Chapter 12
"I was just a boy of twelve and ready for adventure." Taddeo began. "I lived in Bonnaba, so I grew up watching convoys prepare for Rainy Basin excursions. All my life I dreamed of getting to be a part of a convoy guard team and finally the day arrived when I was allowed to go. I was given a job to do and it was very simple. There was a basket with a pulley system for raising passengers onto the carriers on the backs of the brachiosauruses. I had to work the crank for raising or lowering the elevator basket. It wasn't a prestigious job and I didn't get to wear the cool armor like the convoy leader did, but I was just glad to finally get to go."
"What was the convoy's mission?" Tristan asked.
Taddeo shrugged. "Nothing really exciting in my opinion. It was mainly a group of biologists that were going into the Rainy Basin to gather plants only native to the Rainy Basin. I guess that needs done every now and then for educational purposes. Supposedly there are some pretty important plants that thrive there."
Tristan sipped on his tea. "True. Father said that's usually the most common reason for a Rainy Basin excursion. Keep going. This is interesting."
Taddeo looked disturbed. "It really isn't a pleasant story. Are you sure you want me to continue?"
"Well, you already ate your half of the sweet roll, which was your bargain." Tristan teased. "Besides, you've got me really intrigued by now."
"Ok then, but don't blame me if you end up with nightmares too." Taddeo grumbled.
"Whatever."
Taddeo sighed and continued. "One of the convoy members was a protoceratops named Brill, and he was our translator in case we ran into carnivores and needed to negotiate. Unlike mine, his job was extremely important and because of this, I looked up to him. After talking with Brill I learned that it was his first time to take on a Rainy Basin challenge on his own and he was nervous. It wasn't his first Rainy Basin experience though since he informed me that he'd trained under another skilled protoceratops ambassador. After getting acquainted with Brill, I soon learned that he was good friends with a man named Durias Alasdair, who was a seasoned convoy guard and leader. This man was my childhood hero and idol. I didn't really know Durias very well since he didn't actually live in Bonnaba. I guess when he wasn't out leading expeditions he lived in a little village on the other side of the Rainy Basin. Bent Root, I think is what someone called it."
Tristan rolled his eyes. "As friendly and talkative as you are, you probably got to know everyone in the convoy."
"Pretty much." Taddeo replied. "I soon learned that the boy who was accompanying me in the job of manning the pulleys and cranks to the elevator basket was none other than the son of the mighty Durias Alasdair. His name was Weston, and he was near the same age as me. I guess it was his first expedition experience too, and he was pretty pumped about getting to work near his father for the first time."
"I'm still wondering if you worked any with my father." Tristan said.
"Not unless he was on that particular convoy, because that was the first and the last Rainy Basin expedition I've ever been on. The experience went sour really fast and my dreams changed after that."
"So what happened that made you decide to become a skybax rider instead of a convoy guard?" Tristan asked, the suspense of the story getting to him.
Taddeo frowned deeply. "I usually love telling stories, but this one is kind of hard. I'm just going to keep it pretty short. It was a skybax rider who saved me from being left behind in the Rainy Basin."
"Whoa. Left behind?" Tristan set his mug down with a startled thump. "Survival of all or none is how the code goes."
"And that thought has to be taken with a grain of salt." Taddeo replied. "When one boy makes a mistake, he can't expect the rest of the convoy to die on his behalf. Better for one or two to go than a whole crowd."
"I haven't really thought of it that way before." Tristan said.
"Well, think about it some more. How could you go on living the rest of your life if nearly a whole group of people and saurians died on your behalf and you somehow survived?"
"Life might be miserable."
"Yeah. A burden I don't want to ever have to live with." Taddeo said. "Besides, I think the meaning behind that code is more about helping those in need rather than selfishly trying to just save your own skin."
"But the convoy just left you? I still don't understand. Regardless of what you said, it still doesn't match up with the code." Tristan said, rubbing his forehead in confusion.
"They left because during all the confusion, they didn't realize I was missing. Now you're making me jump ahead on the story. If you would stop interrupting and just listen it'll all come together." Taddeo said with a slightly peeved tone.
"Sorry." Tristan mumbled, sitting back in his chair and sipping the tea. "Go ahead then."
Taddeo cleared his throat and continued. "Well, there were two skybax riders flying ahead of us. Air scouts, we called them, since scouting the path ahead was their job. They took turns reporting back to the main convoy, giving us detailed descriptions of what conditions lay ahead and whether any carnivores were spotted. I admired their courage. They spent long hours in the saddle and when the skybaxes needed a rest, they had to carefully select places to land, which proved to be challenging since much of the Rainy Basin was dense with thick foliage and not a great environment for massive pterosaur wings. As we traveled, I found myself anticipating the skybaxes returns more and more each time. I think I was coming down with what we cadets call pterosaur fever."
Tristan smiled. "Sounds like it. I know it all too well; that growing fascination for the mighty creatures of the air, wanting to be a part of their world, and wanting to travel through the air with them. Pretty soon you find yourself in Canyon City and taking on a load of training you didn't realize was involved in order to get into a skybax saddle."
"Right." Taddeo said with a small smile. "You interrupted again."
Tristan slapped his forehead. "My bad." He said. "It was the skybax part that got to me."
"Anyway," Taddeo said, putting extra emphasis on the word to get the point across that this was his moment to speak. "Any way, one of the riders returned once, telling us that a group of deinonychus was spotted and he advised us to alter our route in order to avoid them. We took his advice and all seemed good until a rider reported back again and said that now two tyrannosauruses were sighted nearby and they seemed to be already upset about something. Not a good sign. I mean, it was never a good sign to be told that tyrannosauruses were nearby. It was worse to hear that they were already riled and geared toward violence. It didn't look like we were going to have enough time to avoid them either. The skybax rider said that they seemed to have caught our scent and were on their way."
Tristan pressed his lips together tightly to keep from making another comment.
Taddeo went on. "The air was warm and humid and I think everyone was sweating not only from the notorious humidity of the Basin, but from tension as well. The convoy pressed forward though, knowing that at this point it was best to cross through the tyrannosauruses territory as quickly as possible. At this point, the biologists had already accomplished a lot of their studies and gathered some of the desired plants.
We heard the tyrannosauruses approaching, crashing through the trees and underbrush. As fast as they were moving, they were definitely upset about something.
The styracosaurus guards had just enough time to form a protective circle around the brachiosauruses before the tyrannosauruses came into view.
This was Brill's moment and in turn, it was me and Weston's moment too. Brill clambered into the basket and we lowered him quickly down to the ground. The protoceratops bravely approached the tyrannosauruses.
I watched in fascination as they conversed. I didn't know anything they were saying, so I really hoped that Brill was getting through to them. I didn't know this at the time, but I found out later from Brill that they'd just lost their hatchling in a fight with some deinonychus. They were ready to take out their anger on someone and our convoy passing through their territory only heightened their anger. Brill was trying to calm them down, promising that we meant no harm, but only wanted to pass through their territory peaceably. In exchange we could give them a nice meal of the fish we'd brought with us.
But these T-rexes were more than hungry. They were boiling mad about their recent loss and Brill later told me that he realized that offering some tribute baskets of fish wasn't going to be all it would take to appease these two.
During their conversation one of the T-rex's stepped dangerously close to Brill clacking his teeth and growling ferociously. One of the styracosauruses apparently thought this was too close and quickly intervened. Pushing between the menacing T-rex and the nervous protoceratops, the styracosaurus shook his rack of horns in defense and a fight instantly broke out. In the confusion Brill somehow got in the way of one of the tyrannosauruses foot claws which gashed open his side. Weston's father, Durias, the mighty convoy leader I looked up to, convinced his brachiosaurs mount to lower him down to the ground and the man ran over to the fallen protoceratops.
Weston and I watched as the Durias ran quickly, despite the weight of his armor which I imagined would've slowed him down. He expertly dodged the feet of the huge creatures and managed to reach Brill and drag him over to the brachiosaurus that we were riding on. He helped the injured protoceratops into the elevator basket, but there was no room for himself.
Weston just stared down at his father with a look of fear in his eyes. I had to shout at him to get moving and help me with the gears to raise the passenger basket. Weston called down to his father, but the man just shook his head and told us not to worry about him and to just get Brill to safety. Then he turned and raced across the chaotic clearing trying to get back to his brachiosaurus mount.
Just as we got Brill up into the passenger carrier I looked back down to see Durias dodging through the fighting tyrannosauruses and styracosauruses, trying to get back to his brachiosaurus mount. But one of the tyrannosauruses swung his tail right into the man's path, striking him hard. The impact sent the man sailing into the air and crashing against the trunk of a nearby tree.
Weston's jaw dropped open and the look of horror on his face still haunts me to this day. No one could survive an impact like that even if he was wearing armor. It was the first death I'd ever witnessed in my young lifetime. Weston started screaming and fighting to get to the elevator basket, but another man, one of the biologists, grabbed him and held him back, telling him to stay put and that it was too dangerous for him to go down there.
While everyone seemed preoccupied and not looking in my direction I chose that moment to jump into the elevator basket and pressed the rapid extender button before anyone could stop me. As the basket hit the ground, I rolled out and ran to Durias. I knew he was dead, but this man was my hero. I didn't want to believe that it was true. I wanted to reach him and get him back to safety just as he had done for Brill. And I also wanted to do it for Weston. By now, the tyrannosauruses seemed pretty preoccupied with the defending styracosauruses so I thought I could stand a chance in getting to Durias.
When I reached the man, I could tell that he was dead by the way his eyes stared emptily into space. Even so, I took a deep breath and grabbed the man underneath his arms and started dragging him back toward the brachiosaurus which carried the passengers. I knew Weston wouldn't want to leave his father behind to be eaten by tyrannosauruses even if he was dead already.
The man was heavy and I was just a boy. It didn't seem like I was getting anywhere fast enough. Just when I was about completely winded, someone stepped beside me and helped me carry the man. I recognized him as one of the other convoy guards. Cedric, was his name."
Tristan nearly jumped out of his seat. "No way!" He exclaimed. "That's my father's name. So he was with you! He was on the same expedition with you!"
Taddeo's eyes looked sorrowful and he didn't even get onto Tristan for interrupting him this time. "Then your father is a good man, Tristan. He helped me rescue a dead man even though he knew just as well as I did that it would've been safer to just leave Durias behind, knowing that he was dead anyway. We were both risking getting separated from the rest of the convoy who by now was moving away quickly in an effort to get away from the tyrannosauruses.
I couldn't believe the convoy was leaving without us. I realized then that they must've had to make a difficult decision and couldn't risk staying behind for a dead man and a boy that had disobediently left his post. Either that, or they didn't realize in all the confusion that I was missing. As for Cedric, apparently he'd taken the risk to follow after me. He knew all along that the convoy would have to keep moving in order to save the rest of the passengers. More people shouldn't have to die on our behalf.
We watched helplessly as the convoy moved away and someone slashed a basket of fish free. It split open as it hit the ground, spilling the stinking lifeless fish every which way.
It really looked like the three of us were doomed to being left behind. I was more than terrified. I was traumatized by everything that had just happened and I truly thought that I was going to die very soon. Even if those T-rexes didn't eat us since they now had the fish, it would only be a matter of time before some other carnivores found us, whether it be more T-rexes, deinonychus, or allosaurus. We were in carnivore territory where the peace code held no meaning whatsoever.
Cedric told me to let go of Durias, but my hands were clamped tightly around the man's arm and I couldn't seem to let go. Cedric literally had to pry my fingers loose. He told me that it was no use. The man was dead and would have to be left behind. We couldn't carry him that far. He told me to run fast and catch up with the convoy while they were still within sight. I still felt frozen. The man grabbed me and started running, dragging me along with him.
But we stopped when one of the T-rexes noticed us and bounded forward, cutting off our path to the retreating convoy. The creature threw back its head and roared. My hands flew to my ears, trying muffle the deafening noise.
That's when the skybax and his rider arrived. They flew incredibly low straight toward the T-rex. Cedric told us that this was our chance and he took off running again, pulling me along with him again. The skybax flew in a circle over the T-rex's head, taunting him, daring him to try and catch him.
The distraction worked. We kept running and eventually caught up to the convoy, or I should say what was left of the convoy. We'd lost our leader, Durias Alasdair as well as a styracosaurus. The other three styracosauruses were injured, though not badly enough to keep them from going, and our protoceratops translator was injured as well. We were a sorry looking lot when we finally made it out of the other side of the Rainy Basin. We were beaten, a number of us injured, and we'd suffered two terrible losses. But the biologists had their important plants, though I felt like it wasn't even worth it. All I could hope was that their studies over those plants would save lives someday, because we'd lost lives over it." Taddeo leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, signifying that he was finished.
"So that's why you want to be a skybax rider. It's because of the one that saved you." Tristan said.
"Yes. As I mentioned before, I was already having a building fascination with them and now that a skybax and his rider had helped us, giving us a chance at life, my mind was made up. Besides, after all that, my taste for Rainy Basin convoy adventure was over. I really never wanted to go back and if for some reason I ever had to return, I wanted to make sure that it was on the back of a trusted skybax mount and perhaps a chance to save someone else's life from the jaws of a carnivore." Taddeo shook his head sorrowfully. "I just wish that Weston's father could've made it. Weston took it hard. After that he decided that he wanted nothing to do with the Rainy Basin or expeditions either. He returned to his home in Bent Root and I saw little of him after that." Taddeo pushed back his chair and stood up. "I'm ready to go now. It's getting late." He said tiredly.
Tristan looked around, realizing that the diner had emptied out and he and Taddeo were the last two people occupying a table. The stenonychosaurus waiter was wiping tables and a young girl was sweeping the tile floor. Tristan silently followed his friend out the door. He'd been expecting an adventurous tale and was surprised at the tragic outcome. How Taddeo managed to go on with life and still be cheerful and full of fun and laughter was an inspiration. Tristan really hoped he'd never have to go though something that bad.
