Chapter
4 ‘The Egg Thief’ Page 14
At first nothing could be seen or
heard. Then a soft popping noise broke
the silence. The boys found themselves
suddenly surrounded by an eerie light.
Standing behind them was Kypou, and in his hand was a brightly shining
crystal, about the size and shape of an apple.
In front of them was a stone staircase leading down deeper into the
cave. Still holding the crystal, Kypou
began to descend the stairs. Tommy and
Jason once again followed.
The bottom of the stairs opened up
into a large subterranean cavern. The
other dinosaurs were already there sitting on grass mats on the floor. Kypou and the boys joined them.
The cavern was basically circular in
shape with a high ceiling. The walls
were made of a rough, lightly colored gray rock. It was not dark, on the contrary, it was quite bright. Imbedded in the rock walls were crystals
much like the one Kypou was holding.
Kypou tapped the crystal with his hand and it went out. On the ground, against the surrounding wall,
were several beds made from some kind of green moss. The most curious thing about the cavern was what was sitting in
the very center of it.
There was a black stone about the
size of ten extra large pizzas. The surface
of the stone was dotted with little holes.
Heat radiated out from these holes making the air warm which was quite
unusual for being so far underground.
Kypou explained that the unusual stone captured heat escaping from a
deep underground lava vent which then heated the entire cave.
“What is this place?” asked Tommy.
“This is our home now,” Kypou told
him. “Since it isn’t safe for us to
live in the jungle anymore, we live here where the Myrites can’t find us.”
“So did the Myrites build the trap
we fell in to?” asked Tommy.
“Yes,” replied Kypou.
“Who are these Myrites you all keep
talking about?” said Jason.
At the mention of the word Myrite,
Peko sprang to his feet and was about to give his ‘What I would do if I ever
saw a Myrite’ demonstration again, but Bonta gently restrained him.
“The Myrites are very evil,” said
Kypou. “They are protectors of the
Great Stone which makes them very powerful.
The Stone helps them become...,”
Kypou thought for a moment.
“Invisible. Isn’t that the word
you used Tommy?” Tommy nodded. “It is how they hunt us,” continued
Kypou. “The Great Stone needs to be fed
a special crystal so the Myrites can keep their power. They have enslaved almost everyone in the
valley and have forced them to dig for these crystals.” Kypou paused, sadness flowed over his
reptilian face. “Our families have all
been captured,” he said in a quiet voice.
“And put to work in the mine.
Now we are trying to save them but it’s hard. There aren’t many of us left to fight.”
Tommy and Jason were amazed by
Kypou’s story. The dinosaurs, no older
than he or Jason, seemed to have a great deal of responsibility and worry on
their shoulders.
“So everyone in the valley is now
working in the Myrite mine?” asked Tommy.
“Well, not everyone,” replied
Kypou. “Some of our fellow Gwondalians
are of no use to the Myrites. They, I’m
afraid, met quite a different end.
What did that mean?
“It’s all so terrible,” whispered
Typhoo. It was the first time the boys
had heard the plump dinosaur speak. Kypou
reached over and patted his little friend on the shoulder.
“What happens to them?’ asked Tommy,
not at all sure he wanted to know the answer.
“The very young and the old are
taken to a part of the jungle where the Myrite go to eat,” said Bonta.
It didn’t take long for Tommy to
figure out that dinosaurs deemed not useful as slaves by the Myrites ended up
as food.
“It’s not all bad,” said Kypou. “Some of our kind have escaped to the very
edge of the valley but we have not heard how they are doing.”
Tommy remembered back to the piles
of bones they had seen at the edge of the valley. Jason remembered this as well and not wanting he and his brother
to be the bearer of bad news he politely changed the subject.
“Uh, Gwondalians. Is that what you’re called?” asked Jason.
“Yes,” said Kypou. “This is Gwondala. Where are you from? Do
you live in the valley? I’m sure we
would have seen your kind before.”
“No,” said Jason. “We don’t come from your valley.”
“Where
do you come from then?” asked Bonta.
Jason wasn’t really sure how to
explain their presence.
“We live beyond your valley,” Jason
told her. “In a place far away called
Strumvale.”
“Are there others like you?” asked
Peko.
“Uh, yeah there are. Our kind are called humans,” said Jason.
“Hum,” said Kypou. “Humans.
How did you get here?”
“We wandered away from our home and
got lost. Now we’re trying to find our
way back home but I’m afraid we’re not doing a very good job of it at the
moment.” said Tommy.
The boys didn’t want to tell the
dinosaurs the whole story. They had a
feeling they wouldn’t understand the concept of a time hole or the fact that in
their world dinosaurs were extinct.