CHAPTER 224
With explosive force Vulture slammed into Daniel, pinning him against the brachiosaur's neck. Her hooked talons anchored into the herbivore's throat, and she shrieked at Daniel's face. He could smell the stink of her breath and feel the hot wind on his skin. With her left hand she let go of the brachiosaur and grabbed Daniel's shoulder. Squeezing him with a crushing force she let out a bellow. Daniel winced. He could feel his arm socket compressing and his collar bone being ground against his ribs.
Above them the brachiosaurus was howling in pain. It began to tromp aimlessly in circles among the vines, crying louder as Vulture dug her claws in deeper.
The brachiosaurus plowed against a tree, knocking Vulture with a hard blow that forced her to let go of Daniel. The utahraptor started to fall and floundered for a hand hold. Reaching up with her left fore claws she swiped at the vine that Daniel had lassoed about the brachiosaur's neck. With a snap it broke free, and Daniel began to plunge. With his right hand he clasped for anything he could grab onto, and with his left he snatched his knife as it fell.
Daniel grabbed hold of a bundle of hairy stringy vines and swung away from the brachiosaur. Vulture made an attempt to recapture him, but she was holding onto the herbivore, and it was moving away. Daniel put his knife between his teeth and grabbed hold of the vines with both hands. Hanging amidst the drapes of dangling growth he saw the shadow of the brachiosaurus stumbling about, but he had lost sight of Vulture. Among all the vines he could not tell if she was still clung to the brachiosaur or not. His eyes darted through the screen of scraggly ropes.
"God damn it, where are you, Skeksi?" Daniel breathed through the knife in his teeth.
Vulture could strike from anywhere.