Trapped in Time 1: The Time Takers (7 page)

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Linnae heard the scream and turned; the Allosaurus was a giant and it was less than fifteen yards away and moving at top speed. Linnae pulled an arrow, nocked it on the bow string and fired up into the giant jaws descending toward her. As soon as she released the arrow, she rolled to the left and kept rolling. The giant’s head turned to follow her and then the dinosaur fell forward on its neck. Two more arrows from Andy and Arashi hit the creature in the head but it was already dead. Linnae’s arrow penetrated the reptile’s upper jaw and cut through its brain. Linnae kept rolling as the giant crashed to the ground and barely missed falling on her.

Andy rushed over and pulled her up. Linnae dropped her bow and held him tight. Andy heard Arashi shout, “Curo!” Pay attention. Andy looked at the forest and saw five more Allosaurus lined up in the tree line. Linnae looked with him and quickly bent down, picked up her bow and pulled an arrow. The largest Allosaurus in the group took a step forward and roared. It shook its head and all three archers saw its rage. The other four giants stepped out of the tree line with the leader and it was clear they were preparing to charge.

Suddenly, the leader raised its head and appeared to sniff the air. It looked to the south and issued a loud grunt. All five of the giant dinosaurs turned and ran out of the trees toward the north. They headed for the cliff wall and ran away at high speed.

Andy knew there was trouble coming. The Allosaurus were scared by something that was coming from the South; anything that frightened the giant killers was not something he wanted to meet out in the open. “Get to the cave, now!” Andy and Arashi began quickly backing up keeping their eyes on the tree line as Linnae turned and sprinted toward the opening. She was assisted over the three foot high lip and she turned and watched Andy and Arashi quickly backing toward the entrance. Joshua said, “What’s wrong?”

Linnae pulled an arrow and said, “I don’t know.”

Andy and Arashi were five yards away from the opening when a black wave of giant dinosaurs came rushing out of the tree line. Andy and Arashi dropped six of the charging reptiles at the front of the rush and Arashi yelled, “Fuga!” Andy turned, took two steps and jumped up into the cave entrance. He turned and shot one of the large dinosaurs coming at Arashi from the left as Linnae hit another coming from the right in the neck. It stopped and tried to grab the arrow with its arms.

Andy yelled, “Get the wheel moving and everyone get inside.” He shot two more of the dark colored reptiles charging in from the left and yelled, “Fuga, Arashi.”

The Japanese archer was a killing machine. Eight dark dinosaurs were on the sand in front of him either dead or having death spasms. The archer was lucky; most of the charging dinosaurs fell on the dead bodies of the Allosaurus. He jumped up and ran for the opening as two of the fleet creatures came running up on him. Andy dropped one and Linnae hit the other two times before it fell. “GET IN THE CAVE!!” Linnae turned and ran through the small opening sideways and fell on the floor. Andy and Arashi killed two more of the attackers and ran through the opening. The Samurai and Vikings began pushing the stone wheel to complete closing the entrance when a giant head filled with sharp teeth jammed into small gap at the top. Linnae had fallen to the floor when she jumped through the opening. She was sitting on the floor and she pulled an arrow out of her quiver and fired it into the creature’s face in less than a second. The head disappeared from the opening and the wheel moved and covered the entrance.

Maxus looked at Linnae and held out his hand to help her up. He shook his head and said, “Mirus.”

Joshua said, “That means wonderful, Linnae.”

“I know that; I’ve been paying attention in class.”

Maxus’ wife rushed forward and hugged Linnae. She started speaking quickly and Joshua translated, “Your skill and bravery are an example for us all. I admire you and hope I can be as brave as you were out there among the beasts.”

Linnae returned her hug and said, “Gratias tibi ago, Julia.”

Julia smiled. Maxus came up and gave Linnae a hug as well. Joshua looked at Andy, who was sitting on the floor trying to catch his breath. “What were those creatures? Even the large dinosaurs ran from them.”

Andy continued breathing hard and said, “Well…I have good news….and I have…bad news.”

Everyone in the cave was listening to the exchange and Togawa said in Latin, “What is the good news?”

“We’re not a hundred and forty million years in the past…like I thought.”

Joshua said, “Then when are we?”

“We’re ninety million years in the past at the early part of the Cretaceous Age.”

Akira said, “Well if that’s the good news, what’s the bad.”

“I recognized that last dinosaur that attacked us.” Andy’s breathing had slowed and he took a deep breath. “It was named Utah Raptor and it was the largest member of the Raptor genus. Most people in my time thought the most dangerous dinosaur was a Velociraptor, because it was highly intelligent and hunted in packs. However, they were wrong. A movie called Jurassic Park portrayed them as about eight feet tall and twenty feet long. The ones who made the movie took a lot of liberties. In reality, Velociraptors were not much bigger than a large dog or small child. They were descendants of the Utah Raptor that you just saw; Utah Raptors grew to twenty five feet long and weighed a thousand pounds. This was an instance where a larger ancestor actually evolved into something smaller. However, the Utah Raptor was located in the northern hemisphere so we know where we are on the planet. They lived at the beginning of the Cretaceous Period.”

Linnae said, “What do you know about this Utah Raptor?”

“They’re big, fast, deadly, and work in packs. They also possess extremely high intelligence compared to other dinosaurs. I suspect those Allosaurus could scare them away when they had ten working together. When we killed half of them, the survivors knew they were no match for the flock of Raptors.”

Joshua said, “Flock?”

“Yes, flock. Raptors are one of the earliest ancestors of birds. You’ll see feathers on them if you get a close look at some of them.”

Maxus said, “So what do we do now?”

Andy blew out a breath, “Do you see now how the women can help us in the fighting.”

“I do.”

“Then for the next four weeks, everyone trains on firing the bows. I understand the food leaders say we have enough food stores to last us a long time.” Joshua nodded. “We continue our language lessons and Linnae, Arashi, and I will start training everyone on how to fire the bows. Once everyone is trained, we’ll be able to take on that flock. We’ll clear the area around the cave of predators and start planting crops.” Andy looked at Ayo, “How many different seeds do we have in the farm cave?”

“About a hundred.”

“We have a good water source and we can clear some land near the river. We have to build a place for us to live outside.”

Akira said, “Why can’t we just stay in here?”

Andy smiled, “We could…if our numbers remain constant. What happens if our little community starts growing?”

Akira looked at Arashi and then turned back to Andy, “You’re right. However, this will be a good place for children to be born and a hospital to be set up.”

Andy smiled, “I agree. However, first we learn our language and how to use the bows.”

The community broke up and many of the women surrounded Linnae. Andy was amazed at her composure during the fight against the Allosaurus. She made a one in a thousand shot that killed the one that attacked them from behind. She was born with a lot of natural ability, but her bravery was inspiring. He chuckled; she also spoke her mind and held nothing back. You never had to wonder about where you stood with her. Linnae finally joined him at the wall and laid her head on his shoulder. Andy put his head on hers and said, “I don’t think I need a year.” Linnae lifted her head and looked at him. “What I really need is for you to be sure that I am the one you truly want to be your mate. I already know my answer.”

Linnae smiled, “We will still take a year before we have the ceremony.”

“Why?”

“It will set an example for our children; they will need to learn patience and our example will show them that if we could do it, so could they.”

“I think you’re right. Let’s introduce this idea to the community this evening. I am going to tell them that we are bonded together while we make this decision.”

Linnae smiled, “It’s called engaged, Andy.”

“Sorry, from now on it’s going to be called bonded unless you have a way to come up with a process to manufacture rings.”

Linnae was surprised; she hadn’t even thought about that. “You’re right. We also need to decide what the final bonding ceremony will look like.”

Andy chuckled, “I suspect the women in the community can come up with something.”

Linnae smiled, “I imagine we can.”

A
ndy sat at the wall and thought about why humans had been brought back into the past. He had been troubled by the idea since the beginning. Someone wanted humans to start a civilization ninety million years earlier than it did; but why now?

He heard cheers coming from the women’s target room and he guessed someone had hit a bull’s eye. Linnae was taking on the lion’s share of training the women and she was doing a good job. One benefit was that her constant training improved her speed and accuracy light years ahead of where it was when she went out and confronted the dinosaurs. She was probably as good as he was now.

The group that surprised him with their bow prowess was the Vikings. They were so big and strong that when the bows matched up to their strength, it became a truly formidable weapon. Their speed was incredible. The back handed pull that was necessary to quick fire was easy for them. They were anxious to go out and face the dinosaurs. Truth be told, the dinosaurs would be in trouble if they charged the Vikings. The Vikings and Samurai were constantly competing against each other in the target rooms and they were quickly becoming close friends.

The Romans weren’t as good as the Vikings and Samurai but they were incredibly organized. They timed their quick fire volleys so that a constant wall of arrows left their formations. It was really fascinating to see them firing in this synchronized manner. He knew the community was going to have to go out soon and take on the Raptors. Everyone was starting to speak Latin and most of the time and they worked hard to help each other to learn the vocabulary. The Romans made corrections whenever they heard a mistake but they did it with smiles. Andy saw Maxus coming his way and wondered what he wanted. Maxus smiled and sat down, “Good Morning, do you have a moment?”

“I always have a moment for you.”

“I heard you talk about planting crops.”

“Yes, we have the seeds to do it.” Maxus nodded and stared at Andy. “What’s on your mind, Maxus?”

“I asked Joshua if any of those giant creatures ate plants.”

Andy stared at Maxus and then it hit him, “Oh my God, you’re right.”

Maxus shrugged, “Joshua tells me that the long necked one in the river eats plants. How could we prevent it from destroying what we planted?”

Andy shook his head, “I don’t know if we could.”

“Is there anything that monster fears?”

“It fears the big meat eaters.”

“So if we chase off or kill the meat eaters…”

Andy nodded, “We open the door to the really big plant eaters. If they come in, just one of them could decimate any crop we plant.”

Maxus stared at Andy for a moment and said, “You don’t think the arrows will bring one down.”

Andy chuckled, “Oh, we could bring one down by hitting it in the head. However, what do you do with the hundred thousand pounds of rotting carcass if all the meat eaters are gone? Plus, the smell of rotting flesh would pull new carnivores from miles away.”

Maxus tilted his head and shrugged. “Have you thought about a wall?”

“Maxus, one of those giant plant eaters could knock any wall we erected over in a moment.”

“Not if it was a porcupine.”

Andy stared at Maxus, “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“You saw all the swords against the wall. There are rooms full of them and they’re not being used for anything at the moment. We could build a wall using the swords as a kind of pointed defense.”

“Do you mean that we should build a wall with thousands of swords sticking out of it?”

“That’s exactly what I mean.”

“It would have to be tall.”

“We have to clear land to plant on it. We could use the trees we cut down to build the wall.” Andy put his hand on his chin and thought about the idea. Maxus said, “We could build a place on top of it for our archers to man the walls. They should keep the carnivores away and the swords will stop the larger plant eaters from getting to our crops.”

“Do you honestly think you could build a wall strong enough to withstand fifty tons of dinosaur?”

“Joshua tells me that many of the structures we built in Rome and across the barbarian lands were still standing in his time. We know how to build sturdy structures.”

“What will it be made of?”

“Wood initially but then we’re going to cut blocks of stone out of the cliff and roll them on trees to where they will be laid. We’ll cut slots in the stone to insert the blades and also put them between the blocks as we stack them.”

“Do you have the tools you need to do this?”

“Come with me for a moment.” They stood up and Andy followed Maxus to a room across the cave where the Romans had settled. Maxus entered a room and picked up a dark blue sword that appeared to be made from crystal. He went over to the wall and held the sword up to the light that was shining at the ceiling. The sword started glowing and Maxus stuck it into the stone wall and moved it to the left. The sword easily cut a twenty inch channel into the stone.

“Allow me to see that.” Maxus handed Andy the sword and Andy turned it over and saw a plate on the handle. It had something written in a strange language.

Maxus said, “I think it will operate better out in the sun.”

“How many of these swords do you have?”