Trapped in Time 1: The Time Takers (6 page)

Andy also discovered that the bow cables had a feature that had to come from the future. He asked one of the Roman women to pull one of the compound bows and she easily pulled it back. He took the bow to another smaller woman and she also easily pulled it back. He pulled it back and knew it had the exact pull of the bow he used in the Olympics. He knew those women would not have been able to draw the bow he used. Somehow, the bowstrings matched up to whoever pulled them.

The Japanese Archer made the discovery first. When the new cable was put on his bow, he pulled it back and nodded. Linnae asked to see his bow and she also pulled the cable back and locked it. Arashi was astounded. He went and brought back a bow that had the original bowstring on it and handed it to Linnae. She couldn’t come close to drawing it back. He showed Andy the two bows and Andy pulled them. He shook his head. Andy went and picked out four of the ancient Japanese short bows and restrung them with the compound bow cables. He immediately changed Linnae’s training to using one of the old Japanese short bows. Her accuracy and speed immediately took a giant leap forward. The short bow was much easier for her to carry and handle.

• • •

Linnae came into the room after training with Arashi and saw Andy in the blue uniform, “My, don’t you look good!”

Andy flipped Arashi and Linnae a small plastic packet and said, “Put this on.”

Linnae looked at the packet and said, “This won’t cover my foot.”

“Trust me on this, it will fit you.” Linnae went behind a stack of boxes and after a few moments stepped back into the room wearing the form fitting uniform. Andy and Arashi were stunned at how beautiful she was. Linnae saw their expressions, “What? Is something wrong?”

Andy shook his head, “Linny, you are breathtakingly beautiful.”

Linnae pirouetted and walked over and kissed Andy on the cheek, “You don’t look so bad yourself. By the way, these soles feel fabulous.”

Arashi came out from behind the boxes and extended his arms. He took three quick side steps and immediately stopped. He smiled and looked at Linnae and Andy. He touched the pad in the forearms of the uniform, “This is good.”

Andy nodded. The pads would save a lot of pain for an archer from the cable hitting their forearm. Andy took an arrowhead over and motioned Arashi to come closer. He took the arrowhead and tried to punch it through Linnae’s sleeve. Arashi took an arrow out of his quiver and tried to punch it through the packet that held the uniform. It punched right through. Andy looked at Linnae, “You don’t have to worry about putting the arrowheads on your shoulder to put an arrow in your quiver; they won’t penetrate this material.”

Linnae went over and picked up her quiver and put it over her shoulder. It connected with the tab on her right shoulder and locked in place. “This outfit is made for an archer.” Andy nodded.

Andy looked at Arashi and said in broken Latin, “Are you going out with us?” Arashi smiled and nodded. Andy looked at Linnae, “Are you ready to do this?”

“Am I? You can answer that better than me.”

“I think you’ve come a long way and you can hold your own; just stay close to Arashi and me.”

“What happens if there are ten of those giants outside?”

“We take a shot and run.”

“That sounds like a plan.”

• • •

By the end of the next day, Linnae was able to quick fire ten arrows in eighteen seconds into a two foot target from twenty yards. After the evening language session was over, Linnae followed Andy back to the wall. He looked at her and she said, “Tonight I’m staying with you.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“I’ve been sure since the first day. It’s you who had doubts.”

Andy stared at her and slowly nodded, “You were right.”

“About what.”

“The better I get to know you, the more valuable you become to me.” She put her hand on his arm and they went into the bow room and closed the door. The community watched them and knew that Linnae was going out to confront one of the giant beasts in the morning. Most of them expected her to die in the effort. Maxus almost asked Andy to call it off but knew the community needed to see if a woman could be effective against those creatures. He went to bed and his wife said, “I want to be able to see what happens.” Maxus nodded.

• • •

Andy and Linnae were up early and Andy had Akira with them in the bow room so there would not be any difficulty in understanding each other. Andy looked at the two and said, “These beasts are going to tower over you. If we were level with their head, a kill shot would be much easier; hitting it between the eyes will kill it. However, the eyes are going to be a long way above us and the dinosaur’s jaws are going to be between us and its eyes.”

Linnae’s nervousness was obvious, “So what do we do?”

Andy looked at Arashi and said as Akira translated, “We are going to hit them in the joint that connects the lower leg to the upper leg. That should bring it down. You will deliver the kill shot once you see the top of its head.”

“What do I do if one of them makes it through you and rushes up on me?”

Andy tilted his head and slowly shook it, “It will probably roar and come in with an open mouth to snap you up. If you can fire an arrow through the roof of its mouth into its brain…”

“Oh, is that all. I thought I was going to have to do something hard. Are you out of your mind? That shot is impossible.”

Andy took Linnae’s hand, “Look, if it comes to that, the Allosaurus’ height will work against it. You will be looking up into its mouth as it’s coming at you. You can make the shot if you can control your nerves.”

“Easy for you to say.”

“No it’s not. That shot will be hard for us as well. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” Andy looked at Arashi as he pulled Linnae between them. He pointed at her, “We will keep her between us.” Arashi nodded. Andy lifted his arms, “Let’s take some time to loosen up.” The three archers went to the target room and began doing stretching exercises. After fifteen minutes, Linnae picked up her bow and started firing practice arrows at the makeshift target. Andy watched her and was proud of the progress she had made in such a short period of time. She had worked on perfecting the archery techniques eighteen hours a day for two weeks. Most archers weren’t able to fire an arrow every two seconds and hit inside a two foot target every time. She would be dangerous out to fifty yards. Maintaining that accuracy over longer distances was going to take a long time with lots of practice.

Linnae had an athletic body and she moved gracefully. She came to the training with natural talents…but those Allosaurus would come with a deadliness gained over twenty million years of evolution. Andy wondered what other nightmares awaited them outside the cave. Andy quick fired several arrows into the bull’s eye and said, “Let’s go get this over with.”

“Should we eat something first?”

Andy lifted the left corner of his mouth, “I don’t want to give any more than necessary to them. Besides, throwing up is not something I want to do. We’ll eat afterwards.”

Linnae said, “If there is an afterwards.” Andy shrugged and led them out of the target room toward the cave entrance. As they approached the corridor to the opening, they saw the majority of the community had gathered at the stone wheel. Most of those close to the entrance were women. Linnae saw them looking at her and their worry was obvious. When they reached the wheel, Maxus’ wife stepped forward and gave Linnae a hug. Linnae looked in her eyes and saw no matter what happened, she was going to be a fighter. Linnae smiled and returned the hug. Andy looked at the Samurai and Vikings standing at the wheel and nodded. The three archers pulled arrows out of their quivers almost faster than the eye could follow. Maxus and Togawa were surprised at the speed Linnae notched the arrow. The wheel moved away from the opening and Andy and Arashi stepped forward. Linnae joined them after a momentary hesitation. Nothing appeared at the opening and Andy stepped forward to the edge of the opening; many of the others followed them beyond the wheel. The Vikings and Samurai stayed at the wheel in the event it needed to be closed quickly.

• • •

Andy looked out at the landscape beyond the opening and was amazed at the view. The area in front of the cave was clear and appeared to be mostly sandy soil. He looked to the right and left and saw the entrance was located in the wall of a sheer cliff that ran into the distance on both sides of the opening. That was good news. The only way for trouble to come at them was from in front of them.

He looked further out from the cave and saw the land sloped downhill toward a lush forest, running parallel to the cliff, about a hundred and ninety yards away. Flowing through the middle of the forest was a slow moving river. He looked to the north and saw a giant Brachiosaurus standing close to the river, pulling foliage off ferns next to the bank. The remains of what the Allosaurus had been eating several days earlier were no longer there. From the cave’s elevated position he could see a vast plain in the distance beyond the forest with thousands of dinosaurs scattered on it. He heard a distant roar and looked off to the left and saw three of the Allosaurus attacking another large dinosaur in the distance. He knew for certain now; they hunted in packs.

He looked to the right and on the horizon he saw a mountain with smoke rising out of it. The volcano was not erupting at the moment but it was active. The cave entrance was about three feet above the clearing and Andy jumped down. He saw the bones of the Allosaurus he had killed the first day had been moved more than fifty yards from the cave. Andy wondered what was big enough to move a thirty nine foot, four ton, Allosaurus. He saw that the bones had been picked clean; nothing remained but white bones. Linnae and Arashi jumped down and followed Andy over to the skeleton.

Andy pulled a sabre out of a scabbard over his left shoulder and raised it over his head. He slammed the blade into the skull of the dead dinosaur and the skull made a cracking sound. He swung again and the skull split. Andy went to the skull and grabbed the arrow that was embedding in the back of the skull and twisted it out. He checked it carefully and sighted down it. He looked at Linnae and Arashi and tilted his head as he put the arrow in his quiver. The titanium arrows were tough. This one had survived the kill.

Suddenly, they heard a loud roar about two hundred yards to the south. It came from the forest and they knew it was the same roar they heard in the cave. Another roar blasted out a hundred yards to the north and the three archers looked at each other. Andy said, “They’re coming. Spread out and give yourself some room.” Andy moved away from the skeleton and put ten yards between him and Linnae. Arashi moved the opposite direction and the archers were lined up twenty yards in front of the cave. Andy and Arashi sat down in the sand and Linnae looked at Andy like he was crazy. Andy smiled slightly, “You need to save your energy and start trying to calm your mind.”

Linnae slowly sat down and put the arrow back in her quiver. She placed her bow across her lap in the same manner Andy and Arashi had done and started trying to get control of her panic. She tried to breathe but was having difficulty. Andy said, “Think of a song you like and sing it in your mind.”

Linnae tried to respond but her voice didn’t work. She closed her eyes and remembered a lullaby her mother used to sing to her. Two more roars erupted from the forest adding to the first two they had heard. Linnae jumped but forced herself to focus on the lullaby. In a few moments she was singing it quietly to herself. She forced her breathing to slow and she began thinking that she really didn’t have a reason to be afraid. She was already living on borrowed time and now she was given an opportunity to use the skills she had worked so hard to master for the last two weeks. She took a deep breath and slowly blew it out. She knew how good Andy and Arashi were and she knew she could depend on them to protect her. “Are you ready?”

Linnae looked at Andy who had his eyes fixed on the forest and nodded, “Thank you, Andy.”

Andy glanced at her, “For what?”

“For this; I’ve never felt more alive than I do at this moment.”

“Tell me that after this is over.”

Linnae laughed and stood up with Andy and Arashi as they saw the first Allosaurus stick its head out of the forest. Arashi pulled an arrow and fired it instantly. The arrow hit the Allosaurus in the snout. It would have hit it between the eyes but the beast had raised its head an instant before the arrow arrived. The roar was deafening.

• • •

Maxus watched the three archers and saw the beast was much larger than he thought. He had seen the head of the dinosaur in the cave’s opening but he didn’t get a good look at its body. It was the largest animal he had ever seen. The one that was hit with the arrow was passed anger; it was enraged. He tried to call out to the three and tell them to get back into the cave but the roars drowned out his shouts. He shook his head and that’s when four of the giant dinosaurs charged out of the forest.

• • •

Andy pulled the bow and fired at the closest Allosaurus’ left leg. The arrow hit above the joint and he had another arrow on the way in an instant. It hit the right leg in the joint and the giant dinosaur stumbled to the ground. Linnae quick fired two arrows into the top of its head and turned and fired another arrow into the face of the Allosaurus that Arashi had dropped. It fought to get up and Linnae hit it between the eyes with another arrow and it fell back to the ground.

Andy fired at the other Allosaurus coming from the right and hit it perfectly in the right leg where it bent. The giant stumbled and fell on its side. Linnae fired three arrows into the Allosaurus’ face; one of them penetrated into the large creature’s brain and killed it. Arashi killed the fourth Allosaurus without assistance. It was close enough for him to hit it in the neck and the arrow severed the spinal cord.

• • •

Julia left Maxus’ side and walked forward to the edge of the cave opening to watch Linnae. She was amazed at her fearlessness and how accurate she was with the bow. She shook her head and caught something in the corner of her vision. She looked to the right and saw a giant Allosaurus running along the cliff wall toward the three archers. It was silent and it was almost on top of them. It had exited the forest several hundred yards north of the cave and was coming at the archers from behind; they didn’t see it coming. Julia screamed.