and then turned away from the stench to try and find fresh air.
“We should get out of here before the Governor General orders someone to make sure you’re really dead,” I said as Sara tugged the ruined dress over her head.
“It might be some time,” she said through clenched teeth. “They don’t usually come out here.”
“I understand why,” I said and started through the trees in the opposite direction of the smell. “This place will probably keep out most of the dinosaurs. Fresh flesh is one thing, but rotten can drive away even the most hungry predator. I hate to say it, but we may need to use it as cover for a little while.”
“Is that really necessary?” the tall woman asked as she walked beside me. “I don’t know if I can handle it. My nose has always been very sensitive. I could smell a rotten potato at the bottom of the cellar even with the doors shut. Though, my senses have been dulled a bit since I was thrown in the prison.”
“Probably for your own survival,” I said with a sideways glance at the beautiful woman covered in dirt and blood. “It couldn’t have been easy. How about we just use it to circle around to the beach? I saw some smaller boats tied to the poles in the sand. We can use those to go around the island and find somewhere to hunker down.”
“Not a good idea,” Sara said and then reached over to grab my arm to steady herself. “The dinosaurs in the forest are nothing compared to the ones in the water. A lot of ships have been lost near the beach just because they were caught unaware. And they all had weapons to defend themselves with. We’d be defenseless in one of the smaller boats.”
“Sea dinosaurs,” I asked and slowed down so that the exhausted woman could keep up with me. “Now that’s something I want to see. From the safety of dry land. Okay. Into the forest. You know this area best. Where should we head?”
Darkness had already consumed the last rays of daylight as we walked, and it was hard to see anything through the never-ending blackness, though at least the trees were just a shade or two different than the air, so I could still make out enough of where we were going that I wouldn’t run us into anything. A couple of stars managed to pierce through the heavy canopy overhead, but their light barely illuminated enough for me to tell the ferns apart from the tree trunks.
“This way,” Sara said and pointed a little to the left. “The beach rises into cliffs along this stretch, and there are caves that run deep in the ground. Most of the colonists don’t even know they’re there. We can use one of them to sleep in for the night.”
“And there won’t be dinosaurs in them?” I asked as the tall woman led the way.
“Not if we’re lucky,” she said with a small smile.
It was so beautiful and fleeting that it stole my breath, and I was even more happy that I broke the gorgeous woman out of prison. There was no way that I’d let the guards take her, or the Governor General, even when we went back to burn the whole place to the ground.
But that was a long time away, and first, I had to survive the night. I forced my mind back from Sara’s full hips and breasts and focused on the woods around us as she took me further away from the monsters in human skin.
Silence fell on us as the tall brunette weaved through the ferns with expertise that could only come from being in one area for a lifetime. It seemed like the colony had been there long enough for Sara and her brother to have grown up there, so she’d probably snuck out to play in the woods several times, especially since she seemed more like a tomboy than a proper lady.
“I have to confess that this is the way to my property,” Sara said after an hour of walking. “It won’t be close enough that they’ll find us, and not many people know about the underground caverns. My brother and I only found them, and our property, because I used to follow him out on hunts. It used to drive him crazy.”
“I’m sure he was just worried,” I said with a look upwards as the moon broke through the leafy canopy.
The forest was surprisingly peaceful once the sun set, and I wondered if that was because the bigger predators were slinking around in the darkness. If there were larger dinosaurs in the area, then the quiet would give away any sound that they made, and there were enough ferns and broken branches that nothing bigger than a Compy would be able to sneak up on us without giving itself away.
“He was always worried,” she whispered and then sniffed.
I pretended not to see the strong woman swipe at her face, but the moment flew past as she suddenly jolted like a bolt of lightning had struck ehr.
“We’re here!” she exclaimed and released my arm. “There should be an entrance right over there.”
“I’ll go first,” I said and pulled the hunting knife from my belt. “Something might’ve made this place its home since the last time that you were here.”
“Okay,” she said.
Sara hung back as I crept forward to peer into the hole in the ground. Sure enough, there was a cave system just below, and I could smell running water from an underground river. The colonial woman had managed to find the perfect place for us to hide, and there were no signs that anything had made it into a home, though I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.
The place probably flooded during the rainy season, but there was no sign of rain in the sky, so it would be fine for the night. I took a deep breath and forced myself to climb down in the hole for a closer look. The main entrance was wide enough that we’d be able to sleep without anyone seeing us if they looked inside, and the sound of rushing water was close enough that I could easily find it.
“It’s all clear,” I said and then turned to help the tall woman down.
“It’s as perfect as I remember,” the brunette said and took a deep breath like a soldier returning home from a war. “I used to stay here for hours. Whenever my brother and I would get in a fight. There’s a tributary further in, but the stone is slippery. There should be drinkable water that comes down from the surface… right over here. Here it is!”
Sara cupped her hands against the rough stone wall, and I blinked in the low moonlight that peeked through the hole above us. Sure enough, there was a steady stream of crystalline water that became a tiny stream that went further into the sloping cave. The brunette quickly stepped away to wash off her hands like she didn’t want to get the rest of the water dirty and then drank deeply.
“It’s so delicious,” she whispered. “My father always told us that we can’t drink water from still sources, but places like this would naturally filter out the evils that get into it. He was actually the one that came up with the plumbing system in the colony. He was a great inventor. Ahead of his time.”
“He must have been,” I said with a reassuring smile. “And you’ve had this water before?”
“Many times,” she said and motioned for me to go ahead. “It won’t make you sick.”
“I’m trusting you,” I said and then plunged my hands into the icy water.
It tasted sweeter than anything that I’d ever had before. Like something from a springwater commercial, though nothing back in my world had been left unpolluted by the time I left. I’d always carried the little chlorine water cleansing tablets with me, just in case, but the water always tasted slightly of chemicals.
“Wow,” I whispered and drank some more. “We should fill up my canteen with this before we leave.”
“I’m going to take a bath,” Sara said and started toward the slope downwards.
“Be careful,” I said. “I’ll stay up here and keep watch.”
“Get some rest,” the brunette smiled. “I’ll take the first shift. Besides, I’ve done nothing but sleep for a week. It’ll be nice to be awake, free, and safe for a little while.”
“Okay,” I said. “But wake me up if there’s any trouble.”
I watched Sara disappear on the other side of the slope and heard a high-pitched scream followed by giggling and splashing water. The brunette didn’t seem worried that any dinosaurs would hear us, but I still kept the hunting knife by my side just in case. I drank a little more water, splashed some on my face, and then eased down onto the cold stone ground.
It wasn’t the most comfortable place to rest, but at least it was safe, and soon sleep tugged on my eyelids. Sara came back up just as exhaustion pulled me under, and the tall woman sat next to me and offered her shoulder as a pillow. I yawned one more time, breathed in the smell of the cave water that clung to the now clean brunette, and then let sweet slumber wash over me.
“K.O.,” a voice called through the heavy fog that settled on my brain. “K.O., you need to wake up.”
I snapped awake so fast that I knocked my head into Sara’s, and we both groaned in pain. It wasn’t the first time that I’d woken up like that, and it probably wouldn’t be the last, but it was always an annoying way to wake up.
Sara sat hard on the cold stone floor as if she was dizzy, but the tough woman seemed more nervous than injured, and I looked around for any signs of dinosaurs, though there was nothing in the small cave other than us.
“What’s going on?” I grumbled and rubbed the sore spot on my forehead.
The answer came with the baying of hounds.
And they were close.
Chapter 7
“I don’t think they can smell us,” I said as the hounds passed by for the third time.
Their sniffles echoed through the small cavern like sonar tech, but the large dogs still hadn’t spotted us. Shadows cast from the trees right outside of the hole helped to hide us, and the water’s scent filled the air to mask our scent, but it was still only a matter of time before they found the cave. The dogs’ owners hadn’t moved on, and something told me that the Governor General knew about Sara’s old hiding spot, even if he didn’t know exactly where it was.
“They have to be here somewhere,” a familiar voice said, and I risked a glance upwards to see the pimpled guard right outside of the hole.
Dark bags had formed under the soldier’s eyes as if he hadn’t slept, and I wondered how long it had taken them to realize our ruse. The light looked like it was from a mid-morning sun, so it had taken them all night just to find the cave system, and hopefully that would work in our favor. If the pimpled jerk was that exhausted, then he and the others would make a mistake, and we’d use that to our benefit.
“There are other exits to this cavern,” Sara whispered in my ear. “I can find us another way out.”
A shiver ran down my spine as the gorgeous woman’s breast pressed against my shoulder, and it took all of my self-control not to stare when I turned to look at her. Sara’s deep teal eyes quickly had all of my attention, and I felt like I could get lost in their depths as she stared at me expectantly.
“Lead the way,” I said and then fought back a cough as my dry throat cracked. “We should fill the canteen before we go.”
“Already done,” she said with a small smile.
“Perfect,” I said and then motioned for her to go ahead.
“I swear by the Lord of the Heavens and of Hell that I’ll teach that witch a lesson when we find her,” the pimpled guard’s voice echoed through the cavern as we slipped deeper into the cave system.
There was no way that I’d let that bastard get his hands on Sara, and my fingers curled a little tighter around the hunting knife in my hand. I’d slept with it at the ready, just in case, but thankfully nothing had come after us. At least, not until the guards had shown up, and those idiots would probably spend the whole day circling the same area as the dogs tried to find the source of our scent. I hefted my knapsack on my shoulder, glanced back one last time, and then followed the colonial woman deep into the cave system.
