My arms were burning from scooping so fast, but I ignored the pain and forced myself to scoop the clay faster. My second basket was soon full, and I ran it over to Kacerie as Sheela took her second over. We each only had one more to do, and I felt a bit of relief fill my stomach. We were going to be able to get away. Then tomorrow the wall would be built, and we could wait a few days before coming back here.
Then I heard a screech drift toward us from the other side of the lake.
“Shit!” Kacerie hissed.
I didn’t bother looking up, I needed four more scoops to fill up the basket, and I got them done as Kacerie whispered to us.
“They see us! Shit! Go! Go! Hurry!”
Sheela was already dashing back to Bob, and I followed right behind her as soon as I put my last handful of clay in the basket. Kacerie was still trying to tie the fourth basket down, but she gave up and grabbed Sheela’s before taking mine. As soon as I could, I jumped back up into my seat and then turned to face the other side of the lake. There were a group of four raptors sprinting around the lake’s edge, and they were letting out angry squawks that cut through the still valley air.
“Tie them down!” I growled as I glanced over to see Sheela and Kacerie struggling with the baskets.
“I’m trying!” the pink-haired woman hissed frantically. “If you go now, we’ll lose them!”
“Fuck!” I growled as I turned back to the raptors. It took about a minute for me to push Bob around the lake, and I guessed that the four raptors chasing us could go just as fast.
Maybe even faster since they didn’t have three people riding on their backs.
“Come on!”
“Go!” Sheela and Kacerie shouted in unison, and I commanded Bob to speed away. My big friend didn’t need much encouragement, and he tore away from the shore of the lake as if his ass was on fire. We sprinted up the hill and then wrapped around into our jungle quickly, but I still heard the sounds of the raptors screaming behind us.
We reached the first river, and I debated my options as I wiped the wind-sting from my eyes. I knew our pursuers were fast, but I wondered how well they could track by smell. If I took Bob straight back to our camp, would the massive raptors be able to follow us? That would be a nightmare since I didn’t think I’d be able to win a fight with four of them and keep all my dinos alive. The battle could set us back a few days.
It could even mean that the entire pack learned of our camp, and then it would just be a matter of time before they killed us.
Instead of heading straight back, I could push through the river a bit, take it downstream, go in and out of it a bit, and hope the raptors lost Bob’s scent. The risk with the plan was that they could just catch up to us, and that would also be a tough battle. Thankfully, Kacerie had her two Lances ready, and Sheela had her Critical Strike, but it would still leave one of the fuckers fighting against Bob, and I didn’t think my big buddy would get out of that unscathed.
But it was still the least risky of our options, so I decided to go with it.
I pushed him into the river and urged him to plow through it as fast as he could. I didn’t know if the parasaurus understood exactly how my plan was supposed to work, but he took to swimming with the current faster than I thought he would, and we were quickly away from the spot where we normally forded the water.
The walls of a ravine closed in around us as Bob swam downstream, and I strained my ears to hear the sound of the chasing raptors.
“They are getting closer!” Sheela hissed, and I cursed under my breath. I didn’t see any way we could get out of the river in the next two hundred yards, so I was now betting on the raptors not thinking we went into the water.
“Kacerie, get your Lance ready,” I said.
“I’m ready,” she said over the roar of the water. We all gasped when Bob’s head briefly disappeared under the waves of the river, but he popped back up a few seconds later, and then let out a loud toot of distress.
“Shhh! Bob! Come on, man!” I doubted that the raptors could hear him toot over the water, but I didn’t want to risk it.
I just needed him to keep swimming for a few minutes, get past the walls of the ravine, and then we could run on the shore for a bit.
A wave surged over a boulder and soaked my shirt, but none of the water got on Kacerie and Sheela. I glanced back to make sure that the baskets were okay, and it looked like the water wasn’t getting close to them.
We waited silently while Bob swam with the current, and I prayed the raptors wouldn’t figure out where we went and chase after us.
“I think we have lost them,” Sheela said after what felt like ten minutes, and I let out a sigh of relief.
The river fed out of the ravine, and we came to a spot where Bob could get onto the shore. I steered him out of the water and then ran him down the east side of the river for about a mile. I actually went about a quarter mile past the spot where the fallen redwood tree was, but then I doubled backed into the river, and then let him get a drink before I pushed him back to camp.
I dropped Sheela and Kacerie with the clay at our workstation in the forest and then commanded the trikes to come patrol the surrounding area. As soon as Tom, Nicole, and Katie were in place, I ran Bob back to our fort and then ran inside to talk to Trel. She was getting her clay funnel on top of a tripod of long poles of three inch diameter wood, but she turned to me with a questioning look.
“We were seen by the raptors,” I said. “They followed us into this valley, but we lost them in the river.”
“Ugh,” Trel sighed.
“Yeah,” I said. “We need to finish the wall tonight, or we might not have a tomorrow.”
Chapter 17
“Are you sure they’ll keep searching for us?” Trel asked me as we both walked out of the fort and got onto Bob.
“No,” I said. “They might give up and go back into the lake valley so they can just eat the rest of the two brontos, but four of the fuckers chased us at least two miles, and they wouldn’t have done that unless they were interested in hunting us down.”
“Even if we start burning the logs right now, it will still take six or so hours for them to finish,” Trel said before I commanded Bob to run back to the work site.
“We have to make it go faster,” I said as soon as we reached the site. “How do we do it?”
“Ugh,” she groaned as we got off Bob and jogged over to where Kacerie and Sheela were setting the clay. “There is a way, but it’s risky. Also, aren’t you worried about potential enemies seeing the smoke?”
“We’ve got two or three hours before sunset,” I said. “I’m more worried about the raptors. What’s this other way?”
“The sap,” Trel said as she pointed to one of the closest giant redwoods. “It will burn quick and hot. If we can get the fire started with it, and then add some slowly as it burns, I think we might push the timetable up. We won’t be able to do it with all the logs, but if we do it with twenty, then we can work them into the walls while the others burn. Then we’ll save some time.”
“Victor, do you really wish to work out here once darkness falls?” Sheela asked. “The raptors could sneak up on us then.”
“I’m worried about that, of course,” I said. “But if they find our camp tonight, they are going to do some damage to our dinos, then we won’t be able to build tomorrow. This needs to happen now. Are you three with me?”
“Of course,” Sheela said with a quick nod.
“Yep! Let’s get it done,” Kacerie said.
“You are a slave driver,” Trel moaned, “but life will be more relaxed with the wall up. Then you can pay more attention to me instead of worrying about getting attacked. I will work through the night if needed.”