Chapter
3 ‘Who Are You?’ Page 10
The dinosaur was slender and muscular with dark
green skin, and a long strong tail. It
stood on two sturdy hind legs with four clawed toes on each foot and had two
forearms with four clawed fingers on each hand. Its head was sleek with a long snout and yellow-black eyes. The dinosaur was as tall as Jason and had in
its possession something very unusual.
It had weapons. A bow was slung
across one of its shoulders and a quiver full of arrows strapped to its
back. Around its waist was a belt with
a pouch.
The dinosaur eyed the boys with
slight apprehension. “Hello,” it
said. “We should get out of here before
that thing comes back.” The dinosaur
could see the sheer terror on Tommy and Jason’s faces. “Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you,” said the dinosaur. “I’m Kypou. Who are you?”
Jason blinked several times but
strangely felt as if he should say something, after all Kypou had just saved
them from a private tour of a gigantic worm’s digestive system. Terror slowly let go of his throat.
“I’m Jason,” he said quietly. “And uh... this is my brother Tommy.” Tommy was staring in disbelief. Kypou gave him a smile.
“Lets get out of here,” said Kypou
and motioned the boys towards the rope.
Still holding Tommy close, Jason did
his best to walk over to the rope, keeping Kypou firmly in his sight. Jason didn’t trust anything about this
world. Tommy grabbed the rope and with
Jason’s help, pulled himself up. The
numb sensation Tommy was feeling
started to wear off and the realization of what just happened dawned on
him. They had been rescued by a
dinosaur! A talking dinosaur! As Tommy neared the hole’s opening, a scaly
arm reached down and pulled him to safety.
At first the sudden daylight overwhelmed his eyes so he couldn’t see who
the arm belonged to. As his eyes grew
accustomed to the light Tommy saw that the arm belonged to another dinosaur!
Jason was now alone in the hole with
the dinosaur named Kypou. Although he
appeared to be friendly Jason still couldn’t be sure. He did know, however, that he wanted to get out of this hole as
soon as possible. Jason grabbed the
rope and tried to pull himself up, then felt Kypou’s clawed hands give him a
much needed push. Jason made his way
out of his dismal prison and found Tommy sitting in the clearing surrounded by
three other dinosaurs. All eyes were on
him as he crawled over to Tommy and collapsed.
He was in agony and his ankle was beginning to swell.
It was a sight any paleontologist
would have found bizarre, two humans and three dinosaurs sitting around in
awkward silence. It had never occurred
to the boys that it might be just as strange for dinosaurs to see humans for
the first time as it was for humans to see live dinosaurs. Curiosity and uncertainty floated on the
air. Kypou had made his way out of the
hole now and sat down with the others.
He seemed to be the only one at ease with a species never encountered
before. He broke the awkward silence.
“This is Tommy and Jason,” he said
to the other dinosaurs The boys smiled
nervously.
Kypou pointed to the dinosaur on his
left. “This is Bonta,” he said to the
boys.
Bonta smiled. “Hello,” she said. It had been Bonta who had helped Tommy out of the hole.
Bonta was the same height as Kypou
but heavier. Her skin was aqua blue and
her eyes yellow with black pupils. She
had a long tail, two hind legs with three clawed toes on each foot, and two
short forearms with five clawed fingers on each hand. But it was Bonta’s head that was so unusual. Her neck was short and thick and her head
was large and round with heavy bumps surrounding the sides and back of her
head. Her snout was short and
blunt. Next to Bonta was Typhoo. He wasn’t as tall as the other two but he was
much heavier. His hind legs were thick
and each foot had four clawed toes. His
forearms were long and plump with four clawed fingers on each hand. Typhoo’s neck was short and stocky with a
head that ended in a stubby snout, the top part of his mouth, however, was
shaped like a birds beak. His eyes were
small and black. Typhoo didn’t say
hello, he smiled shyly instead.
Before Kypou could introduce the
last dinosaur, a fifth, much smaller dinosaur neither of the boys noticed
before, raced into the clearing. It
jumped around excitedly. Bonta
immediately scolded this new dinosaur.
“There you are Peko!” she said
crossly.
Peko was about the size of a large
turkey but much more slender. He had a
little thin tail, little thin hind legs with three little clawed toes on each
foot and two little forearms with four little clawed fingers on each hand. His neck was long and slender with a little
head perched on top with small black eyes.
Peko was light green with various yellow patches on his back. Tommy instantly recognized him as a
Compsognathus, just like the one he had seen near his closet door. Around Peko’s neck hung a small black stone
tied to a piece of rope. The stone
glowed a faint red.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” scolded Bonta. “You mustn’t run away like that!”
But Peko took no notice of Bonta and
continued to jump around. Tommy and
Jason watched in amazement as the little dinosaur began to talk rapidly.
“Who are you? Aren’t you funny looking! Did you come to help us fight those bad
Myrites, did you? Huh? Did you? Know what I’d do if I ever saw one of those
bad Myrites? Do you wanna see, huh? Do ya?”
Without even waiting for a reply, Peko began to swipe at the air with
his little fists and vigorously kick with his little legs. He was kicking so vigorously in fact, his
feet became caught up in his tail, and he went tumbling backwards. At last there was silence. Bonta picked Peko up, placed him on her knee
and patted him on the head. Peko
scowled miserably.
“This is little Peko,” said Bonta.
Kypou shook his head and
sighed. “Peko gets a little excited
sometimes. He’s very young.” Peko made a face at Kypou then went back to his
scowling.
Finally, Kypou introduced the last
dinosaur. This was Harpi. Harpi was about the same height as Kypou and
Bonta. His body was heavy with a long
fleshy slightly flattened tail. His
hind legs were thick with three clawed toes on each foot. He had two arms with five clawed fingers on
each hand. Harpi had a thick neck with
a long head. His snout was flat like a
ducks bill. The strangest thing about
Harpi was the crest on his head. It
started at his bill, went up the front of his head, and ended at the back of
his neck in a long blunt horn. His
belly was gray but the rest of his body was dark green. Harpi didn’t smile or greet the boys. He watched them with intense distrust.