Blackwood Flats Safari: Part 3

As Lucas and Rico stared at Gareth, a shot rang out over the flats. Gareth instantly spun in the direction of the noise, staff leveled and ready, before relaxing slightly.

"Quickly, we must get back to your base camp before your comrades cause anymore mischief."

Gareth took the lead, while Lucas carried the boy and Rico dragged the wounded dinosaurs towards the noise. As they crested the final dune, Lucas took the lead and, holding the boy in one hand, he swatted the rifle of another seaman, who had been busy firing it at a rather startled looking plesiosaur, out of his hands.

Gareth grinned wanly under his hood. This is where the fun begins, he thought to himself as he skidded to a halt in the soft sand, under the astonished glare of the seaman. Overhead, fat droplets of rain began to fall, and thunder cracked on the horizon.

Lucas frowned at the strange man, and then nodded. "Something’s up at my camp. You can come, or stay." He turned with Rico and they both ran, or hobbled more like it, as best they could. Rico refused to let go of the animals’ leash, and Lucas was encumbered by the still unconscious youths’ weight.

When they heard the third shot, they both picked up the pace and arrived just in time to see Lt. Tates pointing a gun at a woman and a giant sea monster making a lot of noise.

Scowling, Lucas set the boy down on a sand dune and grabbed the gun from Petar. "What in Hells name do you think you're doing!?"

For the time, the strange man they had encountered on the beach was forgotten; at least, until he decided to butt in again.

"Dios mios," Rico muttered, looking back and forth between the sea monster and the scowling woman.

Captain McGreggor joined Lucas in reprimanding the lieutenant for his careless behavior, and Rico tied the beast to a tree while he addressed the woman.

"Hello," he said, waving. "Do you understand me?" Rico used his best English, hoping she would be able understand that instead of the usual mixture of English and Spanish he used.

Mathaira hesitated briefly as the dark haired young man spoke to her, the inflection in his voice obviously a question. Mathaira took the time to ponder the strange language spoken by the dolphinback, attempting to recollect similar phrases which she had heard previously.

Having been born and raised near the northwestern shore of the Island, throughout her life Mathaira had come into contact with dolphinbacks newly arrived on the Island, as many who reached its shores eventually found their way to the Romano Hatchery. A wide variety of humans, therefore, entered Hatchery doors, bringing with them a smattering of their cultures and languages. Though not proficient at any language but her native Dinotopian, and to a lesser extent certain saurian languages of the Island, Mathaira had nevertheless picked up an assorted array of various language phrases. It was these phrases that she was attempting to draw upon before replying to the young man.

Somewhat confused because the language spoken by the young man seemed to be that which the Outside World referred to as English yet heavily influenced by an accent which she believed to be that called Spanish, Mathaira was unsure which of her limited language reserves to draw upon when answering the dolphinback. Though his dark coloring indicated that he was from a line of Spanish mothers, she had heard the other men address him in what sounded like English and so likewise attempted to reply to him in that language, albeit somewhat stilted.

Accustomed to using gestures when communicating with her companion, ShadowStriker, Mathaira incorporated these flowing motions upon addressing the young man, "I understand that your friend," she indicated tall handsome man who had moments before bore the weapon in his muscular hands, "Tried to hurt my friend, Tyara," she pointed at the glittering plesiosaur who rode the foam crested waves close to shore.

Rico's dark eyes widened at the young woman's reference to the sea monster as her 'friend' and he muttered incredulously under his breath, "Amigo?!,” then shook his head as if unwilling to believe the possibility.

Recognizing the Spanish word for 'friend' and seeing the young man shake his dark head, Mathaira thought he was refuting the fact that his companion had tried to shoot Tyara and impulsively blurted out in her native tongue combined with vague English phrases, "Don't you know that here on Dinotopia weapons are enemies even to their owners?"

Picking up on only the heavily accented English words, both Rico and Lt. Tates heard what they thought was 'weapons are empty like their owners,' thinking the animated young woman referred to their mental faculties.

The more serious Captian McGreggor, however, picked up what sounded like a place name and voiced the strange sounding name aloud, "Dinotopia?"

Lucas Pradelli couldn’t help but overhear the exchange between Rico and the young woman. He finished his brief scolding at Lt. Tates before joining his other shipmates.

“Go see what you can do for the boy, Lieutenant,” he said before turning. “There should be medical supplies inside one of the crates.”

He then focused his attention on the events happening behind him. “You can understand us,” he told the young woman. “What did you call this place? Dinotopia?”

She shook her head. “Only little. Yes, this is Dinotopia. We welcome you.”

“We?” Lucas looked around and saw no one else. Perhaps there were others hiding nearby. He took a step towards Captain McGreggor and gave him the firearm he had recently taken from Petar.

“Rico,” he called at the other youth. “Rico, ve a explorar el area a ver si encuentras a otras personas cerca. Llevate a Namir para proteccion.” He risked a glance at Petar and saw that he had just succeeded in bringing the strange youth back to at least partial consciousness. At least that was a good sign.

“What is this place?” Lucas asked her. “Do you have any medicine? The boy is injured and we don’t have much to help him with.”

Mathaira listened but shook her head no, not understanding much of what he said. “This is Dinotopia. What boy?”

While she had seen the Parasaurolophus and the Corythosaur with the dolphinback humans, her attention had initially been directed toward the human with the weapon and his apparent intent to use it to harm Tyara. Accustomed to seeing saurians and humans together, she had not thought it strange that the hadrosaurs had accompanied the humans along the beach. Curiously, Mathaira now noted the rope-like device which encircled the neck of the smaller hadrosaur, a Parasaurolophus.

While she was pondering the meaning of such treatment of a fellow Dinotopian, her thoughts were interrupted as she was questioned by another of the dolphinbacks, this one with brown hair and an athletic build calling himself Lucas, wanting to know something about Dinotopia.

The dark haired youth, whom she learned was called Rico, left the area with the sabertooth-like animal as the one called Lucas questioned her further about Dinotopia.

"Namir!" he called out.

The large, striped cat came bounding out of the forest and quickly took up a place between his masters side and Rico.

The human touched the cats shoulder, getting its attention, and calmly entered the forest. Namir bound after him, not questioning the order.

Rico and Namir quickly left the crew behind, heading inland to who knew what dangers.

Some ways into the grassy planes, Namir stopped and growled. Rico slid to a halt and followed the feline.

At the crest of a hill, he saw a strange beast, this one a huge, rhino-type creature with three giant horns protruding from its face. It didn't seem to be looking at them, but instead studying something on its other side.

Rico crouched in the grass, hoping Namir wouldn't give them away. The tigers natural camouflage kept it well hidden, but he was hungry.

“You can eat grass, while I can’t stomach it,” she said laughing. “Let me enjoy the berries at least. Don’t be so selfish.”

Triforce’s answer didn’t inspire a different response. “So what if there’s no sweet grass here? I can’t get my favorite foods in the wilderness either. Since when did you get so picky?”

Tamith jumped to her feet and threw a few handfuls of the fruit into her partner’s mouth. “There you go, so you don’t go on saying I’m a sweets hog.”

Triforce chewed happily then questioned the thought that had been on both their minds for a while.

"Yeah," Tamith replied worriedly. "They are taking longer than I thought too, but its Dylan, remember? And Karua loves to drag things as well. I'm sure they're fine."

She resumed her spot leaning against her partner's side. "Still... He could have at least sent Featherlight to tell us he was taking longer."

She sighed. Dylan just loved to have her worry. It was silly of her; he was a trained professional and there was nothing to fear out here in the Blackwood Flats. But she couldn’t help it. If any thing happened to that lazy, no good, irresponsible idiot, she’d never forgive herself.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Triforce called out a warning. She sat up and listened for what the Triceratops had heard. She heard nothing at first, but then her ears picked up the light sound of small, flapping wings.

“Featherlight!” she cried out in relief. It wasn’t long before the little Dimorphodon came into view. The little winged reptile landed at her feet and immediately cleared some ground to write his message. Having quickly finished his self-imposed mission, he stood back and waited for the human girl’s response. Tamith read and re-read the message feeling something cold settle in the pit of her stomach. Triforce paced over to her, and having read the message for herself, waited for her counter part to respond.

“Hunters from the outside?” she muttered softly. “Now he’s done it.”

She bit her bottom lip and paced around the small campsite for a few moments.

“Let’s be rational about this,” she thought out loud. “We can’t really speak their language, unless by some miracle it’s the one Dylan’s always rambling. We’re going to need help on this one.” She stopped and looked at the little messenger. “Okay, here’s what we’ll do: Featherlight, go to Waterfall City and have them send a party of ambassadors. Make sure that there are humans among them and that there is a linguist. We don’t know what these dolphinback’s speak. Better yet; do you know who Dylan’s brother is?”

The little Dimorphodon squawked a positive.

“He’s a linguist. Go to him and he’ll take care of the rest. You’ll find him at the Great Library.”

Featherlight then proceeded on explaining to the Habitat Partners via footprint alphabet the general location of where he had followed the strange new humans and found their camp. Tamith and Triforce thanked him and saw him off. After the winged reptile disappeared from view, the human half of the team packed some supplies and changed her bright outfit.

“Okay, Tri, we’re going into our Basin training now. Dylan’s hurt and things may be a little crazy over there so the last thing we want is to be discovered, agreed?”

The Ceratopsian bellowed a positive so energetically that Tamith smiled. “Yeah, lets go rescue our teammate from the mess he buried himself into, shall we?” Triforce laughed in her own saurian way. “I’m sure Karua will be glad to see us too,” Tamith responded. “Well, we should be there before sunrise, and before the Waterfall City team arrives,” she sighed. “Here we go, again.”

He reached the crest of the dune and sat down, taking a heavy swig from a water gourd that hung by his side and listened intently to the flying dialects of the argument below, noting a plesiosaur rising from the water just off shore, pecking at where a slight trickle of blood marked the skimming passage of a bullet.

The young man relaxed, breathing deeply in the salty sea air, and waiting for a convenient moment to reintroduce himself. The thunder clouds on the horizon blew ever closer and a dark mist of rain was now visible out to sea

"Dylan passed this way not too long ago," she told Triforce. "The tracks aren't rushed, so I take it they weren't running. The caves he spoke of yesterday aren't very far away, so if the directions Featherlight gave us are correct, it shouldn't be long now before we find the human camp."

Triforce grunted a response, making Tamith pat her frill comfortingly.

"Naw, I'm sure they are fine. Even if the humans did have weapons, my kind can be stubborn, but not heartless."

She walked ahead of her partner and bent over the ground again to study the tracks more closely.

"Yeah, these are definitely Karua's," she said turning back to the iron Triceratops. That was when she noticed that she had gone completely still, clearly taking in all her surroundings warily. Tamith narrowed her eyes and also looked around.

"What is it?"

Rico frowned. He could have sworn he had seen a girl down there. Maybe she was one of the other people Lucas had thought may be lurking nearby. Well, there had been that bossy guy back on the beach, but he had assumed that guy was shipwrecked too. Namir growled. He didn't like that huge creature down there and wanted to go back to his master. Rico lightly pushed Namir’s shoulder, forcing the cat lower into the grass. They would stay here and watch, for the moment. He needed to know if that horned animal was dangerous and find a way to escape if it was.

"You heard something?" Tamith questioned once she had returned to her partner's side. "You heard nothing??"

Triforce’s response made her slightly uneasy. She was right; there was nothing to be heard, only the sound of the wind blowing through the tall grass. No birds, no insects. She didn't like it. Triforce kneeled down, offering to give her a ride for some time. Obviously, she wanted to leave the place. Tamith acceded and climbed on her back. Once a few meters more off the ground, she scouted their surroundings again. A slight movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Turning her head towards it, she spotted a huge orange and black something, almost perfectly hidden by the tall grass.

"Triforce, to your right," she said. "Almost hidden by the grass. What is that? A saber?"

Triforce's response wasn't too reassuring.

"Alrighty then," Tamith concluded, "Let’s get out of here."

****

Rico stared as a human actually hopped on the rhino creatures back. What strange land was this where girls rode rhinos? Deciding to take a chance, he stood and waved. "Hola!" he shouted.

The appearance of the youth served to calm Tamith and her partner a bit. It would appear that these were also some sort of Habitat Partners, but their clothing was unlike anything she had seen before. Still…

"Nande? Koraina dande niwata kire. Minna soname shinoi Dylan corosawa nai. Neh? Ashtare noi?"

Rico frowned. "¿Qué? Hablas español? Or English. Do you understand English?"

Tamith blinked. What was he saying? Why wasn't he understanding her? Then it hit her: he was one of the dolphinbacks and the strange creature was with him. He had to know where the habitat partners of the Fresh Water were. So, she gave it another shot after sliding off Triforces back to be face to face with the youth.

"Karinde?" she asked. "Karua no Dylan-kun koraima? Cephiro noi. Tamith no Traifor konni na, ne?"

Rico stared at the girl and shook his head. He'd never heard any language like that before.

He did his best to ignore the strange creature next to the girl. Well, maybe they could figure out names. He placed a hand on his chest and said, "Rico," and then pointed to her. "¿Quién?"

Tamith blinked. Yes, it was obvious that all she had said hadn't gotten through. She sighed, but followed his movements and strange words. Wait, he was telling her something. She smiled when understanding finally dawned on her.

"Rico," she repeated pointing at the dark-haired youth, "Tamith," she added pointing at herself. "No Traifor."

Now she pointed at her ceratopsian partner who grumbled an affirmative.

"Quielere sai?" She asked him pointing at the saber-looking cat and wondering why it had not been introduced yet.

Quielere? That sounded so close to his own language. He figured she was asking what Namir was. "Tigre, Namir."

"Traifor?" Rico questioned, pointing to the strange, horned creature.

Tamith nodded. So she had gathered that the other youth's partner was Tigre'namir. Now all she had to try to do was find out where Dylan was! Easier said than done, unfortunately. She closed her eyes and thought of a way to communicate what she wanted to tell him.

“Dylan,” she started pointing again at Rico then pointing at herself. She doubted that would work so she decided to add something else.

“Traifor, Tamith,” she said pointing at herself and the Triceratops, “Rico, Tigre'namir,” she added pointing at them. “Dylan, Karua” Tamith then finished pointing at Rico again gesturing that she was looking for another human male and a very larger saurian. She then bit her bottom lip wondering if any of that had gotten through.

Oh boy, what was this girl trying to tell him! Something about a Dylan and Karua, or something really big...

Namir began pacing about, restless and hungry. And why had he been sent with this silly boy? His master was in danger and it was his job to protect him. The tiger turned and ran; he couldn't possibly leave Lucas in trouble.

“Namir!” Rico watched the tiger run off.

Without a second thought he turned and ran after the tiger, motioning for the girl to follow him.

Tamith blinked at the reaction from the big cat and the boy. She saw him take off after the feline and call back at her. Hesitating for a moment, Tamith wondered if she should indeed accompany the boy.

Triforce nuzzled her back encouraging her to follow.

“Alright,” she told her partner as the three-horned saurian kneeled for her to climb on, “Let’s go see what kind of trouble those two got themselves into this time.”

Triforce started ahead at a moderate pace to catch up to the boy. Tamith stretched out a hand gesturing for him to climb on as well; after all, only with Triforce running would they ever catch up to the large feline.

Taking his chance, Rico grabbed Tamith's hand and jumped up. She managed to help haul him on top of the great animals back and they raced after Namir.

The tiger made it back to the beach and hurried to Lucas' side. Rico, Tamith, and Triforce showed up shortly after, to view a rather confused scene with a Dinotopian trying to communicate to the dolphinbacks and clearly not making herself understood very well. It also appeared that someone had managed to set up a couple of tents while he had been away.

"Oh, boy," Rico muttered. He slipped off the saurians back and hurried to Lucas' side too. "Sorry, Senor, Namir no listen! He run off and not come back. Had to follow." In his excitement, he slipped back to slightly poorer English.

Tamith's jaw dropped. This was nothing like what she had even dared to expect. In the frenzy of people and saurians she caught the familiar face of Mathaira, a hatchery worker whom she had met on previous occasions. She still couldn't see Dylan, however. Tamith followed Rico with her eyes and saw him talk rapidly to an older man who clearly didn't look too happy about something. Completely lost and confused, she decided that she better see what was going on before rushing in to anything.

A distance away, she then noticed the large orange and purple form of Karua.

“They're here Triforce,” she told her partner feeling both relieved and worried. “Now all we have to do is figure out what on earth is going on!”

[Top] [Back] [Next]