Valley of the Dinosaurs Page 8

  The Harpy stopped trying to talk to the young warrior; rather, she placed her hand on the Behemoth Master’s chin and turned it toward her. When he was facing her, she could see tears welling up in his eyes. Before any of the remaining warriors could see the Behemoth Master’s face, she kissed him.

  As soon as her lips touched his, the Behemoth Master knew this kiss was different from the other kisses she had given him. Her previous kisses were an act to show off for the warriors. Her previous kisses meant nothing to her, but this kiss was different. This time, when the warrior woman kissed the Behemoth Master, the action was full of compassion. As she kissed him, the young warrior could feel the sadness that was crushing him slowly ebb.

  When she pulled away from the Behemoth Master, she looked him in the eyes. As he looked back into her eyes, the Behemoth Master saw the same compassion in them that he felt in her kiss. She whispered, “This was not your fault. Those warriors died with honor but there is nothing that can be done for them now.” She shifted her eyes to the side. “The warriors who made it through the passage need you now more than ever, if they are to survive. They need you to both honor their fallen comrades and to be a beacon of strength.”

  The Behemoth Master nodded. “I understand.” He then stood up and addressed the remaining warriors who were looking at him. “I fear that all of our comrades who were in the path of the landslide have fallen.” He held his axe above his head. “I have tried to break through the ice to look for survivors but my efforts were in vain. The best way that we can honor their memory is to complete our mission.” He looked over at the Harpy. “How many made it through the passage?”

  The Harpy stood as straight as possible and sounded as confident as she could. “Twenty men and elephants are still alive, as are 20 horses and their riders, as well as Birilus and his horse. Sadly, most of the stored food and supplies we had were lost in the avalanche.”

  The Behemoth Master nodded. “Very well then. Our plan remains the same. We shall approach the river where we can fill our bellies with water. We will then start making our way to the other side of the valley.”

  This time, the remaining warriors did not cheer in response to the Behemoth Master’s speech. Instead, they silently turned the horses and elephants around to head for the river.

  As the warriors were making their way toward the river, the Behemoth Master called out to Birilus. The scout rode his horse over to the young warrior. “Yes, sir.”

  The Behemoth Master gestured to the wall of ice and rock. “On your previous trip, were there any signs that the passage we walked through was prone to avalanche?”

  The scout shook his head. “No, sir. I would not have led us through here if there were signs of frequent avalanche.”

  The Behemoth Master nodded. “So, it would seem then that something or someone may have caused the disaster that befell us?”

  Birilus nodded. “It would seem so, sir.”

  The Behemoth Master looked toward the Harpy. “We need to find Casrubol. I would very much like to join you when you have that conversation with him about the she-bear.”

  The warrior woman stared at the tons of snow covering the warriors who were under her command as she nodded grimly in reply to the Behemoth Master’s statement.

  Chapter 9

  The Behemoth Master climbed back on top of the Emperor and directed him toward the river. As the massive creature began walking toward the water source, the Harpy mounted her horse and followed him over to the river. When the Emperor reached the water, the elephant cautiously looked down at the river. The beast snorted and swayed his head back and forth for a moment before he extended his trunk and filled it with water. At the sight of the Emperor drinking from the river, the remaining warriors led their elephants and horses over to the water.

  As the Emperor lifted his trunk to his mouth and sprayed the water into his mouth, the Behemoth Master pondered what had occurred. Clearly, the dead cubs and the drugged she-bear had a human influence behind them. Given Casrubol’s role as a leader in the army, the Behemoth Master had considered the possibility that the old warrior had left the dead cubs and drugged mother as a test for the warriors. While a harsh and cruel action, the idea of setting up a challenge to prepare the warriors for an upcoming battle was not unheard of in the history of Carthaginian warfare.

  While the she-bear could have been a test, the avalanche was clearly meant to kill warriors. Aside from the fact that it appeared as if avalanches were uncommon in the passageway, the timing of the landslide was perfectly timed to inflict as much damage as possible.

  The Behemoth Master looked at the bank of the river to see what remained of his forces lapping up some much-needed water. The young warrior shook his head as he realized the avalanche had decimated more than half of his forces before they were even able to enter the valley. What concerned him even more than the death of the warriors was that if Casrubol was behind the avalanche, the Harpy had warned him about letting the older general go ahead of them. The Behemoth Master shook his head as he pushed the idea aside and thought to himself, Casrubol may have a rivalry with the Harpy and Birilus but he is a general of Carthage. There is no circumstance under which I can see him killing so many of the city’s warriors.

  The young warrior was looking over his remaining forces when he saw one of the elephants staring down at the river with a confused look on its face. The Behemoth Master shifted his gaze to the water where he saw two large bulbous eyes peering out of the river. The head of a gigantic crocodile shot out of the water and wrapped its huge jaws around the neck of the elephant that had been looking at it. As the crocodile fell back into the water, it dragged the elephant with it. When the elephant and the reptile entered the river, the croc flipped the mammal over and pulled it under the water.

  The Harpy rode up next to the Behemoth Master and shouted, “What was that?”

  The Behemoth Master shook his head in disbelief. “It looked like a crocodile that was twice as long as an elephant. It grabbed the behemoth and dragged it under the water in the same manner a normal crocodile would do to a zebra or gazelle.” As the Behemoth Master finished his sentence, a second giant crocodile shot out of the water and closed his jaws on a horse and the rider who was on its back. As the reptile’s jaws snapped shut, the horse was sliced in two and the woman who was on its back simply disappeared in the monster’s mouth.

  The Behemoth Master saw more sets of eyes peering out of the river at numerous places. He screamed, “Move the animals away from the water! It’s full of those creatures!” The remaining warriors started moving their animals away from the river but the hungry crocodiles were not inclined to give up their meals so easily.

  One elephant had turned around and taken several steps away from the river when one of the crocodiles crawled out of the water and clamped its jaws down on the elephant’s left hind leg. The pachyderm trumpeted in pain as the croc sank its teeth into the mammal’s leg. The croc pulled on the elephant’s leg, causing the beast to stumble and fall onto its stomach. The elephant’s rider had fallen off the animal, but the warrior had no sooner hit the ground than he stood up and threw his spear at the giant crocodile. The spear bounced off the hard carapace on the croc’s head as the creature tugged on the elephant’s leg and tore it off. The crippled elephant trumpeted a final time as several more of the massive reptiles crawled out of the water and began tearing apart the injured animal.

  The Behemoth Master went running toward the Emperor as the Harpy shot past him on her horse. The young warrior looked to his right to see one of the aquatic monsters crawl out of the water and bite off the back legs of a fleeing horse. The horse’s rider was thrown to the ground as the crocodile swallowed the horse’s back legs. The horse’s internal organs slide out of its missing lower half and the beast let loose one pathetic cry before it died. After eating the back half of the horse, the creature moved past the remaining half of the horse and went for its rider who was still sitting waist-deep in mud.

 
; Before the creature could reach the rider, the Harpy rode her horse alongside the reptile and struck it several times with her sword. Despite the constitution of her blade and the strength of her arm, the Harpy was unable to penetrate the beast’s thick hide. The Harpy pulled her horse to a stop in between the giant crocodile and the fallen warrior. She pulled back on her horse’s reins, causing it to rear up. As the horse lifted her front legs into the air, the Harpy screamed a challenge at the monster and in response to her call, several of her mounted warriors charged the croc as well. As one, the women warriors of Carthage threw spears and launched arrows at the giant reptile. Despite their ferocity, the warriors’ weapons proved unequal to the task of harming the monster.

  When the Behemoth Master reached the Emperor, the beast was still at the water’s edge. The alpha elephant was using his trunk to strike at a crocodile that had his jaws shut on a second elephant’s trunk. Blood pulled out of the elephant’s trunk as both it and the crocodile were engaged in a horrific tug-of-war. The crocodile ignored the Emperor’s blows as it rolled and tore off the other elephant’s trunk. A fountain of blood sprayed both the Emperor and the crocodile as the injured elephant shook his head from side to side in pain.

  The rider atop the injured elephant was still trying to control the beast and move it away from water, but it only took one look from the Behemoth Master to see that the elephant was beyond control. The beast was overcome with pain and rage. The massive crocodile had just finished swallowing the trunk it had torn off when the injured elephant charged at it.

  The Behemoth Master held his hand out to the elephant’s rider and screamed, “Jump!” The rider immediately complied with his commander’s request and leapt from his elephant onto the back of the Emperor.

  A deluge of blood was still pouring out of the stump where the injured elephant’s trunk had once been as the beast charged the 40-foot crocodile. When the reptile saw the elephant charging, it opened its jaws and hissed. The injured elephant lowered his head and thrust its right tusk into the croc’s open mouth. The tusk buried itself in the soft tissue of the croc’s throat as the monster closed its jaws on the elongated tooth. Blood continued to gush down onto the giant crocodile as the force of the elephant’s charge pushed the reptile back into the river. The elephant continued to push the croc into the river as the water around the struggling animals turned red from blood. The two creatures thrashed back and forth for several seconds before they both perished from the wounds they had inflicted on one another.

  The Behemoth Master directed the Emperor away from the river as several of the crocodiles who were on land or near the waterline dove back into the river to devour the dead elephant. As the Emperor turned away from the river, the Behemoth Master saw the Harpy and several of her warriors still engaged in battle with the giant crocodile she had attacked moments ago. The Harpy and her warriors had dismounted from their horses and were dodging attacks from the crocodile’s mouth and tail. The Behemoth Master looked toward the jungle to see the mud-covered horses moving away from the water. He quickly surmised that the animals were likely getting bogged down in the mud, making them more of a liability than an asset.

  The young warrior yelled at the warrior behind him, “Gather the horses and rally the remaining forces to the jungle! Most of the monsters have made their way back to the river! I’ll help the Harpy and her warriors with the last of these demons!”

  Once the warrior had slid off the Emperor, the Behemoth Master directed the animal to move toward the last remaining crocodile and the dozen warrior women who surrounded it. The warriors were striking the beast with spears and arrows but they were not injuring the prehistoric horror. The Harpy fired an arrow into the crocodile’s mouth then she rolled backward in the mud as the creature’s jaws shot forward and snapped at her.

  The Behemoth Master yelled at the Harpy, “Shoot it in the eyes! Blind it!”

  The Harpy quickly grabbed an arrow from her quiver and shot it into the crocodile’s right eye. The beast shook its head from side to side as ichor poured out along the sides of the arrow sticking out of its eye socket. As the croc was trying to shake the arrow out of its eye, the Emperor approached the monster, reared up, and then brought the full weight of his body crashing down onto the reptile.

  There was a loud sucking sound as the elephant’s weight drove the crocodile’s body into the soft mud alongside the river. The crocodile’s thrashing increased as the creature tried to free itself from its muddy prison. The reptile had nearly broken free when the Harpy ran over to its left side and fired an arrow into that eye as well.

  With the loss of its second eye, the giant crocodile went berserk by wildly thrashing its tail and snapping its jaws.

  The Behemoth Master yelled down at the warriors still surrounding the creature, “Move away from it! Regroup with the rest of the regiment in the jungle!”

  The warriors were moving away from the monster when it finally pulled itself out of the mud. Despite being totally blind, the monster ran straight for the Harpy. Seeing his companion in danger, the Behemoth Master directed the Emperor to charge. The mighty elephant lowered his head and drove his tusks into the right side of the crocodile. With one thrust of his powerful head, the Emperor flipped the croc onto its back. The moment the creature was on its back, it stopped moving and was still. Even though the creature was blind and inert, the Behemoth Master had no intention of letting the reptile live. He tapped the Emperor on the back of his head and in response, the Emperor stepped forward and gored the croc. The crocodile’s soft underbelly was no match for the Emperor’s tusks. The alpha elephant’s tusks slid into the reptile’s chest and destroyed its heart and lungs.

  With the croc dead, the Behemoth Master directed the Emperor to make his way to the jungle. When the elephant reached the treeline, he found what remained of his regiment standing within the trees and looking over at the carnage taking place on the river. The remains of three elephants were bobbing up and down in the water as giant crocodiles tore them apart. The Behemoth Master climbed down from the Emperor and then he walked over next to the Harpy. He was standing next to the warrior woman as she reached out and grabbed his hand. They stood in silence, looking at the blood and carrion-filled river.

  When the body of the last of the three elephants slipped below the river, the Harpy turned toward the Behemoth Master. “We have been in the valley for less than an hour and have only made it a few steps into this place. In that small amount of time, and over that minuscule distance, we have lost more than half of our forces. How are we going to reach the other side of the valley?”

  The Behemoth Master squeezed the Harpy’s hand. “We are going to reach it together or we won’t reach it at all.” He looked back over his forces. “We lost at least three elephants. I also counted two horses and several soldiers.”

  The Harpy nodded in reply. “We can get an exact count when we reach a place where we can rest for a few moments in safety.” She looked toward the woods. “I can see shapes moving quickly through the trees around us. From the way they are darting back and forth, I am fairly sure they are predators.”

  Birilus rode his horse over to the Harpy and the Behemoth Master. “Those shapes moving around in the jungle. I have seen them before. They are the bird dragons which nearly wiped out the first party we entered the valley with. I think the presence of the elephants is keeping them at bay presently, but they seem to be very intelligent. I would not be surprised if they are devising a way to attack the elephants.”

  The Behemoth Master looked to the jungle to see a saurian head peeking through the foliage. His eyes went wide when he saw the maw of a Utahraptor staring back at him. The warrior turned to Birilus. “How did they attack last time and was there anything that dissuaded them?”

  Birilus nodded. “Fire seemed to keep them at bay. They varied their methods the last time they attacked us. At first, one of the creatures would charge head-on as a distraction. Once that creature had its prey’s attention, a second beas
t would attack from the side.”

  The Behemoth Master turned his head in the direction of the nearby mountains. “Have the elephants form a circle around the horses. We will start making our way toward the mountains immediately. We will make as many torches as we can on the move. If we reach the mountains, we can look for the smoke from Casrubol’s torches and the protection of his arrows.”

  The Harpy kept her eyes fixed on the raptors moving through the jungle. “I see no sign of torch fire on the mountains. We don’t even know if Casrubol has reached the valley. Even if he is on the mountainside waiting for us, we don’t know his position.” She briefly turned her head away from the jungle to look at the Behemoth Master. “Even if we did know his position, there is still the question of whether he left the she-bear to attack us and caused the avalanche.”

  The Behemoth Master placed his hand on the Harpy’s shoulder. “We will make a straight line from here to the mountains. If Casrubol is there, whatever his intentions are, he will see the smoke from our torches and head for us. If he meets us at the mountain, we will either have his protection or at least we will know what his intentions are. If he does not meet us there and the bird dragons decided to attack, at least the mountain will prevent them from surrounding us.”

  The Harpy nodded and yelled out, “Elephants, make a circle around the horses. Those of you on horseback, do your best to light torches and pass them around as we go. We are heading directly for the mountains!”

  There was no shout from the exhausted warriors as they quietly started carrying out their leaders’ plans.

  Chapter 10

  It took only a few minutes for the elephants to form a circle around the horses and for the regiment to start making its way toward the mountains. While the larger animals surrounding the horses slowed down the equestrian animals, the elephants plowing down trees in their path made the horses’ journey through the jungle significantly easier.