Chapter 13
It didn't take the young pachycephalosaurus long to alert the street guards. Two hefty looking stygimoloches, each wearing a vest bearing the Sauropolis street guard insignia, dutifully took Tristan from the pachy. The spiny headed creatures conversed with each other, speaking a saurian language that Tristan couldn't understand. The last thing he wanted was to be locked up for the night and facing the city council the next morning as if he were no better than a Drifter, but it looked like that was to be his fate.
The stygimoloches secured Tristan between the two of them and escorted him down the street. He tried hard to walk steady, but merely breathing became a painful chore. He stumbled over a loose cobblestone and sank to his knees. His thoughts tumbled through his mind and though it was difficult to grab a thought and ponder it for more than a few seconds, two thoughts resurfaced like a slap in the face.
"And it's all your fault…What have you become?"
What hurt the most was the fact that he couldn't disagree. Everything was his fault. He couldn't blame anyone else. He'd been plunging in a downward spiral for some time now and he wasn't sure how to stop it. And what had he become? Certainly nothing he really wanted to be.
The stygimoloches grunted back and forth, obviously discussing what to do with him. Then one of them leaned down, placing a claw beneath Tristan's chin, tilting his face up where it could look him in the eyes.
Tristan glanced down at the creature's vest, and in the dull lighting of the street lamp, he managed to read the name stitched to the bright red material: Farsight.
The stygimoloch grunted and looked at the other one as if asking its opinion. Then the other one leaned forward, scrutinizing him too, sniffing noisily, then nodded.
Tristan squinted, managing to catch sight of this one's name, too. Stomper. He lifted a hand to swipe away the blood trickling down his cheek, but was dismayed to see that both of his palms were bleeding. Because of the more prominent pain in chest and face, he'd momentarily forgotten about his hands.
After exchanging looks again with Stomper, Farsight lifted a claw and pointed to Tristan's necktie.
Tristan fumbled to untie it and finally pulled it away from his neck.
The dinosaur snatched it away from him and used it to swab away the blood oozing from his lips and the bruising scrape beneath the eye where Mathias had booted him. Then she tore it in half and used the pieces of material to bind his bleeding hands. She was clumsy with her saurian claws, but she still managed to do the job, nonetheless. Tristan refrained from protesting, but found it difficult to hold still as sharp pricks of pain pierced through his palms as the material tightened over his hands.
He clenched his teeth, determined to not let the creatures see his weakness anymore. He was grateful for the assistance, but he really hoped they wouldn't decide to take him to the infirmary. He would be questioned there and he wasn't ready to talk. He needed more time to think and at this point the less public this ordeal went, the better.
Farsight nudged his shoulder, urging him to stand again.
Tristan stood, though he still felt a bit wobbly. They started forward, but neither of the dinosaurs held him tightly, deciding that the young man was hurting enough that he wouldn't be attempting an escape.
It was the truth—the hurting part anyway, but Tristan was definitely still looking for an opportunity to escape. The one thing he was getting good at here lately was running away and if he could figure out away to do just that, it could buy him some time to think alone for awhile.
The opportunity arose only moments later.
Sekani rounded the bend in the street behind them. He'd 'borrowed' a little stone statue of a euphalosaurus that had been sitting next to the doorway of a shop and now chunked it at a nearby window pane of a closed shop. The sound of shattering glass immediately caught the guards' attention, having the exact effect that Sekani was looking for.
The guards stopped, conversed shortly in their chirpy, saurian language, then Stomper went to go investigate.
Farsight gave Tristan a hard look and Tristan, suddenly changing his mind about trying to appear tough, decided to try and appear as pitiful as he could. In fact, he even went as far as sinking to his knees again, making it clear that he was in no condition to go anywhere without support. The dinosaur still remained dutifully by his side so he pretended to pass out, slumping all the way over, almost wishing he really was passing out because the jolt sent a fresh wave of pain through his ribs and the pressure intensified around his bruising eyes. He held his eyes closed and hoped he looked unconscious.
Farsight dragged him out of the center of the street and dumped him in a nearby doorway of another closed shop. She sniffed him over, grunted in satisfaction, then sprinted off to see if Stomper needed assistance.
Tristan opened one eye and was relieved to see the stygimoloch leaving.
This was exactly what Sekani was waiting for. The moment Farsight was gone, he darted out of his hiding place and approached Tristan.
Without a word, Tristan got to his feet and the two turned off into the nearest alley, but Tristan quickly discovered that he couldn't move as fast as Sekani.
The deinonychus glanced behind him to see that Tristan was moving awkwardly and abnormally slow for his usual athletic pace. Sekani knew there was no time to waste. The deinonychus spun around, hooked one of his scaly arms firmly beneath the young man's shoulder and took off again.
As much as he wanted to stay concealed and follow through with the escape, Tristan suddenly realized that he could not run. A startled howl of pain slipped out as the strong deinonychus jerked into a run, practically dragging him along.
Then they both heard Farsight's cry of alarm in the distance.
Sekani didn't stop. He pressed on, twisting, dodging, then turning down a different street. Tristan tried to keep up, his feet slipping repeatedly, slowing down their progress. He felt his strength leaving him rapidly and desperately fought to remain conscious. He couldn't seem to take deep breaths and his feet weren't working like he wanted them to and then his head started spinning again. Now he couldn't tell the bottom of the street from the night sky. Which was up and which was down? Were those street lamps glittering or stars?
Tristan's legs collapsed beneath him, causing Sekani to stumble and nearly let go of him. One of his sickle shaped foot claws came dangerously close to slashing open Tristan's chin as he fell forward. Tristan caught sight of the claw briefly gleaming in the glow of a streetlamp, inches away from his face, but the dinosaur managed to move his foot just in time.
Sekani hooked both of his arms under Tristan's shoulders and pulled him into an open warehouse and down a short flight of steps which led to a cool basement filled with barrels and crates. With a flick of his tail, he pushed the door shut behind him and deposited Tristan in front of a stack of crates. Then he moved as quickly as he could, grunting at the effort as he pushed a couple of heavy barrels in front of the door in case the pair of stygimoloch managed to track them there. Maybe they'd think the door was locked if they couldn't easily push it open.
Tristan coughed and groaned miserably as he struggled to sit up.
Sekani quickly returned to him and slapped a clawed hand over the young human's mouth, trying to get him to be quiet until he was sure that the street guards were far enough away.
Tristan lay on his back, his chest heaving from the effort of the escape. Every breath he took felt like a knife slicing through his ribcage. He tried to push aside the dinosaur's claws, but the Sekani remained vigil, listening intently for any sounds that would indicate that the stygimoloches had managed to track them there.
Several minutes went by, but they seemed much longer to Tristan. It was hard enough just to breathe and the dinosaur's hand pressed over his mouth felt suffocating. He tried sucking in air through his nose, but it didn't seem to be enough. Another minute dragged by. Tristan couldn't see well in the dark room, but his head felt strange, like he might pass out. He lifted a hand and tugged frantically at the dinosaur's arm again.
Sekani finally let go, making a hissing sound through his teeth, mimicking the sound he'd heard humans use when they wanted someone to be quiet. "Shhhhh…"
Tristan took the hint and said nothing at first, using the time to get his breathing back under control. As the minutes passed, Sekani relaxed a little, deciding that if the stygimoloches were going to find them it would've happened by now.
The air felt chilly in the basement and the sweet aroma of fruits was thick in the air. It must've been a fresh shipment stored in the basement to keep them cool overnight before being either processed or put on the market the next day.
"Sekani," Tristan finally said softly, testing to see if the dinosaur would let him speak yet.
Sekani grunted in approval.
"Thanks for helping me escape." He tried to sit up and quickly decided it was still too soon. "Ouch!" He squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated. He wrapped one arm around his middle, willing the pain to stop, or at least ease up a little, but it didn't, at least not as quickly as he wanted it to. "I'm sorry…I couldn't run well…and made it…hard on you."
Sekani growled, clearly agitated. What was he to do now? He'd gone to all that trouble to help his friend and now apparently he'd done more harm than good. He paced in an agitated manner, his mind racing, trying to figure out what to do. After a moment he stopped. "Inferrrr…inf…?" He asked, stumbling with the tricky word.
Tristan's eyes by now had adjusted to the darkness and he could barely make out the shape of the deinonychus standing in front of him. "Huh?"
Sekani stomped his foot, aggravated. He knew the word he wanted to say, but it was hard to pronounce it. That confounding human language was so difficult to articulate. "Infffffer….firrrrgggrr." He growled.
Tristan attempted to sit up again, going extra slow and this time managed to make it all the way. Relieved with the success, he leaned his back against one of the crates, only to be greeted by the pointy end of a coconut which poked through one of the slats of the crate.
"Firrrmmmgrrrrr…" Sekani was still trying to get the word out.
Tristan scooted sideways, putting a little space between him and the annoying coconuts. Now hairy wisps of the fruit tickled against his ear.
"In…firrrrrr…grrrrreeee." Sekani's voice rose in irritation at the difficult word.
"Infirmary?" Tristan asked. "Is that what you're saying?" He unbuttoned his vest and let it hang loosely in an effort to relieve some pressure around his ribs.
The deinonychus bobbed his head before he realized that the human probably couldn't see his movement very well in the darkness. Raptors were known for having much better night vision than humans. "Esss." He said out loud, his best attempt at a 'yes.' That was an easier word, one syllable, and it was one of his well practiced ones, although he'd given up by now to pronounce that difficult 'y' sound that humans put into some of their words.
Tristan thought about it briefly before answering. "No." He said. "Not the infirmary. They'll ask too many questions. Even if they patch me up first, they'll still send me on to the city officials."
Sekani returned to pacing back and forth again, thinking hard. Who in all of Sauropolis could he trust to take Tristan in, hear his side of the story, and hide him for the time being? Then it hit him. "Shhasha." He said as clearly as he could. Thankfully her name was easy to pronounce, requiring the simple shushing sounds similar to the human's 'be quiet' word.
Tristan squinted up at him in confusion. "Shhasha?"
The deinonychus stomped his foot in frustration.
Then it clicked. "Saoirse…of course." Tristan murmured. She was an old friend who lived in Sauropolis, an herbalist—and a good Healer as well—who kept her practice limited to a small private clinic in her own home, but also worked occasionally for the Sauropolis Infirmary whenever they were short handed. She was a close enough friend and Tristan knew she'd patch him up and keep his secrets as long as he did some work for her or came up with some unusual rocks or Outer World relics to give her in exchange.
"Perfect." Tristan said. "Let's go pay Saoirse a visit." Using the stack of crates for leverage, he slowly managed to get to his feet. He leaned against the crates until the first wave of dizziness passed. Then he took a tentative step forward. A small thread of light from a streetlamp outside filtered through a tiny basement window, allowing just enough light to help him find his way to the door.
Sekani moved the barrels, then returned to Tristan's side to offer him support, but this time Tristan resisted. "Thanks, but I can't afford to get dragged around again. And no offence, but I don't want to risk getting ripped open by a deinonychus claw either. I'm walking to Saoirse's on my own even if it takes all night."
Sekani bobbed his head to show that he understood. Easier than saying yes. With a curt snort, he stepped ahead and led the way out of the warehouse basement.