Our Dinotopia

I do not own dinotopia or any of its characters

Chapter One.

Using the last of her strength Rose dragged Adele out of the reach of the cold waves. She craved to just collapse on the sand and sleep but first she had to check if her friend was all right. She had to check if Adele was just unconscious or if she was actually dying here on this deserted beach. No, there was a sigh of relief as Adele clearly breathed in and then out. Knowing they both were safe for now, she finally allowed herself join her sleeping friend on the soft, warm sand which stuck to her wet skin and clothes. She deserved a rest after dragging her friend through what had seemed like miles of waves that lay between the sinking boat and the beach. There was an appreciation to the gods that there had been life jackets on board, if it were not for them keeping Adele's head above the water, it would be doubtful whether they would have made it at all. Rose had been able to just concentrate on swimming. But her father, he had had no jacket and as they jumped into the water from the boat she had instantly lost sight of him. Turning her head she looked at her friend, then at the countryside surrounding the beach and the full reality of the situation hit her.

She was surprised at how calm she felt. There were no tears for her missing father; there were no tears for the whole situation. Perhaps her turmoil had put her beyond what she could deal, and perhaps she was in a sate of shock. She merely lay there barely thinking, too exhausted to sleep. The sky darkened. Rose looked around the sun was setting. Adele was still showing no sign of wakeing up and not knowing what else to do she grudgingly forced what little strength she had to stagger up the beach searching for driftwood. She had gathered several chunks of wood before realising she had no lighter, no matches, how the hell was she to light a fire. Maybe she could try that old trick she had seen on TV, the one where you rub two sticks together to cause enough friction to start a fire. Well she would have to try something, they were both wet and cold and if they did not get some form of heat they could catch pneumonia. Having gathered the sticks into a pile next to her friend she chose two reasonable looking stick, put some ferns around one and prepared to spin the second stick between her hands. She tried for ten minutes before one of the sticks cut into her already sore hands and she let out a cry of frustration, throwing the sticks of into the darkness. It was now to dark to try again and she had no idea what else she could do.

Suddenly there was the sound of movement behind her; she slowly turned around to see a man twenty yards away limping towards them a lantern lighting his way. Rose stayed silent, drawing closer to the defenceless Adele as the light from the lantern spilled over them. Covering her eyes from the sudden light she waited for him to speak.

"Thought I heard someone cry out then. What are you doing out here on your own. Bit dangerous to be in the carnivore part of the island have you got permission… whose that with you?" He pointed his walking stick to the figure lying behind her on the sand. Rose nervously shuffled backwards to her friend blocking her more from his sight. He frowned at her, he was actually trying to be friendly here and that was an occasion in itself. It was only when he noticed her clothing that he understood.

"Ahh. Your not Dinotopian are you?" This caused her curiosity to peek enough to push her to speak.

"Dino… Dinotopian?" she said in a horse voice, showing her need for fresh water.

"Yes." He was smirking now that he knew who she was. "You're a newcomer. What's your name?"

"Ro… Rose." She did not want to trust this guy but what else could she do.

"Well Rose, welcome to Dinotopia, and who is your friend? Is she ok?"

Rose felt angry. Did she look ok! "What do you think?" she snapped.

"Well I am sorry Rose but I do not have the ability to see through you"

Rose slowly turned away from the man to look upon her friend's peaceful face. "She hasn't woken up since we washed ashore." He moved closer to inspect the unconscious girl and delved into his satchel withdrawing a small bottle filled with a red liquid. She instinctively moved back between them.

"What's that?"

"Nothing harmful," he said almost casually. "Just a little something to help her wake up, and I am afraid that I can not give it to her unless you move."

She glared at him unsure what to do before she finally moved aside. He set the lantern beside him and leaned over placing the bottle under her nose. She breathed in its strong oder and her eyes fluttered open and she stared unseeingly at the man above her, who was soon replaced by the familiar figure of Rose. Still it took a few seconds for mind to understand what was going on and, to understand the words spilling from Rose's mouth. Then suddenly it all came painfully flooding back and her eyes widened with fear. "Rose… the boat, what happened? How did we get here? Who's he!" She tired to sit up but was overcome with dizziness so that the only thing she could do was clasp her head in her hands.

"It's ok," Rose reassured. "Adele, it's ok. The boat sunk remember but we made it to shore this is…" but she stopped realising that she had no idea who this man was.

"Cyrus Crabb," he answered for her, "at your service. Now do you think your up to walking because I think it would be best if we made it to the next town as soon as possible and get you to a doctor"

"There is a town near by you never mentioned that."

"You never asked. Now we better get going. Miss Rose, I think your friend will need assistance walking."

"Yeah Miss Rose come and help me up," added Adele smiling.

Rose shot a glare in the other girls direction then smirked as she replied "I guess I'll have to help you up, a guy with a limp can't exactly help you when it comes to walking." Adele frowned not understanding till she saw the cane in Crabb's hand. It was not like Rose to make comments like that about people especially ones who were trying to help, then she remembered something and looked around her at the beach.

"My leg may not be helpful in aiding your friend to walk but it is good enough to lead you to town whe…"

"Rose," Adele interrupted softly. "Where's your dad?"

Rose remained silent her face void of emotion, she did not want to think about this at the moment, or at all, she just needed to keep her mind on the task at hand, so merely shrugged and looked away from both Laura and Crabb into the darkness ahead.

"Your father? You never told me there was someone else." Said Crabb looking down the beach almost expecting someone else to turn up.

"You never asked," she snarled angrily, but she soon calmed down at the thought of her missing father. "Shouldn't we be getting to that town?"

"Of course," said Crabb accepting the change of subject and he began to limp off the beach without a word. Rose got Adele to her feet only to find that her right leg, she could put no weight on it so had to lean almost completely on Rose.

"Hey," Adele called to Crabb. "Now you not the only one with a limp, you'll have to show me where you bought you walking stick." He merely continued to walk on. Adele shrugged "I was only trying to lighten the mood." Rose sighed and forced them both to moved foreword.