“My thinking exactly, Mr. Smiggens.” The captain stared out into the darkness. “We’ll carry what gold and jewels we can back to the ship, secure our playful little demon and this lad in the hold, and return with proper gear for hauling off half a temple or so.” He raised his voice lustily. “Won’t we, boys?” A number of tired but willing cheers greeted his cry. “You can’t!” Will began. “The storm—”
Blackstrap grabbed him by his shirt collar. “Now, lad, that be a word that’s not in old Brognar’s vocabulary.” Letting go of his captive, he looked to his men. “’Tis back to sleep, then, and whoever’s on guard keep a weather eye on these two. Already they’re too fond of one another’s company.” He stalked off into the night, heading for his golden bed.
They couldn’t get away with it, a distraught Will worried. It could not be allowed to happen. If they managed to escape with such treasure, others would learn the location of Dino-topia. Ship after ship would come searching, and some would find it. The elegiac, peaceful civilization humans and dinosaurs had so carefully constructed after millennia of cooperation would come under intolerable pressure. It would be invaded by people, politics, and philosophies from the outside world. Was Dinotopia strong enough to resist such an invasion? Was any wholly independent country?
There was little in the way of weaponry in Dinotopia besides the purely defensive armaments convoys used to hold off stubborn carnosaurs when crossing the Rainy Basin. How could Sauropolis defend itself against modern warships? Would its citizens even try? If a successful anchorage could be found, a foreign power could land troops and . . .
He couldn’t think about it anymore. His schooling had been thorough and he knew far too much of human history. Dinotopia’s unique society would never survive the pressure of regular contact with the outside world. The pirates’ departure had to be prevented at all costs, for their own benefit as well as that of all Dinotopia. It was all up to him.
Well, perhaps not entirely.
XIX
from thf.tr hiding place the struthie family had watched the unfolding of developments within the pirate encampment.
“What is that sound?” Tragic and fueled by sorrow, it made Chaz wince.
“Some sort of tyrannosaurian lament.” Hisaulk peered over the wall. “There, it’s stopped. The humans are not moving around so much and their laughter has faded. Things seem to be quieting down.”
“What’s the young tyrannosaur doing?” the Protoceratops asked.
“She looks to have reached an accommodation with your friend. I don’t think she’s going to eat him. At least, not right away.”
The translator continued to pace in a small tight circle. “Somehow we’ve got to get him out of there.”
“I agree.”
“There has to be a way to ...” the Protoceratops paused in his pacing. “You do?”
“Certainly. He’s given us back our freedom. We can do no less for him.” Hisaulk continued to peer through the darkness. “We must wait. Until the proper time presents itself, we will play the game of statue. These humans think we’re running away. Let them continue to think we’re running away.” Chaz was uncertain. “I don’t mind being a statue for a while. The questions is, what will they do to Will in the meantime?”
many of the pirates had their hands to their ears. “Make it stop!” Treggang winced as Prettykill hit a particularly discordant note.
“I’ll make it stop.” Guimaraes raised his rifle.
“No!” Will rushed to interpose himself between the Portuguese and the wailing tyrannosaur. “That’s not the way.” “Aye, belay that!” Blackstrap stepped forward to slap the muzzle of the rifle aside. “You forget what the little devil is worth.”
“It’s worth a lot of trouble, Captain.” A sullen Guimaraes nodded sharply in the direction of the main temple. “Do we really have need of such trouble when we already have more wealth than we can carry?”
“Mayhap,” Blackstrap agreed. “However, I find meself fancying a bit of fame to go along with the gold, and Mr. Smiggens assures me that bringing back a creature such as this will surely buy me that. So there’ll be no killing as yet.” Turning to Will, he fingered the cutlass at his side.
“That said, lad, if you don’t find a way to quiet the little horror, we’ll find a means of silencing her while still keeping her alive.”
Will vigorously nodded his understanding. “All right, I’ll do it. But you have to untie my hands.”
Blackstrap stared hard. “As you will, then. But first you must give me your word of honor, lad, as a representative of whatever ‘civilization’ you say you belong to, that you’ll not try to escape.”
“I . . .” Will hesitated only an instant, “give you my word, Captain Blackstrap, that I’ll do nothing to flee by my own hand.”
The big man grinned through broken teeth. “Still expecting a rescue, are we? Looking to walk into the nearest telegraph office?”
“There’s no telegraph on Dinotopia. Not the kind you’re thinking of, anyway.”
“So be it. I’ll take your word, boy. Thomas, untie the lad.”
As soon as the big Jamaican had undone the knots, Will stood rubbing circulation back into his wrists. Then he turned to the young tyrannosaur. Repeating her parents’ names and keeping his tone gentle, he made silencing motions with both hands. As Prettykill observed his approach she went silent.
Carefully he advanced until he was standing next to her. Then he reached out gingerly and began to scratch the underside of her lower jaw. A few murmurs of admiration arose from the hardened seamen. Guimaraes’s fingers whitened as he gripped his rifle.
“What’s happening now?” Chaz asked.
Hisaulk glanced down. “The humans have untied his hands, but he is not trying to run. He’s going toward the tyrannosaur. Now he ... I don’t believe this .. . he’s petting her!”
“He’s what?” Chaz found himself wishing for the neck of a Mamenchisaurus to stand upon, ridiculous as that would make him look.
“its all right.” Will stroked Prettykill’s jaw and whispered soothingly. She couldn’t understand a word he was saying, of course, but he felt that his feelings, if not his exact meaning, would be clear enough. “We’ll get out of this somehow. Together. I know you think these people are crazy. If it helps, I think they’re crazy, too.” The young carnivore did not reply. Will felt her breathing steadily, like a bellows.
“See him soothe small dragon.” Chin-lee made an arcane sign in the air. “We must watch him carefully. He is a sorcerer.” “Nay, not a sorcerer.” Smiggens was not quite as flabbergasted as his more superstitious colleagues. “Remember, he told us that his father was a scientist.”
“Scientist or sorcerer, he got the beast to shut up. That be what matters.” The ever prosaic Blackstrap grunted his satisfaction.
When Will let his hand drop, he was startled to find the young tyrannosaur nudging his shoulder with the blunt end of her snout. He resumed scratching under her chin and was rewarded with a distinct sigh of pleasure. Though his arm was growing tired, he continued as best he could. What a tyrannosaur wants, a tyrannosaur gets, he reflected. Even a young one.
“That’s not what matters here,” he heard himself telling Blackstrap. “What matters is science and morals and ethics and education.”
“Bah! You can’t spend any of those.”
“You don’t understand. You don’t see the larger picture, the greater meaning. Dinotopia is not only a place where humans have learned to live side by side with dinosaurs, who are older and wiser than we, but it’s also a country where people of all backgrounds and nationalities have learned to live peaceably with one other. All of history and humankind is represented here. It’s a model for what the rest of the world could be like.
“There’s plenty of trade but no money. Everyone tries to help everyone else. There’s free learning available for any who wish it. Academics for those who want books, apprenticeship for those who prefer to learn a skill. Even the sim
plest professions are respected.”
“What are you getting at, boy?” Mkuse demanded to know.
“Why don’t you stay?” Will put as much urgency into his voice as he could muster. “Give up the idea of trying to sail back to America or Europe or wherever. Stay here. Breathe deep and seek peace. That’s worth so much more than a pile of pretty rocks and metal. You’ll see.” He eyed the captain hopefully.
“Well, now, lad, each to his own.” Blackstrap stroked his mustache. “Me, I’ll keep me pretty rocks and me gold. But I’m a fair man. Let’s ask me shipmates.” He turned to the watching seamen. “Did y’hear the lad? He asks us to give up all this”—and with a sweep of his arm he encompassed the temple complex—“to sit and converse peaceably with a bunch of big lizards. And learn a trade, of course. So I leave it to you, me boyos. Which’ll it be? A carpenter’s trade or lives of wealth and luxury? By my dome, ’tis a hard choice to make.”
The pirates’ response was predictable.
“No,” Will began, “you mustn’t look at it like that! You don’t understand.”
“I understand.” Anbaya let out a derisive snort. “You people are stupid to ignore all this.” He gestured at the golden buildings.
The opinion was unanimous. Give them plunder and loot over work and learning any day. Several stated what they thought of Will’s proposition in more colorful terms.
“You hear them, young Will?” Blackstrap waited until the catcalls and hoots had died down. “If the folks hereabouts aren’t interested in this wealth, why, me and the lads will be happy to relieve them of the burden of looking after it.”
“But I told you,” Will replied, “I don’t think anyone else knows this outpost, or whatever it is, is here. It’s a part of the history of Dinotopia. You can’t just carry it off. It needs to be properly researched and documented.”
“Har, you may write a full report if you wish. You may note each brick, each gem, as we remove it for safekeeping aboard the Condor. But remove them we will, have no doubt of that.” His expression softened. “Won’t that be the day, lads, when we sail up the Thames or into Boston Harbor in a ship ballasted with solid gold.” Another murmur of approval rose from the assembled sailors.
“You’ll never get away with it,” Will told him. “Even if you manage to ride out the storm, you’ll never get back across the reef.”
“Why, boy, I’ve dealt with more difficult bits of seamanship in the past six months than you will in your whole life. Don’t think to frighten me with tales of giant storms and uncross-able reefs. You’ll have the opportunity to see for yourself, because you’ll be accompanying us.”
“What?” Will gaped at him.
Blackstrap grinned. “Did you think once we had our treasure aboard we were going to let you go? Who’d mollify our new pet? You ought to be on your knees thanking me, lad. We’ll be carrying you safe away from this godforsaken place, back to civilization.”
“But I want to stay here.” Visions of Sylvia and his father filled his thoughts.
Blackstrap leaned close. “Now, boy, don’t be going and making the mistake of thinking this a democracy. You’ve no choice in the matter. The sooner you accept that, the easier it’ll go on you.”
“You’ll be stopped.” Will was unable to control his anger. “Stopped and ... and reeducated.”
Raising his hands in mock fear, Blackstrap chuckled at the threat. “‘Reeducated.’ Did you hear that, Mr. Smiggens? Mercy me! ”
Will nodded in Prettykill’s direction. “Also, her parents are looking for her.”
Smiggens blinked. “You mean, this one’s not an adult?” “That’s right.” Having caught the first mate’s interest, Will wasn’t about to let go of it. “Surely you didn’t think she was full-grown?”
“How young?” Smiggens involuntarily found himself glancing in the direction of the main canyon.
“ Very young. I don’t know enough to give you an equivalent in human terms, but she’s really just a child.”
“A cub. Interesting. If this is a cub, what must the adults be like?” A few nervous mutters rose from the gathering. The first mate’s glance canyonward was quickly duplicated by others. None of them was sharp-eyed enough to detect Chaz or the well-concealed struthies.
“You can’t imagine,” Will informed him. “You just can’t imagine. The adults are to Prettykill here as a lion or tiger would be to a housecat.”
Blackstrap stepped between Will and Smiggens. “What’s all this, now? Haven’t we dealt with bigger versions of our
dainty little one? The lad’s doing his best to scare you. Did we not turn one away from our camp in the jungle?”
“Your guns wouldn’t stop a big carnosaur.” Will spoke with complete confidence. “Or turn it, either. Probably it just wasn’t interested enough.”
Suddenly Blackstrap was right up in Will’s face, his voice low and menacing. Prettyki.ll fought against her ropes but could do nothing.
“What’s that, boy? You wouldn’t be calling old Brognar a liar, now, would you?”
Will swallowed hard and thought fast. “It’s not me. I’m just saying what I think happened. Of course, I wasn’t there.” “No.” Blackstrap took a deep breath and drew back slowly. “No, you weren’t. Don’t think to frighten us, boy. I’m not afraid of anything that walks or flies or swims on this earth.”
“That’s admirable, sir.” In a hushed voice Will added, “But if you ever were going to be afraid of anything, Prettykills parents would be it.”
A few of the men laughed nervously, and Will saw that they were far more afraid of Brognar Blackstrap than of anything their prisoner might describe.
“Get a good night’s rest, boys,” Blackstrap urged them. “We’re safe here. You saw what happened to those sailbacked devils that chased us. Nothing bigger than ourselves can make it through the lower canyon, and there weren’t no toothy beasts where we landed.”
“Does that mean no watch tonight, Captain?” Thomas inquired.
“Nay, Mr. Thomas. Just because we’re in a place where these dinosaurs can’t get in doesn’t mean we’re in a place where people can’t get in. On the odd chance this lad’s tale has some truth to it and others be out searching for him, we’ll post a lookout. I ain’t half afraid of no lot of scientists and philosophers, but I don’t want them sneaking up on me while I’m asleep in me bed, either.” He grinned. “Not that they’re likely to find him, since the lad himself said no one knows of this place.
“So it’s to sleep, lads. Tomorrow we’ll take what we can carry, and then it’s straightaway back to the ship.”
“Three cheers for Captain Blackstrap!” someone shouted.
The spontaneous tripartite hosanna that followed was more muted than usual. The men were tired.
Will waited patiently while two of the pirates tied him to the post that had formerly held Hisaulk and Shremaza. He might have given his word, but Blackstrap wasn’t fool enough to allow his new captive the run of the camp.
When they were through, Will tested his bonds and found them as intransigent as he’d feared. Shifting his backside against the hard ground, he struggled to find a comfortable position in which to try to sleep. Nearby, the young tyrannosaur watched him silently. Her face was inflexible and unreadable, but he sensed a certain amount of trust, if not actual friendship. The latter would be too much to expect. Tyrannosaurs weren’t even especially fond of each other’s company.
Two of the pirates settled themselves on either side of the prisoners. Clearly Blackstrap was going to have Will watched at all times. There would be no opportunity for anyone else to repeat the silent nocturnal visit he’d employed to free the struthies. Blackstrap wasn’t a man to be fooled twice.
Will closed his eyes. Best to get some sleep. Perhaps along with daylight the morning would bring some new ideas.
“what are they doing now?” Unable to restrain himself any longer, Chaz was peering around the wall they had adopted for concealment. Since his night vision was
nowhere near as acute as that of the Strutbiomimuses, he couldn’t see much, but it made him feel better to try. Keelk, Arimat, and Tryll crowded close behind him.
“It looks like they’re going to sleep.” Shremaza spoke softly from her position near the top of the wall.
“Yes,” agreed Hisaulk. “See how they are crowding close to their fire.” He and his mate turned and hopped lithely down to the ground, where all of them gathered in a circle.
“How can we help Will?” Keelk spoke freely in her own language, knowing that the linguistically versatile Protoceratops would be able to understand.
“We must try to free him,” Chaz muttered, “and the young tyrannosaur as well.”
Hisaulk blinked down at him. “We have no obligation to the wild meat-eater.”
“No, but Will and I do. We ... we promised her parents.” “What strange compacts this whole peculiar business has forced us into,” Hisaulk remarked.
“We can’t just rush in,” Chaz went on. “Will explained to me about these ‘guns.’ They might not hurt a big carnosaur, but they can kill someone our size.”
“Then what are we to do?” Shremaza wondered.
Hisaulk regarded his family, so recently reunited. Now, it seemed, they would have to be separated once more.
“Among us I am the fastest and have the greatest endurance. Keelk and the Protoceratops can describe to me the path they took to get this far. Without having to search for a route out of the Rainy Basin, it should not take me half so long to reach Treetown and return with help.”
“It will be very dangerous.” Shremaza was understandably uncomfortable with the idea.
“Keelk did it.” Hisaulk eyed his daughter, who swelled with pride. “While I am gone, the rest of you can shadow these humans. Perhaps a chance to free Will Denison ... and the young tyranftosaur ... will present itself. Chaz can try to overhear what the humans say and interpret it for you. This is the ethical thing to do.” He entwined necks with each of his offspring in turn. “It will be a learning experience, albeit a dangerous one. Make a game of it.”