Taming a Planet (Trapped in Time Book 2) (3 page)

She thought about leaving and going to find him but that was going to be impossible; she had no idea where he chose to go. She looked at Andy’s parents and could see Daysha’s tears were falling. Andy Senior was not happy. After the burial ended she saw several of the Elder Archers approach Andy Sr. and speak with him. Andy’s father nodded and they walked away. She looked at Maxius leading the Community out of the original walls for the former leader’s burial and she could tell he was a reluctant Leader. What could she do? She lowered her head and shook it.

“The only thing we can do is wait and pray for his safe return.” Lyla looked up and saw Daysha looking down at her. Lyla’s tears started and she nodded. “He has Dinah; she is the difference maker. She’ll make sure he stays safe.”

Lyla looked Andy’s mother in the eyes and shook her head, “Andy will keep her safe. The Wild Carnivores are cunning and extremely dangerous.”

Daysha nodded and smiled, “My son is the best we have. If anyone can survive, he will.”

Lyla stood up and hugged Daysha. She knew the predators and wondered if anyone could survive the dangers of this planet. She felt Daysha start crying again and knew she knew it as well.

• • •

Andy cooked another meal and ate all he could bear to hold. He would be leaving the Community’s lands today and there was no telling when he would be able to eat again. He packed everything away and belted his saddle and bags to Dinah’s back. She shook her shoulders and shook her long tail and, after a moment, looked at him. Andy laughed. Dinah was ready. He walked to the cave’s entrance and pulled the lever, which rolled the stone away. He stepped outside and Dinah jumped down onto the sand. She looked at the river three hundred yards away and turned back to Andy. He held out a closed fist and she remained in place. He pulled the outside lever and the stone rolled back over the opening. He looked out at the plain beyond the river and saw several Raptors chasing a large Sauropod off in the distance. He looked at Dinah and raised his arm over his head with the palm open. Dinah went to her back legs and sniffed. She came back down and Andy knew that it was safe. He extended his hand and bent his elbow and brought his hand to his mouth. Dinah ran toward the river and stopped a hundred yards away and raised her head into the air blowing toward the cliff. She looked back at him and lowered her neck. Good; she still didn’t smell anything dangerous. He started walking toward the river and held out his hand and brought it to his mouth again. Dinah moved toward the river and found a nice patch of river grass and started eating. Andy took his compound bow off his shoulder and kept an eye on the tree line. Dinah was good but you just never knew. He arrived next to her and continued to watch the forest. Dinah ate for over an hour and Andy knew she was also preparing for a long day. She finally ate her fill and backed away from the river and put her nose back up in the air. She looked to the west toward the plain and Andy knew a predator was moving toward them. He jumped and pulled himself into the saddle and tapped Dinah with his left knee. She turned south and trotted down the clear land next to the cliff. The flock of Raptors saw the large meal run away and knew they had missed their chance. The leader of the flock saw how fast the meal was running and knew it was a waste of energy to pursue it. She led the flock back into the forest and waited for another meal to present itself.

Andy tried to decide whether to cross the river and move out into the plains but knew that crossing the river was just as dangerous as moving through a forest. There were some giant crocs that made Dinah look small. The maps did not show a shallow crossing and he would have to move into the tree line to find one if he intended to leave the cliff. He decided to move along the cliff and see if an opportunity presented itself.

The morning passed uneventfully and he saw the river was moving further away from the cliff. He didn’t like having only two directions to escape groups of predators. He couldn’t run toward the river, which only left north or south. Raptors could wait in the tree line until he was inside their ranks and charge. He took the whistle out of his shirt and let it hang on his chest. He raised his arm over his head and Dinah raised her nose into the air. She looked toward the river and suddenly accelerated at full speed.

Six Allosaurus came running out of the forest but they had underestimated their prey’s speed. Dinah sprinted past the most southern one and it roared with frustration. Andy smiled. This many Allosaurus meant there weren’t any flocks of Raptors close by. He nudged Dinah toward the river and saw a large sandbar where it had made a turn away from the cliff. The river was flowing over the sand and they would only have to cross about fifty yards of deeper water. He smiled and said, “Go, Dinah.”

The huge runner accelerated even faster and rushed through a copse of trees. She ran through the shallow water flowing over the sandbar and jumped. She landed ten yards from the other side and was out of the water in an instant. Andy heard a loud splash and knew there was a large predator in the water behind them. But it was behind them and no longer a problem. Dinah continued at high speed and ran between the tall trees toward open ground. She made it by the last tree and turned hard left as an Allosaurus came rushing at them from the right. Andy had an arrow notched in an instant and shot the huge carnivore in the left eye. He spun around in the saddle as Dinah suddenly turned back to the right. He notched another arrow but didn’t fire. The second Allosaurus wasn’t close enough to catch them. Dinah ran out into the vast plain and after three minutes, Andy said, “Slower.” Dinah slowed down and put her nose up in the air. She continued to run further into the plain and Andy knew she sensed more danger. He turned around in the saddle and faced behind them. He saw what had Dinah worried. There was a large flock of Utah Raptors in the tree line on this side of the river. He saw some start giving chase and he thought about taking the leader down but didn’t want to waste another arrow. He lifted his whistle and blew it. The lead Raptor came to an immediate stop and then ran back toward the tree line. Several of those following saw her and wondered what had frightened her. They slowed and then came to a stop as the leader ran at full speed away from the large prey they were chasing. That hesitation allowed Dinah to put too much ground between them.

Andy spun around and allowed Dinah to set her own pace. After another ten minutes she raised her head and then began slowing down. Andy looked around and saw thousands of dinosaurs ahead of them. He looked closely and saw they were all herbivores. He saw a strange new species he had never seen before. It had a large armored head with three large horns. He tapped Dinah with his right knee and she moved away from them. There were several smaller versions and he knew that nervous parents might pose a danger. After a few moments the large horned dinosaurs went back to grazing. Andy stopped Dinah and stared at the new species. Where did they come from? He looked to the north and didn’t see any of them. To the south he saw several groups of them scattered among the other species. They must have come from that direction. That would be a dangerous herbivore; that thick armored head might prevent an arrow penetrating. Those three huge horns could do tremendous damage.

Dinah snorted and he looked where she was staring. There were several dead Raptors on the ground that looked like they had been gored multiple times. Andy looked back at the new dinosaurs and knew it had to be them that killed the Raptors. He decided to stay out of their way.

The grass was about knee high and Andy jumped off Dinah and raised his arm over his head. She put her nose in the air and after a moment looked at him. He brought his hand to his mouth and Dinah began grazing on the grass. He sat down close by and stared at the thousands of dinosaurs that inhabited the plain. He recognized most of them but there was one off in the distance that was chasing a large duckbill. He shook his head. That thing was the largest Allosaurus he had ever seen. He watched as the huge carnivore caught the Duckbill and knocked it off its feet with a swipe of its head. Andy stood up and stared at the giant and saw that it didn’t have a horn on its head. This carnivore was something new and represented a real danger. An Allosaurus would have never run down a Duckbill. That thing was faster than any predator he had ever seen. It had Raptor speed at a size fifty percent larger than an Allosaurus. He looked around the predator for a species he recognized and realized that this new carnivore was only slightly smaller than a Spinosaurus and was more nimble than that giant.

He took out the pad and roughly drew the two new species he had found. Perhaps the Elders would know what they are. The giant had bit the Duckbills neck and after a few moments, it quit moving. The beast raised its head and roared its victory. It was easily more than a mile away and Dinah raised her head when she heard it. She lifted her nose and Andy knew the scent of the beast was blowing toward them. Andy said, “Danger.”

Dinah kept her nose up and after several moments looked at the predator devouring the large Duckbill. She could see the Duckbill was larger than she was and she recognized a new enemy to avoid. She put her head down and continued to graze. Andy opened a pouch on her side and took out some meat and greens. He ate them slowly and watched the distant predator. It finally completed its meal and turned toward the forest it had emerged from. Every dinosaur near its path moved rapidly away. He noticed that the giant had changed its route to avoid three of the horned dinosaurs. That told him more about those monsters than anything else could. Even the giant respected them. One of them charged forward and the giant quickly ran into the forest. Andy shook his head. That horned dinosaur wasn’t slow.

He stood up and went and pulled the pad out of its pouch and stared at the drawings of the two new species. There was something about them. He felt like he had seen them before…but he couldn’t quite remember where. He thought back to the class taught to all young children to help them recognize which dinosaurs were dangerous and which were not. The original humans had pooled their knowledge about all they knew about the ancient fossils and put it in a book for future generations to use to instruct their children. Most of the species were in the book with names given them by future humans. One of those missing from the book was Dinah’s species. Hers was a species that had not been discovered in the distant future. The original humans had decided to name her species Cursor, which Maxius said meant Runner in Latin. Andy looked at Dinah and saw that the word was a perfect description for her. She was speed in its purest form. Even with the weight of a rider and all the gear they carried, the Cursors were faster than any of the other dinosaur species. The only way to kill one was to surprise it and surround it where there was no escape. With a rider, even that was extremely difficult. The rider could clear a path with his bow. This new Predator was faster than the others. It was a real danger. Andy continued to ride south for three weeks.

Andy woke and looked off toward the forest where he saw a giant predator was peering out at the plain and wondered if he could kill one with an arrow. Where had he seen it? He shook his head and hoped he wouldn’t be forced to find out. He was now beyond where anyone had ever explored from the community. Most of the exploration had been done to the north where the majority of the other human communities had been discovered. According to the original Andy, the only thing located to the south was water. The ocean east of the community separated it from another large land mass a thousand miles away. The land the community was on ended in the ocean to the south. Andy decided to confirm whether that was true or not.

Andy jumped on the saddle and Dinah raised her nose and looked toward the tree line to the right where he had seen the giant carnivore. She started moving away from it at a trot and after ten yards picked up speed. Andy looked over his shoulder and saw the head of one another new giant carnivore looking at them from between two trees. It was down wind and he realized they had been lucky to leave when they did. He made a decision to stay away from the tree lines from that point forward. Dinah didn’t smell that predator; she saw it when she straightened up. He heard a roar behind them and knew the giant was telling them that he would win the next time.

Andy lifted his whistle and blew it. He watched the Giant, knowing it could hear it, even though it was silent to him. The giant abruptly turned and ran into the forest. Andy said, “Stop!” Dinah came to a stop and Andy stared at the place where the giant had been standing. Did it run from the sound of the whistle? He knew no one in the community had ever seen that species before. If it had been seen, it would have been reported. So why would it fear a whistle it could have never heard? He had to find out. He tapped Dinah with his left knee and she turned back toward the tree line. He had Dinah start walking parallel to it a hundred and fifty yards away and he had her keep her nose up. After twenty minutes she snorted. Andy looked into the forest a hundred yards in front of them and saw the tops of several trees were swaying while the others around them remained still.

Dinah turned and looked at the forest’s edge behind them as she turned her body away from the tree line. Andy allowed her to start moving away but forced her to move slowly. He kept his attention on the tree line and then it happened. Two of the giant carnivores broke out of the trees running full speed at them. Dinah went to full speed and Andy watched the two predators start gaining on them before he blew the whistle. The two giants stopped so fast that one of them lost its footing and slid to the ground. Andy stopped Dinah and, though she showed her nervousness, she stood and trembled as the two predators ran back into the forest.

Andy stared at them and knew that someone had trained them to fear the whistle. He looked across the plain and saw that the three horned dinosaurs were also moving away from them. Andy looked to the south and knew that something…or more likely, someone, was ahead of him. If these two new species feared them, that meant they had weapons capable of bringing them down. He decided he would have to start keeping a documentation of what he encountered. If something happened to him, he would send Dinah back to the community with it. He nudged Dinah with both knees and she showed her relief as she ran out into the plain and sprinted south. One thing he did know; whoever had trained those dinosaurs did not ride. Those predators did not recognize a dinosaur with a human on it. Andy began to wonder if he should move south out in the open. He was out of his element and knew it. He stared to the south and saw the trees running into the plain from the west. There was a stream flowing out of the ground ahead of them. He tapped Dinah with is right knee and she turned toward it. He nose was up but she didn’t sense anything…yet. Water is what brought all species together. He took his bow off his shoulder, unclipped his cutter from his saddle, and clipped it to his belt. As they moved close, Andy saw many different species gathered around a large pool of water. An underground stream obviously fed the pool and it flowed away from the trees toward the west. There were several groups of small carnivores around the pond and several of them rushed up on Andy. He cut them in half with his cutter and the others kept their distance. Dinah had moved behind Andy and knew he would handle the smaller predators. She went forward and lowered her head into the water. Andy stood and kept his eye out for anything remotely dangerous. It was the hottest part of the day and most of the large predators were inside the forest staying cool. Dinah finished drinking and Andy held both hands up in the air. Dinah stood on her back legs and went to her full height. She stayed there as Andy began filling the water pouches and kept his eye on her. Her head was swiveling and he knew if anything was close; she’d sense it. The pouches were finally full and Andy leaned down and used a cup to drink. He loaded the pouches on Dinah’s back and climbed into the saddle.