Trapped in Time 1: The Time Takers (8 page)

“There’re fifty boxes of them.”

Andy started nodding and said, “So putting us here in this cliff wall was perfect for a source of stone to build with.”

Maxus nodded, “And only a hundred and eighty yards from a free flowing river that we could dam to build irrigation canals, is another bonus.”

“Someone put some thought into this.”

“They also put a lot of time into building this place.” Maxus paused, “Why did they do it?”

“I honestly don’t know.” Maxus raised his eyebrows and Andy said, “I’m not withholding anything from you anymore. If something happens to me, you will have to take my place. You need to know everything in the event that happens. I honestly don’t have a clue.”

Maxus stared at Andy for a moment and then said something that sounded true, “I suspect we will never find out. We’re the ones charged with getting our new world off the ground. It will be our descendants that will find out what this is all about.”

They head a muffled roar that instantly grew to a loud intensity as the stone wheel at the entrance tilted in slightly and then fell back against the opening. Andy shook his head, “It looks like the big boys are back in charge outside.”

Maxus nodded, “It’s a good thing only one of those beasts can fit in the entranceway.”

Andy smiled, “Someone did a good job of planning.”

Maxus laughed and patted Andy on the back, “We’re ready to go and remove them. When do we do it?”

“In two days. We’ll set up our strategy this evening and discuss it with the warriors to see if anyone has suggestions to as to how to improve our plans. We’ll get everything set up tomorrow and then go out and kick some dinosaur backside the next day.”

“You need to think of a way to stop the plant eaters from coming into our fields.”

“I’ll work on it. Maybe there’s something in one of these rooms that will help us.”

Maxus looked at the wall and shrugged.

• • •

Two days later, the warriors that had passed the archery training gathered in the corridor at the entrance and waited for the large stone wheel to be rolled back. The Samurai and Vikings would go out first behind Andy, Arashi, and Linnae. They would set up a skirmish line and attempt to hold off any attacking carnivores. The Romans would follow the first warriors and set up their formation at the center of the skirmish line. The women that had passed the archery training would follow the Romans out and set up inside their formation and attack targets of opportunity.

A hundred of the other people would act as transporters of arrows from the cave. They would move behind the lines and refill quivers that were running low on arrows. More than three hundred of the community were taking part in the operation. Joshua and the Indians were held in reserve to fill in any part of the line that was in danger of being overrun. They were in two small groups next to the cliff wall to make sure there were no more surprises that came charging in from either direction. Andy saw the stone clear the entrance and he ran to the edge of the opening and looked out. What he saw surprised him. All of the dinosaurs that were killed in the last encounter had been removed from in front of the cave. He leaped off the edge of the cave’s opening and continued to search for the remains and finally saw several of the large Allosaurus’ skeletons at the edge of the forest. The Raptors must have devoured most of the meat and then pulled them out of the open land to the forest. The Allosaurus must have then pulled the dead Raptors to the forest as well. As soon as Andy jumped to the ground, he heard the roars from the forest. He rushed forward and stared at the edge of the tree line expecting a charge. In less than a minute, the Vikings and Samurai had formed up on the three archers and the Romans were marching forward in formation. The forty Romans arrived at the center of the line and formed two offset lines with twenty soldiers in each. The front line knelt and the back line remained standing. The Roman women moved in and filled the gaps in the formation. Andy looked around and saw there was a half-circle formed around the opening to the cave. No one had pulled an arrow yet. They waited and watched the lush forest a little over a hundred yards away.

The pack of Allosaurus’ were just inside the edge of the forest and weren’t sticking their heads out. Their roars were so loud it was difficult to communicate. Maxus leaned in and yelled, “It appears they remember what happened last time.”

Andy sighed, “It looks that way.”

Maxus yelled, “We need to impress that memory on them.”

Andy looked at Maxus and knew what he had to do. He walked forward and Linnae grabbed his arm, “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to introduce myself.”

“Not alone, you aren’t.”

Andy looked Linnae in the eyes, “Do you remember when you said you had to go out and confront those monsters?” Linnae nodded, “Now it’s my turn.” Andy kissed her on the cheek and walked out of the formation and advanced forty yards toward the forest’s edge. The roars from the forest doubled in volume. Andy stood out in the open and waited.

Linnae was beyond fear and her anger was starting to get the better of her. Arashi walked up beside her and said, “Come on.”

“Where?”

“We need to be able to get a clear place to shoot.” Linnae followed Arashi through the Roman formation and moved a few steps beyond the front rank. Arashi said, “If more than one of them emerge from the forest, “I’ll take the one on the left; you take the one on the right.”

“What if only one emerges?”

Arashi smiled, “Then it is a fair fight. We will stay out of it.”

“Are you crazy? I’m not going to stand by and watch him die.”

“You will not take away his honor by interfering.”

Linnae started to tell Arashi that he was full of more crap than a Christmas turkey but Maxus said next to her, “He’s right.”

“What do you mean?”

“We have to teach those monsters to fear us. It looks like the first meeting has taught them to respect us; we have to make them fear us.”

“Just how do you think this is going to do that?”

Maxus smiled, “Have you ever been stung by a hornet?”

Linnae’s head went back and she said, “I have; what does that have to do with this?”

“You’ll go out of your way to avoid a nest of hornets.” Maxus looked at Linnae, “Would you go out of your way to avoid just one hornet?”

“You bet that polished helmet I would.”

“How much bigger are you than a hornet?” Linnae just stared at Maxus. “We have to teach them that we can sting them where it hurts.” Linnae looked at Arashi and he slowly nodded.

Suddenly a giant Allosaurus burst out of the tree line and charged in on Andy. Linnae’s heart went into her throat but it was over before it fairly started. Andy hit both of the huge dinosaur’s legs and it fell forward into the ground. Andy fired another arrow and he didn’t miss. It went through the monster’s eye and the giant’s roar ended abruptly. Andy walked forward and climbed on top of the dead dinosaur and screamed at the forest. There was loud crashing as the pack of Allosaurus ran quickly to the north. Andy climbed down off the dead monster and ran quickly back toward the ranks. From on top of the Allosaurus he saw several Raptors two hundred yards south of the fleeing Allosaurus suddenly disappear back into the tree line. They had to be scouts. Andy yelled as he arrived at the front line, “GET READY. IT WON’T BE LONG!!”

Maxus yelled, “ARCHERS….PULL ARROWS!” All three hundred people in the semi-circle pulled an arrow from their quivers and knocked it to their bows.

Andy stared at the tree line and Linnae saw the concern on his face, “What did you see?”

“I saw several Raptors just outside the tree line two to three hundred yards south of here. They had to be scouts to warn the flock if the Allosaurus started moving their way. They saw the Allosaurus run away and they disappeared into the tree line. They had to see the Allosaurus I killed and know there is fresh meat for the taking.” Linnae looked down at the forest and saw the tops of tall ferns were moving; there was no wind. Andy looked with her and saw that the numbers moving through the forest were large. The flock had grown bigger. The large numbers killed in the first meeting must have brought many more Raptors to the area. Now they smelled blood and were getting ready to charge.

Maxus also saw the movement in the forest and said, “Steady, soldiers. You know numbers don’t mean anything against disciplined warriors. Keep your hearts true to the work before us.” The first Raptors began sticking their heads out of the forest and ducking back in. Maxus said, “Arrow handlers; move to your stations.” A hundred people ran forward and spread out behind the lines of archers. Each of them had six quivers belted around their waist where they could pull a load of arrows out and drop them into the archer’s quivers.

Andy looked at the motion of the trees and said, “I think this flock was coming to attack the Allosaurus.”

Arashi nodded, “They were too close to just be doing nothing.”

“How many would you guess?”

“Three hundred.”

Andy smiled, “That’s one for each of our archers.”

“Some aren’t really ready yet.”

Andy nodded, “We have them scattered in our ranks. They need the experience.”

“We need them to be ready.”

“You and I will handle their load.”

Arashi smiled.

Maxus watched the tree line and yelled, “PULL!” All three hundred archers pulled back on their bowstrings and a moment later the tree line erupted in hundreds of Raptors rushing at incredible speed toward the human’s ranks. “FIRE!!!

Three hundred arrows flew into the front of the charging Raptors and another three hundred followed less than a second later. The entire front of the charging Raptors fell to the ground. The Raptors behind them leaped over the dead and dying reptiles on the ground and were shot down before they advanced more than ten yards. Yet still the Raptors came rushing out of the tree line.

Andy picked his targets and every time he shot an arrow, a Raptor fell. He continued shooting and said, “I thought you said three hundred.”

Arashi double fired two arrows and said, “Oh, did I say three hundred? I meant five hundred.” He shot a Raptor that had come close to the Viking’s line and it fell and slid to within four feet of them. The Romans were incredible. A constant wave of outgoing arrows filled the air in front of their ranks. The Raptors were no longer trying to attack the center of the line but were moving to the sides. Maxus yelled, “Ranks, move forward left and right.”

• • •

The Vikings were getting the worst of the Raptor charge. The Raptors that were charging the middle of the line veered away from the Roman barrage and rushed in toward the Vikings who were left of the Romans. They found themselves facing more than a hundred Raptors that were charging in at incredible speed and ferocity. Three Raptors came running up and leaped on top of a dead Raptor and then leaped into the Viking’s line. The Raptors grabbed a Viking and used the hooked claw on their hind legs to rip into the Viking’s chests. The Vikings standing next to the three with Raptors on their chests fired at point blank range into the Raptors and killed them but the momentary change allowed more Raptors to rush in on their lines. They were close to being overrun when ten Indians rushed forward and shot eight Raptors flying through the air toward the Viking’s front rank. All eight were hit in the head and fell to the ground dead. One fell on a Viking and broke his left arm pinning him to the ground. No one could stop long enough to remove the huge reptile; he could only lay on the ground and watch the massive fight taking place around him. Ten more Indians rushed forward and the Raptors were being held off, barely.

Linnae looked back and saw a Raptor leap high over the Viking line and spin around to attack from them from the rear. She fired an arrow so fast that the Raptor had barely completed its turn and was hit in the neck. The Raptor screamed as the arrow went through its neck and embedded in its back leg cutting through the main tendon. The Raptor screamed again as Linnae’s second arrow went into the side of its head and dropped it for good.

One of the Roman lines moved forward and turned to the left while the other turned and went to the right. Andy, Linnae, Arashi, and five Indians moved up the center of the two lines as they separated and killed anything that tried to enter the space between their lines. Many of the Raptors were down but not dead and were struggling to bite the archers as they passed. The archers pulled an arrow and shot any that were still moving in the head.

Andy heard a loud high pitched scream from the forest and he looked at the tree line and saw a Raptor that had to be thirty feet long. It was almost as tall as an Allosaurus and had to be the flock’s leader. Andy, Arashi, and Linnae all quick fired an arrow at the giant and it went down with a scream. Every Raptor in the clearing stopped when they heard the scream; they suddenly turned and fled toward the forest. Of the hundred that ran away, half of them were dropped before they arrived at the tree line.

Magus yelled, “Stop shooting!!” Maxus watched the tree line and yelled, “Form ranks and move forward; Arrow gatherers, retrieve arrows.” The Romans formed a long line and spread out. They began slowly moving forward as the other archers pulled their swords and began cutting their arrows out of the dead Raptors. It was dirty bloody work, but the arrows were too precious to waste. They were going to have to last for many generations to come. After three hours, the work was done. Suddenly, a loud roar came out of the forest to the north. Maxus looked at Andy, “They smell blood.”

“We need them to come and clean up this mess. Get the people back in the cave.” Maxus turned and started yelling. The Vikings, Samurai, Indians, and support teams turned and began moving toward the cave’s entrance. The Romans held their formation and moved toward the cave one line at a time. The front rank would turn and retreat twenty yards and the second rank would then turn and pass them. Andy shook his head at all the dead dinosaurs in the small clearing. He wondered if the giant Raptor at the forest’s edge had been killed. He looked back toward the forest and saw a giant shadow pass over the clearing. He looked up and shook his head, “Maxus, get them moving faster!” Maxus saw Andy looking at the sky and he looked up as well. The giant reptiles flying overhead were enormous. They were silent until they saw Maxus looking up at them and they started screaming. Maxus started yelling and the warriors began trotting toward the entrance. By the time the last Romans arrived, the huge Pteranodons were beginning to dive at the warriors and pull up at the last moment. Maxus started to order his Legionnaires to fire on the giants but Andy stopped him.