Blackwood Flats Safari: Part 7

It was dawn and the groggy velociraptor was ready to go. She already had a small bag of provisions packed, and her bow was in the quiver of arrows strapped on her back.

Yawning, she looked around to see if any sauropods would be accompanying them so she could hitch a ride for a few hours. Unfortunately, it looked like she'd have to walk and put that nap off until they stopped for a break later in the day.

“Over here,” he said waving her to the table he was sitting on. “I’ve separated the last four rooms available for your group. Hopefully, it will be enough.”

“That’s perfect,” Tamith said smiling. “I can always share my room with Mathaira and help her with the baby.”

“It was lucky we could get all those room is one place, with the storm and all, but hopefully people taking refuge here will be clearing out soon,” Raymond said. “This place also has an excellent barn; I’m sure your saurian companions will be very comfortable there as well.”

“Great!” Tamith said happily. “I’ll drop my things in my room and get Tri settled in, and then I’m going to go pick up some things around the city for the baby and the newcomers. I’m going to go down to the cooks and see if they need anything, seeing as we’ll have a large and hungry group tonight.”

Raymond smiled. “I’ll leave those commodities to you. I’ll be heading out to provide the caravan an escort in; you can never be too careful.”

Tamith nodded. “Seek Peace!” she said.

“Fly high,” the rider told her and walked out of the Inn towards his skybax.

Tamith grinned, barely able to contain her excitement. Not only were they welcoming dolphinbacks, but a new life as well. She walked outside and led Triforce to the barn Raymond had told her about. After grooming and making sure her partner had all the food, water, and anything else she wanted, she dashed back inside to talk to the innkeeper. The innkeeper was a nice elderly lady named Myrna. She was gracious enough to show Tamith the rooms her friends would be lodging in and, to her great satisfaction, two of the four had a view of the bay. She quickly told their host to reserve these specifically for the dolphinbacks, choosing one of the ones across from them for herself and Mathaira.

Dylan would like one with water view as well, she thought with a smile.

Upon learning she’d be hosting dolphinbacks, Myrna went on a frenzy with preparations. She seemed to want everything perfect for when her guest arrived. Taking a grocery basket, Tamith offered to go into town and pick up some of the comestibles they’d be enjoying that night while her host got every single hand in the inn to cleaning, shinning, and polishing every last piece of silverware, corner and inch of the place.

“This is going to be great!” Tamith thought out load making her way down the colorful streets of Chandara.

The dinosaur Namir had hunted seemed to be healing up pretty well. He had been told her name was Ava. The trumpeting noises she made fascinated the young Mexican and he stayed close to her most of the time.

But, such surprises couldn’t keep his playful nature down for long. Already, his mind was on his next prank.

*****

She rumbled lowly in her frustration with her slight limp. The hum reverberated through her crest, sounding almost like a groaning ship on storm tossed seas. Mathaira had done a good job bandaging her injuries, but constant movement made the wounds ache worse.

The Parasaurolophus did not miss the small smile and chuckle from Rico. He was up to something for sure.

Gareth swung himself down the stairs and shook his hair vigorously in the vestibule, shedding cape and cloak like a dog sheds water. A raptor simply stood for a moment before coming in through the door.

Dressed in a vest and Asian style trousers, Gareth looked a lot less formidable than with sword and cloak. He grinned as he walked up to Tamith.

"Hey, pleased to see you got here safely. Dylan didn't want to come; he's resting at the senate while the healers tend to that gash on his head. By the way," he gestured to the raptor who had now come up behind him, "Paki, this is Tamith Kai; Tamith, this is Paki'tar, the speaker for Chandara." The raptor gave a knee bending bow as Myrna sidled up with a couple of steaming mugs.

Tamith smiled and nodded at Gareth. Dylan resting, now there’s an idea, she thought with a smile and made a mental note to check on him as soon as she got the chance, knowing her friend’s dislike and distrust of healers outside his family’s nucleus. And with Dylan, being as unpredictable as he was, she could never be too sure about anything. She then turned back to the newcomers.

“Pleasure to meet you acquaintance,” she told Gareth and Paki’tar. “People in this city have been nothing but helpful since we arrived. Have you met the dolphinbacks?” she asked the Speaker.

Jebar shifted the weight of the food and cooking utensils on his back. He was strong, but not used to carrying two days worth of food for three people. And the heat and humidity didn’t help much either. Still, he was thankful for his dark skin; Captain McGreggor and Lucas were looking fairly pink from the sun. By days end, they’d be quite red.

Suddenly, Namir ran ahead of the group and to the waters edge. The large tiger chased something bobbing in the surf for a moment before finally catching it in his massive paws. Almost delicately, he held the collar of a child’s shirt in his teeth, and dragged him farther up shore.

The captain and Lucas quickly ran to the man while Jebar tried his best to keep up. When he caught a glimpse of what Namir had found, he dropped the pack and ran after them.

“Good boy, Namir,” Lucas praised his pet. He rubbed the cat on its head. Namir purred, then began licking the face of the boy he had rescued.

When Jebar arrived, his heart leapt into his throat. It was his son...

"Kairo. Kairo, wake up." Almost angrily, he shoved Namir away and cradled his son in his arms.

"Here, let me see the boy," the Captain demanded. He practically had to pry Jebar’s arms away from him. But, he wasn’t happy with what he saw. At least the boy was alive.

A quick look proved that the only thing that had kept the young boy afloat for so long was a spar, through his stomach. It was a miracle that he was still alive.

Lucas put his hand on the darker mans shoulder. “Jebar, I’m so sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. He’ll live.” Jebar continued to hug his son. “I’ve seen worse.”

Kairo coughed up a little blood and looked up at his dad. A small groan escaped his lips.

“Shh-hh-hh… It’ll be okay,” Jebar comforted.

Captain McGreggor shook his head, and began digging through the pack that Jebar had dropped. Quickly, he found what he had been looking for. He kept the knife hidden.

“Jebar, it’ll be better if we just end it for him. The boy’s not going to make it.”

“No, he’ll be fine! We just need to find him a doctor.” He hugged the boy closer, not minding the blood that seeped onto his own cloths. It had taken so much to find his son, then to find enough money to buy Kairo from the slave owner. He couldn’t die now; not like this. Tears began stinging his eyes. Why had he lived, and his son about to die? Namir had gone back out into the surf, letting the ocean drench his coat and cool him off. He watched the humans going about some strange business with mild interest. Still, the scent of blood made him hungry.

“Jebar, say goodbye. We can’t leave him like this. It’s cruel to let him die this slowly.”

“No…” He hugged him tighter.

It took both Lucas and Captain McGreggor to pull Jebar away from his son. Lucas held him back while the Captain covered the boys face with the handkerchief from his neck, and plunged the old cooking knife into the boys’ heart. It was only moments before Kairo stopped gasping for air, and was at peace.

Lucas felt part of himself shatter as the boy stopped breathing. He had dedicated most of his life to the hunt of exotic and potentially dangerous animals and, in the process, such a life had cost him more than one friend. He could only begin to imagine the pain his shipmate was going through because he had never reproduced. Fatherly love was totally alien to him, but he had lost brothers. He took his eyes away from the boy and looked back towards trees. They had to bury him, it was the least they could do since they had failed so miserably at saving his life.

"Captain," he said softly, laying a hand on the older man's shoulder. "Please assist me in digging a grave. Let Jebar keep the body until it is time." McGreggor nodded, silently rising to his feet and following Lucas deeper inland.

"Namir," Lucas called to his great cat. The tiger returned from his position on the shore and sat before his master. Through sign language and gestures, Lucas communicated to his cat what he was to do: comb the surroundings for aromatic flowers. They would perform the ceremony right.

McGreggor had already picked a decent spot well away from the reach of waves in the nearby foliage and, setting down his pack, began to dig. Taking one last look at Jebar, and at a total loss for words, Lucas squeezed his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," he said. The darker man did not respond, nor did he expect him to as he turned and went to aid his older shipmate.

Damage to the brains of overworked volunteers who were trying to help out in Chandra was not being reported. LiquidFire couldn't remember why on earth she had decided to go visit Chandara right now, but was almost regretting it. With the storm-damage, she had offered a helping hand at one of the hospitals but some of these mammals....

She had expected to go see some funny buildings people had told her she really should go see but instead she had ran into a disaster area, lots of airborne pieces of wood and stone and after that, lost of injured citizens. Now she had been called to some inn to see to an injured human. A pterosaur who had been so kind as to fly ahead so she wouldn't get too lost.

The human didn't appear to be too happy. Entering his inn-room, she got to duck a low flying bowl of water. She picked it up from the floor after it had collided with the wall and toppled over the floor.

"Why good evening to you too," she said, walking in with the bowl.

The human was bleeding badly from a nasty wound on his head and had many smaller cuts on his arms and hands where he had tried to fend off the attack. She thought he'd be happy to see a healer with wounds like that!

“Oh!” Dylan blinked a few times, “I know you!” He then seemed to think better of the situation. “And I’m fine; I don’t need your kind to come in and try to patch me up. I can do a pretty good job myself, thank you very much.”

LiquidFire smiled at the human upon recognizing him. "Well the last time I saw you, you were walking into Utahraptor territory uninvited and that was when you did NOT have an injury on your head." She walked up, "Now let me have a look at that; this won't hurt."

Dylan’s eyes widened and he took a step back. “Nuh-uh! None of that. I told you, I can do this fine myself; all I need is clean towels and water.” He tripped on a chair he had failed to see and fell backwards. The small accident was all the Utahraptor needed to get ahold on him and inspect his wounds, much to the human’s great displeasure.

"I'm sure you can take care of yourself, but you can't look at the top of your head now can you?" She let go of him and suggested he go sit on the bed. The human didn't seem to be dizzy and was wide-awake; apparently it was just some wound and not a concussion. Still, it'd have to stop bleeding.

Dylan narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “And what are you going to do when I do? Use your little tools of torment to try to make it all better? I’d rather stand, thanks.” And with that, he leaned against the wall and ignored her presence all together.

She couldn’t help but chuckle. "Tools of torment? Come on, I'm not THAT bad now, am I?" She pushed him onto a chair. "Now don't make me go find your good friend K'veer to keep you still."

Like I’m intimidated by the likes of him, Dylan thought glaring daggers at LiquidFire, I can stand my ground just fine if my conscious just allowed me to.

LiquidFire ignored the young human’s glare. "You know what? I'll ask for some towels and water and then you can see what you can do; but first, I want to help this head wound." She tried to clean it up with some clean cloth and boiled water the innkeeper had provided.

“GAH!” Dylan screamed moving sideways and falling out of the chair. “What are you doing?! It’s tender! THAT’S HOT!”

The healer caught him, surprised at this slightly ridiculous reaction; the water was near cold by now. "Just hold still for a moment."

She put him back on the chair and grabbed the back of his neck to keep his head still. He could feel her claws against his skin now; he should keep skill or he might accidentally get a scratch. He couldn’t move, but that didn’t stop him from talking.

She finished cleaning the head wound quickly and then got some herbs and a roll of thin bandage-cloth. "Now be a big boy for a moment..."

“Ow...ow...OW! Barbarians! The lot of you! OWWWWW! You make a career out of tormetin-OW! Watch that!” He accidentally/on purpose knocked down the water. “Whoops,” he sneered. “Now you need to get more.”

"I guess I should," she said. After quickly tying a bandage around his head, she left downstairs to get more water.

Dylan grinned mischievously. Now to take this into his own hands.

"I'll get some more wood," Lucas said, interrupting the death-like silence of the night falling around them. The sky, like their hearts, was completely clouded over and every once in a while a wind draft of the receding storm would chill their bodies as a constant reminder of the chaos of its passing. Sheets of cold rain began to fall as Lucas moved deeper into the surrounding foliage trying to scavenge what little dry or semidry wood he could find. He could feel Namir somewhere around him, hunting for the night dwellers he knew to be there that, for some reason, refused to sing on this forsaken night. A baleful blue moon parted through the cloud bands illuminated the pitch black of his surroundings, but its light was quick lived as another band of clouds soon replaced its guidance. Sighing inwardly, Lucas held his extinguishing torch in front of him and made his way deeper inland and farther from the sea.

Ironic, he thought sadly, That the life giving sea can just as quickly shatter it.

The howl of the wind and waves died away with the flickers of the fire in their camp that was struggling to survive with the little wood it had, and he hurried away to find more.

The cold rain hitting his body went unfelt by Jebar. All he knew was the slow rage building deep within. It wasn't right. Why had the Captain killed his son? If it haddn't been for Rico and Lt. Tates, Kairo would still be alive. It was their fault, with their stupid prank. If everyone had been able to fit into the proper lifeboats, then Kairo would still be alive.

It wasn't fair. But he could make it fair.

He continued to stare at the knife blade. When Lucas got up to get more firewood, he barely noticed. The rage continued to grow. No, the captain hadn’t done a mercy kill; he'd murdered his son.

Unable to take it anymore, he leaped for the knife and roared his hatred at Captain McGreggor before attacking him. This man would die.

Lucas kneeled down to pick up a damp log he had identified in the near darkness and smiled. If this thing managed to catch fire, it would keep them semi-warm most of the night and, if the rain didn't get any worse. He had already gathered enough of a load to got back to camp with so, adding to it this final burden, he turned to head back. He sensed around for his tiger, but couldn't catch any noise that would betray its whereabouts. Suddenly, another sound caught his ear- shouting. He furrowed his brow upon realizing that it was coming from their camp, now only visible as a distant speck of light against absolute darkness. Something was wrong.

Forgetting about the load of wood, he sprinted back towards the encampment A thousand horrible possibilities drifted through his mind.

What he saw there stopped his heart cold. The captain was fighting for his life while Jebar, in a mad rage, attacked him with the same knife that had ended his sons suffering. In his anger, Jebar was winning, and had already managed to stab the captain several times.

"Jebar! Ye've gone mad! Stop it!" The captain yelled, trying to avoid the knife, but slowed down with an injury to his thigh.

"Mr. Sorla!" Lucas yelled running toward the two men and managing to push Jebar away from Capt. McGreggor. "What in the blazes has gotten in you, man?!"

Jebar pushed himself up and leaped at Lucas. "He killed him!" Plunging the knife downwards, he went at Lucas too. Anyone who tried stopping him would meet the same fate.

Lucas clenched his jaw. What had come over the man? It was obvious he was being driven by extreme sorrow and hatred, but he had to get a hold of himself. He jumped out of the way of the incoming blade, shoving McGreggor aside too in the process. The older man was limping and bleeding badly, he noticed with concern.

"Listen to me!" Lucas exclaimed. "This will achieve nothing! You have to get a grip on yourself! We're all here together!"

"Not no more. Not when he killed Kairo. He doesn't care for us! He'd kill us too!" Jebar again leaped at Lucas. "Get outta here boy before I does the same to you."

"I can't let you do this!" Lucas replied. His mind raced. He had no idea what was going to do.

The dark man plunged the knife into Lucas' leg, drawing blood. "Don't you stand in my way."

Lucas swore. "Goodness man! What-get a hold of yourself! Are you trying to kill us all?" He tentatively tried his weight on his wounded leg only to discover it gave in under him, almost making him loose balance. "Captain," he whispered, never taking his eyes from the other man. "Try to get to my pack; I have a revolver there. We can try to talk sense into him with it."

Captain McGreggor nodded and slowly tried to make his way to the pack without drawing attention to himself. When Jebar heard about the revolver, he leaped at the pack, making it there first as the captain had already been critically injured. "Oh no... You killed my son. Now you gonna die too."

"Jebar!" Lucas called out. Forgetting his injured leg, he threw himself on the darker man, summoning all the strength he could muster to drive the weapon from him.

Jebar laughed madly and kept hold of the gun in one hand and the knife in the other. He fell back under Lucas' weight, his finger tightening on the trigger and firing the revolver. While Lucas grabbed for the gun, Jebar thrust the knife into his side.

Lucas' eyes widened and he took a step backwards clutching his side with both his palms. A sharp pain streamed from his side to every corner of his body. For a moment, he felt dizzy. To his horror, he realized that he couldn't breath. He collapsed to his knees and tried to heave in precious oxygen, but something was preventing the life air to reach his lungs. Violently, he began to cough the blood that was blocking the air passage. His vision blurred and focused at odd intervals as he tried to regain control of his body.

“I warned you to get out of my way,” Jebar growled. Turning his back on Lucas, he turned to the Captain. “You. You killed my son. Kairo was a good boy. He didn’t deserve that. You promised we’d be safe on your ship! You no different than the slave owners.” The hatred boiled up again as he raised the pistol, and shot it once, ending Captain Mark McGreggors life.

He looked back at Lucas and reloaded the revolver.

Lucas glared at Jebar, but braced himself. "Not like this," he muttered. "Never like this!"

Jebar clicked the bullet into place and aimed. “Kairo didn’t have to die like he did.” He pulled back the hammer and tightened the grip on the trigger.

Attracted by the noise and scent of blood, Namir ran onto the scene. The great cat leaped on Jebar, throwing off his aim and the bullet flew harmlessly into the air. The tiger roared and pawed the gun away from the human. He let Jebar up, but chased him away, then returned to Lucas.

Lucas smiled weakly at the big cat. "Good boy," he whispered, but realized he could no longer waste precious breath on idle talk. Wrapping an arm around Namir's strong neck for support, he motioned for the tiger to help him into the shallows. The least he could do was wash his wounds from infections. Namir obeyed and gently, as if sensing his master's pain, helped him to shore. After soaking for several minutes, he realized that if he didn't stop the bleeding, he was going to die from blood loss.

Grabbing onto the cat's neck again, he half dragged himself back to the dying fire and ripping a spare shirt from one of the abandoned packs, produced a rustic bandage for his side and leg. The pain was starting to be maddening, but he had to force himself to live through the night. He hadn't survived countless safaris and a shipwreck to die like this; somehow, he was going to survive. He laid down by the fire to get what warmth he could and smiled thankfully as Namir sat down next to him, blocking his body from the full blast of the elements. Somehow, he was going to make it.

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