See part one for explanation and disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does. Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language.
Jack had been listening to the roar of T-Rex nearby and feeling the ground shake from their footsteps. Being eaten was a very real concern---but Jack had been more worried about whether Romana had been able to pluck Karl from the river. He was frantically pacing along the riverbank by the time Pterra returned with the two riders. "Karl!" Jack ran to meet him. To the boy's great relief, Karl had the faith stone firmly in his hand. He still didn't look happy though. "Are you all right?"
"No." The word came out harsher than he'd intended due to the skybax rider's frustration. They had the faith stone, but Payden still had slipped away with the key to the shackle. Jack paled a bit, thinking the anger was directed at him for screwing up and letting Payden steal the stone. Reading that fear on the boy's face, Karl caught him in a one-armed hug. "Am I all right? What the hell are you doing here? Not that I'm not grateful."
Jack grinned. "What am I doing here? Saving your butt! Ew, you're really soaking me here, bro." The boy pulled back from the soaking wet rider as freezing cold river water seeped into his own shirt.
"Who saved who here? I'm the one who knocked Payden into the river."
"Yeah and who let Ro out of the net so she could save you? And who brought you the faith stone?"
Karl stared at the meteorite, then turned to look Jack in the eye. Jack had brought the Tohma Faiere. Did that mean he was okay with switching back? "You're sure about this?" Karl asked him.
Jack nodded. "Don't make me think about it, I might change my mind. What about Frank and David? Are they all right?"
Karl's expression was grim. That look in his eyes was scaring Jack to death. "No, they're not. We have to get back to the pit---"
The T-Rex bellowed from very close by---from the path. Karl, Romana, and Jack turned to see trees sway from the jolt of its footsteps and the first hint of its shadow in the moonlight. It was coming their way. Coming from the direction of the pit, Karl noted miserably. Dad and David…
The trio backed to the water's edge. Karl and Romana searched for a means of escape, both coming to the same conclusion: The only avenue of escape from the predator was Pterra. Pterra could only carry two passengers. Karl didn't know if the skybax could manage to lift him with its claws while carrying both Romana and Jack on its back. "Oh great…Romana, you have to get Jack out of here," Karl said.
Romana shook her head. "I'm not leaving you here, Scott."
Jack protested: "What kind of plan is that?"
"Jack, will you listen to me---?" Karl started to yell. However, it was too late for debating. The words were barely out when the T-Rex appeared on the trail. It spied the trio and roared.
A beam of sunstone light cut through the air and hit the T-Rex directly in its face as if sent by Divine intervention. The carnosaur halted in place, shying away from the repellent light.
Dumbfounded, the riders and the boy searched out the source of the beam. A flash of albino pterosaur skin streaked down from the sky. Next thing they knew, David's skybax had placed itself between them and the T-Rex. A blonde Outsider was wielding Marion's sunstone medallion at the T-Rex like a cross warding off a vampire. The sunstone reacted to the presence of the carnosaur by glowing with its full radiance. The T-Rex let out another cry of distress and took a few steps backwards, trying to escape from the glow.
"Back!" the blonde Outsider roared at the predator. The pterosaur reinforced this command by beating its wings at the T-Rex and keened a threat at the larger dinosaur. Under the force of the sunstone, the carnosaur had no choice but to retreat. It uttered one last unhappy cry and vanished into the forest. More cries of distress filled the night as the beams sought out the unseen pteranodons, T-Rex, and other threats in the forest and chased them away. When the last flutter of wings and pounding of feet faded away, the sunstone light abated. The albino pterosaur alighted on the beach and turned its massive head towards Karl, Romana, and Jack while the blonde rider slipped off its back.
"Alano!" Karl remembered the blonde from the real timeline. "You know how to make an entrance."
Romana watched the Outsider suspiciously. "Another one from the real timeline?"
"Yeah, but he's a good guy," Karl answered.
"You're sure?" Jack ducked behind Karl as the blonde Outsider advanced on the riders.
"Where's Payden Borale? Where's David Barrett! He'd better be alive or I'll---" Alano lifted a hand to point a warning finger at Karl, but missed when the skybax rider suddenly ran for the trail. Alano ended up landing his finger on Jack's chest.
"David! Dad! Jack, come on!" Karl called back to them. Jack shrugged amiably at the Outsider and ran after his brother.
When he ran into the clearing, the first thing Karl noticed was that the chain lay discarded on the ground and the pit's gate was locked tight. For an awful moment, he was afraid that the T-Rex had already killed David…but some part of his mind that was still rational noted that, if David had been devoured by the predator there would be gruesome evidence of that fact all over the clearing. The very thought made him want to vomit. There were no such signs---there was the stain of blood from before, but nothing else. The shackle had been popped open as if someone had unlocked it and the gate was shut tight. The trigger had been moved to the 'lock' position. Maybe, just maybe…. Karl fell to his knees beside the pit: "Dad! David!"
"Karl?" Frank's voice answered.
Karl felt himself shaking and didn't know if it was the cold or gratitude to the angels for that miracle. He didn't know how it had happened, how they'd got David out of that chain or locked the gate, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He squinted into the darkness of the pit, impatiently willing his eyes to adjust to the gloom. "Are you all right?" he asked.
"We're fine. Don't ever run off like that again. You scared me to death."
"What the…" Jack had followed Karl into the clearing. The first thing he saw was the hunting pit and shackle. Then he saw the small but distinct bloodstain on the ground. He kneeled next to Karl by the gate. When his eyes adjusted, he saw Frank and David at the bottom of the pit. Frank had one arm firmly supporting the younger man. His other hand was holding a cloth stained with blood to Barrett's shoulder. Jack blanched. He didn't know David was hurt, but he knew one thing for sure: When they switched back and Frank found out this entire mess was basically Jack's fault, the tavern owner was going to kill him. "Oh man…Karl, I'm sorry…"
"Not your fault, Jack," Karl reassured him.
Frank saw the boy crouched beside Karl. "Jack? Are you boys all right?"
"Dad? How'd you open that lock?" Karl asked.
"I picked it. Your old man wasn't exactly a saint in his youth, you know," his father answered.
"Can I remind him he said that after the switch?" Jack quietly asked Karl.
"I wouldn't." Karl rose and hurried to unlock the gate.
Alano and Romana stepped into the clearing. The skybax rider was keeping a careful eye on the Outsider. Alano took in the situation in a single glance: A dwindling fire to attract predators, the scattered powders, the pit where Dane had lost most of his hand, a leg iron, and blood. He stepped over to check the pit and scowled dangerously at the sight that greeted him. "Who did that?" he demanded of Karl, indicating his injured friend.
"Two guesses," Karl said.
David opened his eyes a slit. "Al? Where'd you come from?"
Alano gave a grim salute for hello. "Le Sage and me intercepted a birdie from Payden. Would have been here sooner, 'cept Le Sage and me had a word with our friend Dane. He'd be here, too, if he wasn't chained to a dock. Freefall helped me find you. He always knows where you are." From its perch on the rocks with Pterra, the albino pterosaur whuffed in agreement.
Barrett's mouth twitched in something like a smile. "Did you unchain Dane before high tide?"
Aanol snickered, "Oops."
Karl moved the trigger and Jack pushed the gate open. He followed as the skybax rider jumped into the pit. Romana and Alano stayed above to help when they were ready to climb out. Seeing David and his injury, Romana's scowl matched Alano and Karl's.
"How ya doing, bro?" Karl moved directly to David's side, seeing for himself that his brother was still alive. David was working with all his might to keep his eyes open. He was pleased to see that the T-Rex hadn't eaten Karl, but he wasn't going to waste his energy dignifying such a ridiculous question with an answer. Instead, he managed a small smile in reply.
"We have to get him back to Waterfall City," Frank said.
Karl disagreed, "No." Frank glowered at that, about to argue until his son added: "We have to switch back first."
David looked startled at that. He turned his head just a bit, noticing Jack's presence in the pit for the first time. The boy meekly nodded to Barrett and passed the Tohma Faiere to Karl. "You sure?" David asked Jack.
Jack was wide-eyed for nervousness. "Yeah---well, wait, just a couple of things first…" He looked at Frank Scott. "If you remember any of this after we switch back, please don't kill me."
Frank was still clueless as to what was going on. David hadn't been lucid enough to fill him in on the events at the Sanctuary and Karl hadn't had time. "What are you talking about?"
"Just promise," Jack answered. Then he glanced from David to Romana and back. "And when you're a skybax rider and I'm an Outsider again, do you think you can give me a break? Once in awhile?"
David and Romana answered in unison: "Not a chance." Jack gulped and Karl saw just a hint of a smile from David indicating that his brother had been teasing the boy.
"I knew you'd say that," Jack grumbled. He turned his attention to Karl and the faith stone. "I saw in that---vision—we were all three touching the freaky rock and David read that inscription."
"Noree said we have to repeat it exactly the way we did the first time. Are you sure it was only David who said the incantation?" Karl asked.
"I'm sure," Jack said. He put his hand on the faith stone in Karl's palm and braced himself. Blue light started to fill his mind.
Karl took David's arm and wrapped both his hand and David's around Jack's hand. Karl knew what had to be done, he only hoped David could do it. His brother's eyes had drifted shut. Karl called: "David? David!" When his brother woke again, Karl continued, "You have to say the prayer on the stone."
David glimpsed the footprint language on the stone. It would have been gibberish even if he had been lucid. "Can't read that…"
Karl remembered the incantation Noree had made at the temple when she had attempted to undo the meteorite's spell. He repeated it for David as best he could: "Anghara pharneilos tharmha tohma faiere. Say it, David." The stone didn't so much as wink when Karl said the words. Please work, Karl begged the angels who had gotten them this far.
"Come on, David," Romana added her encouragement from above.
David had to concentrate against blue light and images that were trying to take hold of him. "Anghara pharneilos tharmha tohma faiere…"
The blue light engulfed Jack first, then its rays shot out like laser beams to Karl and the semiconscious David as well.
Karl had shut his eyes against the blinding glare of the faith stone and the onslaught of the visions it produced. The blue visions may have ceased, but now memories were resurfacing in him like pieces of a dream bubbling to the waking mind…memories Karl were sure were true memories: The trip to Mexico, many plane rides, softball games, the Super Bowl fiasco, camping, dad's "adventures", stealing dad's prized (if horrible tasting) liquor and being quite ill after drinking it, the crash that stranded them on the island, Twenty-Six, the tavern, more quarrels with his brother David than Karl would like to admit to---his real brother, David.
Then images had played themselves out. Abruptly, the light of the Tohma Faiere flickered and faded out for the last time.