CHAPTER 222
Standing on top of the brachiosaur's back Daniel was watching the raptors approach. Looking down to either side of the herbivore's massive torso he saw the two males trotting along either side. He could tell they were mere moments from leaping up to attack.
Daniel pulled a large knife from his waist and cut a length of vine that was dangling from the trees as he passed it. With swift hands he tied the blade to one end of the vine and then coiled the rest around his left fist, creating a makeshift wushu rope. With his right hand Daniel began to swing the knife in a slowly idling circle, observing as the raptors watched it twirl with curiosity. They seemed to not know quite what to make of it and communicated their puzzlement to each other with an exchange of barks. Daniel did get the impression though that they both understood it was some kind of a weapon. Daniel smirked and said, "what's the matter Mcfly? Ya Chicken?"
The two male velociraptors snarled and readied their claws.
"Daniel's grin got wide. "Excellent."
He began to spin the knife in a faster tighter figure eight, shifting his attention slowly back and forth between the two raptors.
Below the brachiosaur's tail Gary was still clinging on. Through the brush that slapped at his face he saw several velociraptors darting far ahead of the brachiosaur. No doubt they were in the midst of setting some kind of a trap for Daniel. Looking behind him, Gary saw a couple of velociraptors lagging behind, and it was already clear they were coming for him. Knowing that he was vulnerable where he was Gary tried to climb back on the top side of the tail but lost his grip when he was drug through the fronds of a fern tree. Gary tumbled through the foliage but remembered that raptors were not far behind, and he sprang into a run without hesitation. He caught up with the brachiosaur's tail and rushed to duck between its hind legs for some kind of cover, but the raptors were already upon him. Two females sprinted in. The first leapt for Gary before he could duck beneath the brachiosaurus. As it jumped at him something came in from the side like a battering ram and slammed the raptor against the brachiosaur's tail. As the raptor flopped to the ground in a heap Gary identified this new creature as a stygimoloch. Very similar to pachycephalosaurus, stygimoloch had a thick dome shaped skull that it used for defense. This dinosaur also sported several bony spines on the back of its head. It was smaller than pachycephalosaurus and always kind of reminded Gary of a goat despite the fact that it ran around on two legs.
Gary ducked between the brachiosaur's rear legs and glanced back to see where the second velociraptor was at. Several more stygimolochs had appeared, and they had come between him and the second female raptor. With a furious screech the raptor sprang at them, and one of the stygimolochs rammed upward into its belly. The raptor curled into a ball around the stygimoloch, and they both tumbled into the brush, continuing to fight each other.
Gary felt a little bit of relief. For the moment it looked like he was not being pursued.