Blackwood Flats Safari: Part 6

A very wet and soggy Tony woke to an amazingly cheerful and bright morning. Strange birds were singing and the ocean was calmly gliding over the beaches sand. He scratched sand from the stubble on his face and looked around for any sign of life. Sadly, there was none.

Kicking the sand, the lone human walked to the flat savannah in hopes of finding fresh water and shade. Maybe, if he was lucky, he could find some fruit or small animal he could kill.

Luck was with him and he soon found a stream. A first taste proved the water to still be salty. Hopefully, further up, the water would be fresher.

The shipwrecked sailor carefully studied the water as he slogged along the banks. He could see fish and a number of bizarre creatures he couldn't identify swimming in the clear water.

Deciding it best to at least eat something before continuing the search for freshwater, he carefully waded thigh deep in the strong current, grasping a large stick in his hands, and waited. He had used the same trick as a young boy back in Italy. The water was warm and he could remain motionless in its flow for many hours if need be.

Soon, a fish came close to him and nibbled the stick. Moving swiftly, he grabbed the fish with one hand and threw it onto the bank. A few quick blows with the stick killed the fish. Too hungry to wait, Tony bit into the raw flesh and devoured his meal.

Hunger somewhat satiated, he continued following the river.

He had been walking for several hours when trees started sprouting up along the banks, giving him some respite from the shade.

Something on the bank caused him to stop and walk slower. The gray and blue lump remained motionless. Studying it closer, Tony saw that the creatures breathing was erratic.

Taking the chance, he walked right up to it. The small thing couldn't have weighed more than a dog. It was compact and lizard-like, with a feathered crest and muscular neck. The three fingered hands were tipped with claws, as were the feet. Apparently, this was a hunter of some sort.

Tony easily recognized the lines of bruises across the arms and several puncture marks on the chest as wounds from a squid. When he had been little, one of his best friends had tangled with a squid and had won similar wounds. The poison had given his friend some problems for a while, but he'd pulled through.

A little thought came creeping into his mind. Lucas had a tiger for a pet. Why couldn't he tame this creature? It'd be very helpful as far as finding food went, and it may even offer some sort of protection.

He rolled it over and began sucking what little poison he could from the wounds and spitting it out. There was some seaweed in the water that was well known in his hometown for absorbing venoms, and he plastered it on the animals chest. Braiding some vines into a tight rope, he tied the unconscious animal to a tree and went about getting a fire ready. The water here was fresh enough to drink safely if he filtered it through the sandy banks and he could fish. This was an ideal camping spot until he had taught the animal to obey him and could again enjoy the taste of something larger than a fish.

With a dozen velociraptors crowding close, the terrified quetzalcoatlus couldn’t take to the skies again.

“I have a message for clan leader Azonthus!” the rider called out as he dismounted, much to the disapproval of his mount.

Grinning, which, not accidentally, showed off all of her razor sharp teeth, Az waved down the trainees. “And what do you need her for?” she demanded.

The rider nervously looked at all the claws and teeth surrounding him. “This is only for Azonthus to hear. My instructions were very clear about that.”

“Well, you’ll have to tell me.”

The rest of the raptors, unable to understand human, growled softly.

“Oh, go take the rest of the day off,” Az said. “I’ll deal with these two.”

The eleven other raptors slipped into the jungle, but stayed close enough to see what went on.

“Breath Deep. I am Azonthus. What’s you’re message?”

The rider visibly relaxed now that he wasn’t surrounded. “Seek Peace. The council of Round Table Hall sent me here to bring you back to Waterfall City.”

Az tensed. Why would they want her there? Surely they weren’t after her about the Allosaurs!

“Dolphinbacks have landed in Blackwood Flats and representatives from every part of the Island will be traveling there to greet them. You were chosen to represent the Rainy Basin.”

Az laughed. “And you expect me to just come with you and leave my clan without their leader?”

The look on his face told her enough.

“Right. It’s not like I have any responsibilities or anything. I can just play extinct and vanish.” Az shook her head. “No.”

“But…” The rider was at a loss for words. They had never considered that she might not be able to come!

“You come flying in here, interrupt my warriors practice, and expect me to just come with you? No; not going to happen.”

“Please? We need you to come because other carnosaurs haven’t left the Basin to join our society then returned! You’ll be able to represent the carnosaurs, but understand Dolphinbacks fear.”

Az grinned again. This was too much fun. “Ok!”

“Ok? You’re coming?”

“Yup! Give me half an hour.” The small raptor dashed off to notify the elders and grab her cape and bow and arrows. Soon, she was gripping the saddle of a second skybax with her claws and on her way back to the city.

She didn't put that there.

Sharell then realized that someone must have saved her! Searching around for whoever it was, she saw a single pair of human tracks and a strong smell of seawater.

She then noticed the rope of vines that leashed her to the tree. At first she was confused. Why would anyone want to tie her up? Straining her still murky thoughts, she figured that whomever it was who had saved her had put it there for her protection; So that in her dazed state she wouldn't wander and fall into the river or something like that.

Still exhausted from the ordeal, Sharell begun to fall asleep. Glad to have survived, she fell into a dreamless sleep.

"Where are your companions? It’ll be good to see Mathaira again and welcome some newcomers to the island. It's good to see you too; why, last time I saw you, you were a mere whipper-snapper, sweeping out the stables in Canyon City. You sure have grown."

"Yes, I noticed that; if I don't stop getting bigger I'm going to have to sleep in the sauropod barn! Come on, they're down in this gulley."

They ran down the steep path to see what was happening with the rest of the party.

"We've already gotten a supply of eels, just incase we meet any carnivores in the Basin... Oh, I do hope they're still waiting out the storm in caves or something."

Ressa was a scarlet and sienna colored Fabrosaur. Like most scribes, a journey into the Basin was his least favorite thing, but under the circumstances, he had been willing to make the sacrifice of abandoning his beloved library.

"Calm down, Ressa. I'm sure we'll have no problems with them. If Azonthus comes, everything should be just fine," Kael said momentarily looking up from his work. "Besides, don't you get bored of being cooped up in here everyday?"

"Not really, no," Ressa replied, checking out another item on his list. "My scrolls and translating are all the adventure I need. Besides, I travel down to Pooktook once a year to visit family and that's enough of an outing for me."

Kael smiled. "Sometimes I wonder why we get along so well. You can be worse than Enit at times!"

"That's why you're the ambassador, and I'm the scribe. You travel, I write. Simple enough and works just fine for me...Hmm... Nallab already confirmed Standtall was willing? Yes he did... Food! I better go down there and check our suppl-"

He would have continued, but was interrupted by Hikari Sakamoto who ran in past him, making him loose his balance and knock over a pile of scrolls.

"Jones-san's back! O'Connor-san, Jones-san's back!" Hikari squealed, oblivious to Ressa's grumbles.

"Allen? He is?" Kael jumped out from behind his desk and ran towards the door, completely forgetting about poor Ressa. Hikari was beaming but, before running after Kael, she noticed to middle aged Fabrosaur and raised and eyebrow.

"Ressa, what are you doing there?" she inquired.

"What do you think!" Ressa exclaimed, "You tripped me-"

"That's nice, but I’ve got to go. If Azonthus-san came, she'll need accommodations. Keep up the good work!" With that, she sprinted after Kael.

"But, ahh... Humans." Ressa complained picking himself and the scrolls around him up before going down to check on the food supplies.

******

Allen Jones was just dismounting golden Highwind, when Kael and Hikari tumbled into the rookery. They both looked slightly out of breath and Allen grinned at his friend's attempt to regain his composure before meeting the Clan leader.

Azonthus jumped off her mount and took a moment to study the two humans before her. The female had long, complicatedly braided black hair and eyes and wore loose sapphire colored pants and matching tunic. The male looked slightly familiar, but she couldn’t quite put her claw on it. He was dressed in red robes and had shoulder length dark brown hair. He was the one that addressed her first.

"Breath Deep," he began in the typical Dinotopian fashion.

"Seek Peace," Azonthus finished the greeting and waited for an introduction.

"My name is Kael O'Connor, I shall be leading our team to the Blackwood Flats. It is an honor that you could join us Azonthus. This is Hikari Sakamoto; she will be joining us too, as will Allen Jones, whom you have already met."

"O'Connor!" Azonthus exclaimed suddenly. "That's why you look so familiar. Are you related to Dylan O'Connor?"

"Yes," Kael said, slightly taken aback by her quick connection. "He's my brother. You've met him?"

"Met him?!" Azonthus said laughing. "How could I forget him? He’s the biggest pain in the neck ever!"

Kael's puzzled look made her laugh even harder. "Oh don't worry, I meant that in the best possible way. Yes, I have met him before and he always seems to be getting himself, and Tamith, a good friend of mine, into trouble. If we happen to all be together then... You get the point."

"Yes," Kael said still slightly confused "Dylan can be a bit reckless..."

"It runs in the family," Allen muttered loud enough for everyone present to hear, then pretended to be attending his partner when Kael threw a hard glare in his direction. Hikari brought a hand to her mouth as to muffle her giggles. Allen stole a glance at her and winked, getting a thumb's up in response.

"Any ways," Kael continued ignoring both his friends. "I think it would be nice to introduce you to the rest of the team and to fill you in on our plans. Since you are here, we can leave at dawn tomorrow."

"Sounds fair," Az said finding everything that was going on around her very amusing. "I could always visit a couple of friends before we leave and had a good look around of the city, for old time's sake."

Kael smiled and nodded while motioning for her to follow him down the steps towards the city.

"And you could tell us how you met Dylan!" Allen called as they left and he could have sworn he saw Kael pause for a fragment of a second.

"Well," he said once they were both gone and out of earshot, "That went well."

Hikari grinned. "You're evil, Allen-kun."

"Thanks," he said with a smirk, then turned to unsaddle and groom Highwind.

Heads turned upwards as Gareth entered the clearing and several of the group rose as the skybax riders followed him down into the clearing. Raymond immediately dunked his head into the water and took a few long gulps before shaking it vigorously, soliciting an amused chuckle from Tates and a few purring giggles from the baby Rhamphorynhcus.

The riders stood and began talking to the travelers and Niya ran towards Mathaira, hugging her round the neck with obvious joy. The two were old friends. Gareth loped towards the pool of water and took a few deep draughts, filling his gourd at the edge of the pool before returning to where Raymond was whispering to Lucas. He knelt down next to where Niya and Mathaira where cooing and tickling the little dinosaur.

“Mathaira, do you think you’ll be able to travel with this little fellow?” he asked, stroking the tiny head, causing the baby to nip playfully at his fingertip and draw tiny rivulets of blood.

“Ooh, are you all right, or did poor Ickle babykins get bitten to badly?” Mathaira scolded playfully before continuing in a more serious tone.

“Yes, I think we can travel, at least on foot. I don’t think taking a skybax or riding would be the best of ideas for him at the moment. The skybax certainly wouldn’t like carrying the extra weight of two Dolphinbacks and I’m pretty sure Tamith would like to travel with Triforce. You can go on with the Skybax riders if you would like. What do you think?”

“Well, I’d much rather travel with you. After all, you may need my assistance!”

After a few minutes talk, the group packed up and got ready to move out. Tamith, Gareth, Lt. Tates, Rico, and Mathaira all set out on foot with Ava, Triforce and Karua while the Skybax wing took off and soared overhead with a parting shriek.

Tamith was helping Mathaira pack what they had used to aid them during the hatching when she felt someone pat her in the back.

“Hey you!” she said beaming at Dylan. “I’d expected you to have stayed in Chandara. Glad to see you’re feeling better.”

Dylan grinned. “And miss an opportunity to get myself into trouble again? Naw.”

“I’m happy to see you’re looking better Dylan,” Mathaira told him, still cooing to baby Storm Rider. “You had us worried.”

Dylan smiled. “I’ll be staying behind to help with the baby now. Tamith, you and Triforce can go ahead to Chandara with the rest of the group and reserve rooms at an inn or something. We’re gonna need them.”

“Sounds fair,” Tamith replied. “I’ll prepare a feast for you all for when you arrive; we’ll be needing that too, I think. I’ll see you there!”

She waved goodbye at her old friends and walked over to the skybax wing to talk with Raymond. She told him Triforce and she would set out on foot to Chandara and would meet up with them there. Raymond agreed to this and took the responsibility of finding enough rooms for the travelers when he arrived. He waved goodbye, and mounted his skybax.

“On to Chandara,” Tamith whispered to Triforce. The Triceratops grunted a response and set ahead on a brisk trot.

“Gentlemen,” Lucas said addressing his fellow castaways. “Gather everything we can salvage and carry, we’re heading out now.”

Both Captain McGreggor and Mr. Sorla aided him in putting together enough supplies that would allow them to hunt for food, camp, and give simple first aid to any of them if it were needed.

“What should we do with the rest of this stuff?” Jebar Sorla asked pointing at the other three crates they had salvaged.

“Let’s leave them here,” Lucas suggested, “But lets bury them. We really wouldn’t want them to fall into the wrong hands.” He signaled for his Siberian tiger, Namir, to come to him and, after affectionately rubbing his ears, told him to dig a deep hole on the moist earth. It wasn’t long before the great cat had done his job and the three men pushed in the remaining crates in and covered them. Satisfied with their work, the three remaining trappers set out back towards the shore.

“The remaining drizzle will cover our tracks, Mr. Pradelli,” Captain McGreggor said as they departed the camp.

“I’m aware of that, but I’m sure a good enough tracker would be able to pick up our trail. The boy whom Namir attacked told me there would be people coming for us. In any case, we could just circle back here after a few days, but not until we have scavenged every last corner of these shores. There just have to be more survivors.”

Captain McGreggor nodded. Lucas was now kneeling next to Namir again, apparently telling him something. The orange cats ears perked up and, within moments, he jumped ahead of the trio, sniffing the earth in his path.

“I sent him to search for the trail of any human sent he finds familiar.” He said turning to his companions. “If there’s anyone out there, Namir is sure to find them.”

Having formed a makeshift sling from a spare tunic, the hatchling StormRider slept securely under Mathaira's cloak. Knowing that he would be hungry when he woke, Mathaira popped a few berries in her mouth to soften them, carefully placing them in a small pouch after doing so where they would provide ready nourishment for the tiny Rhamphorynhcus. Not that the availability of nourishing food was a problem... Quite the opposite, Mathaira's traveling companions had willingly, even eagerly, shared their rations and whatever bounty they had gleaned from the Island with the always hungry hatchling. Mathaira smiled to herself, thinking that StormRider would be both spoiled and plump from the attention of all the doting "aunts and uncles" who cared for him.

A particularly frigid blast of air hit Mathaira full in the face, knocking the hood from her head and whipping her hair into her eyes. Attempting to tame her hair with one hand, she grasped the hood with her other and pulled it back onto her head. Sighing audibly, she asked anyone who might be listening, "Do you think we'll reach Chandara soon?" She sure hoped so! Tamith and Triforce had gone ahead and Mathaira hoped that her friend had secured them a room... A warm, dry one!

It was awake, but still laying on its side when he got there. The odd creatures feathered crest was tight against its neck, and the blue bump on its nose was a little brighter.

"Hey..." he said soothingly. "I won't hurt you." Slowly, he picked up some left over fish and put it in front of the animal. "Go on, it's good."

Sharell looked up and saw that the human dolphinback was handing her some tasty looking fish. And she was ravenously hungry.

"Hey, I won't hurt you," he said soothingly. "Go on, it's good." Of course, she didn't understand what he was saying but the feeling of the message was clear enough. Taking the fish from the spot that he laid it down, she tore it apart easily with her jaws and gulped the little bit of fish down so fast that she barely got a taste of it. Still conscious of the hunger in her belly, she looked him in the eye and asked him with hers and with a little chirp if he had any more.

The man smiled. Yes, if Lucas could tame a tiger, he could tame an overgrown lizard. The chirp was cute enough, and it watched him. It seemed tame enough; but, then again, many animals that had never seen humans were pretty tame.

He tossed another fish at the creature.

"Well... What am I going to call you?" He started thinking of names as he moved around the small camp, trying to make a shelter from any more rain.

It was odd, she thought to herself, That this human, obviously a dolphinback, was not taken too much aback by what she was. Then again, taking another look back at him, she realized that he was looking at her funny, as if she were a puzzle that he was trying to figure out. Did he think of her as food? That thought was quickly banished from possibility. No. If he did, he would have taken her after she had been nearly killed by that terrifying squid. A few other ideas flowed through her head and none of them seemed to be logical, not one seemingly possible. Thinking about it just made her head hurt and got her nowhere. Sharell decided that whatever the reason, it wasn't at all in malicious intent. So, she decided to sleep on it; it would be easier on her when she woke up again.

Resting her head back down and still too weak to sleep in her normal position, on her belly with her legs folded along side her and her crested head up, closely resembling the Red Lion statues she had heard about from her friend Azonthus, another Basin native that met up with every now and then, she fell into a restful sleep. Of which, she would have been less likely to have if she had know the real intent of the human stranger. But not knowing anything of humans controlling animals or training them for their own purposes, it was unlikely Sharell would have been able to figure it out even if she had been feeling in peek condition, much less weakened as she was now. All that concerned her for the moment was getting better.

Tony kept talking to his new pet once it woke up. He spoke in Italian; it didn’t matter what he said, he just wanted it to get used to his voice. Still, he told it about his family and the smelly factory where he had worked before signing up with the trappers.

“You know, I’ve got to call you something.” He carefully studied the creature, unsure if it was male or female. Still, he needed a name. “I’ll call you Umberto.” He smiled a little to himself. “Yes, Umberto is a good name for you. I hated my boss in that chicken factory. He always yelled at us and cut our wages. He made us starve. Do you know what it’s like, working so hard around food and not being able to eat? Oh, what would he think of finding that I named a monster after him? Hah.

“Umberto, want some more fish?” He waved a piece in the air, watching to see if the creature would react. It’d soon learn its name.

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