him up in two crisp bites, felt his bones shatter under those brutally efficient teeth. This was far more terrifying than his most vivid imaginings.
His gaze went up to the many-toothed head so high above him. Then down to those taloned feet. All the world fell away from the creature. It was the crown and pinnacle of creation. Everything existed for its convenience. The valley held its face upward for its inspection.
It held the world fast in its claws.
He hadn’t had the exposure to tyrannosaurs to know what sex this one was. It was absolutely unscientific, then, to assign it a gender. But Leyster lovingly remembered Stan, the first Tyrannosaurus skeleton he’d ever gotten to examine closely, and decided on the spot that this, his first living tyrannosaur, was also male.
The brute’s calm was uncanny. He was still with the perfect stillness of an assassin at rest with his conscience. No doubts, no mercy, no hesitation sullied his thought. He was all Zen and murder, Death’s favored child. He stood here because it pleased him.
His was a timeless universe. He did not permit change to enter it. Now and forever, he was king of Eden.
As quietly as he could, Leyster edged away. If the tyrannosaur noticed, he did not deign to show it. His eyes remained slitted, his head motionless. Only his throat moved, pulsing gently.
Trees rose up to obscure the animal. The trail twisted and the top of the ridge disappeared as well. Leyster turned and, with frequent glances over his shoulder, crept furtively downslope. A hundred yards down the trail, he was able at last to draw in a deep breath.
He had seen Tyrannosaurus rex!
And he was still alive!
Had the animal been hungry, of course, it would have been an entirely different story. Nevertheless, Leyster was filled with a strange and savage joy. He was so happy he wanted to sing, though the wiser side of him cautioned that he should put a few miles between himself and his new playmate before doing any such thing.
Would he now have to avoid Barren Ridge?
It was a tough call. Dinosaur skin wasn’t anywhere as glandular as that of mammals. Still, theropods had a distinctive smell, dry and pungent, like a mixture of cinnamon and toad. So, had the ridge been a regular stop on the tyrannosaur’s rounds, Leyster would have known. He was a newcomer, then.
Even so, the overlook was a convenient spot. The Lord of the Valley might well decide to make it his regular perch. Before he dared find out if this were the case, Leyster would need to find a different approach. One where he could tell if the tyrannosaur were present long before putting himself within chomping distance.
In any event, best he avoid Barren Ridge for the next week or two. By then, the scent would tell the story one way or the other.
He hurried homeward to tell the others the news. They’d all have to take precautions. They’d all want to see.
It occurred to him that he would have to find a new Purgatorius colony now.
When Leyster strode into camp, humming the “Ode to Joy” to himself, there was no one about. The twin lines of tents were still and silent. A solitary dragonfly flew swiftly past him and was gone.
Somewhere in the distance the crazed-monkey laughter of a whooping loon rose up and then suddenly cut off, making the silence absolute. To one side of the camp was a stand of protomagnolias. The scent of their flowers hung heavy on the air.
“Hello?” he called.
A tent flap exploded open.
All in a rush, Daljit burst from Lydia Pell’s tent. She was crying. She seized Leyster and buried her face in his shoulder. “Oh, Richard,” she said. “Liddie’s dead!”
Clumsily, he put his arms around her. He stroked her hair as if she were a sorrowing child. “We did everything we could,” he said.
“She was a h-hero. She saved us all. W-when I heard the tape, I just stood there! I didn’t d-do a thing!”
“There, there,” he said awkwardly. “None of us did. Maybe it’s just a form of pride to imagine we should have, rather than just accepting how extraordinary it was what she did.” He was acutely aware of how pompous he sounded.
“You know what the w-worst part is? If Robo Boy had been a competent terrorist, she’d b-be alive now! That asshole! If she’d only had another t-twenty seconds…”
“There, now.”
“I haven’t felt like this since my m-mother died,” Daljit said. “I suppose I’ll be crying off and on for days this time too.”
She pulled back from him. Her face was round and red. The tears had abruptly shut off, but there were circles under her eyes and she looked worn and weary. These days had been hardest on her and on Matthew. They’d been the only two with any medical experience, but it belatedly occurred to Leyster that this chore should have been shared out more fairly.
“I’ll go wake up Matthew,” she said. “He’s resting in his tent. Will you tell the others?”
“Of course I will. Where are they?”
“Those who aren’t out looking for food are up the hollow, working on Jamal’s long house,” she said. Then, with absolutely no transition at all, “This bickering can’t go on.”
“I know.”
“It’s stupid.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Well, don’t just fucking agree with me. Do something about it! You’ve got to put an end to… I’m going to start crying again. Go on! Scoot!”
Weeping and hunched, she scuttled to Matthew’s tent and disappeared within.
Leyster hesitated, then ducked into the tent she had just vacated. It was hot inside, and dark. He waited for his eyes to adjust, then approached Lydia Pell’s cot.
Two flies were buzzing around her head. One tried to land, and he shooed it away.
In death, Lydia Pell had regained the face she had spent a lifetime creating. It was a serious, no-nonsense face, plain and round-cheeked. But one who knew her could see how amenable it would be to a smile or a wry twist of her features. He could see her now, looking up from her knitting with that one particular expression that said would you believe it? Followed by another that meant well, people are funny.
“Shoo,” Leyster said absently. “Shoo, fly.”
That face had been lost in pain in the ten days since the explosion. He was glad to see it back. He was doubly glad that Daljit had closed the eyes, so he didn’t have to see them staring back at him from the far side of death.
“Good-bye, Liddie,” he said softly. “I wish to God we had you with us now. You’d do so much better a job wrangling this bunch than I can. I miss you already. But I’m glad you’re at peace now.”
One fly landed, and began walking back and forth across the tender strip of flesh between her lips and nostrils. He raised a hand to shoo it away yet again, then thought the better of it. She was dead. Her body was no longer of any use to her.
“I’ll get everybody together again. Somehow. I promise.”
He could think of nothing more to say. He dried his eyes and left.
So Leyster walked, alone, up Smoke Hollow to the new campsite. The way darkened as the proto- magnolias gave way first to cedars and then to redwoods. The redwoods were still young and grew close together enough to serve as a barrier to the larger dinosaurs. Still, it might make sense to sharpen and lash together triads of logs into a line of cheveaux-de-frise to discourage any medium-size predators that might happen along. Or maybe
