The Truest of Dinosaurs
by Javier Pérez Rizo
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Table of Contents parts 1, 2, 3 |
part 1
Robi tried to keep up with the old ranger. A strange feeling of anxiety churned in his stomach with every step. Maybe he shouldn't have delayed his visit to Aydan for so long. I feel uncomfortable even saying his name. Apparently, Aydan’s parents were very desperate. They did not know who else to turn to, so the relatives decided to ask him. I haven't seen him for ten years!
“We have to take the northern path to get to the hills,” the old man told him, interrupting his thoughts. Paskas was his name, one of those hermits who spoke little and grunted a lot, but the only one who had agreed to lead him to the heights where it was rumored that Aydan might be.
Paskas rose to his hind legs and peered into the distance. Autumn was almost over, and they were in the middle of nowhere. The rare trees that Robi could see, firs and pines, had stripped almost all of their branches and made a thorny, not very pleasant picture of the cold morning.
The guide fell to all fours, his spindly tail slapping the path twice. “Yes, in half a mile we will find the pass that leads up.”
Behind them, the dawn; ahead, shadows stretching into the distance. I envy your shadow; I have a long way to go. I'm not made for this anymore.
As a child, Robi had grown up surrounded by the forest of the Southwest that now enveloped the foothills of the western mountains. His family lived off the land. They were never rich or anything like that. He had to learn to pull a plow at an early age and get used to chewing birch bark when the harvest was late. “Here, if you don't have a back to plow, you don't have a belly to eat,” his father used to say.
In those days, Robi could walk five miles with a few bales of potatoes. The goods were transported to the town of Raquilla, along the coast, and then he and his father returned home to one of the small valleys in the north. On the way back, his father always stopped to fish in the lagoon that formed when the tributaries of the Beleto joined the great river, a good place.
“Is there a river here, Paskas?” Maybe if I get him talking, he'll walk slower.
The old man turned his sharp head. “No, nothing like that. The rivers are on the other side of the hills; they run along the edges of the forest.”
Of course, I know that, but keep on talking.
“From here it's just plains, then desert and, finally, the mountains of ash.” Paskas was old, but it hardly noticeable because of his smooth, tanned leather skin.
To the north, the first gray peaks appeared, like giant fossilized teeth. The sight discouraged Robi. Damn, Aydan, was there no other hiding place you could have chosen? “But how can someone live at such a height without water or food?”
“Evil magic is going on in those caves. They woke up the Castigo volcano, and now those two-legged animals have infected all the holes,” Paskas growled.
What animal is that? He means humans, a bad sign if Aydan has mixed with that rabble. Humans entered the world through mist gates that opened and closed in some places. The Saurian kings allowed this, because people cared little for those feeble creatures, but they did love very much travelling to human lands. This is what the Mist Accords had always been about: peace and harmony.
“His friend should choose better company,” Paskas told him, and resumed his march.
Robi didn't want to argue for the rest of the journey, but he replied, “I don't know. We haven't seen each other for a long time.” The towers of the Falcóndez mansion were visible from the lagoon where Robi's family stopped to fish. Red tile roofs peeked out from among the tallest oaks on the other side of the shore.
My father wouldn't even let us come close. He didn't like the Falcóndez very much. Nobles are strange lizards: they don't go to fairs, they don't bathe in the rain, they don't dance around fires. Aydan didn't like those things, either. In the end, he passed me his ways. “We met when we were little, in the village of Raquilla,” he told Paskas.
“I know where that is, yes. Raquilla, a town far to the south. I've been there.”
“And do you know the name of the Falcóndez family?” Robi was glad to break the silence.
“Are you related?” the guide asked with a sudden touch of surprise.
“No, not me, it's the friend who brings me on this journey. His parents came to me, you know, to pay a visit and maybe convince him to come home.” Robi tried to put a jovial tone into his words, but Paskas didn't seem to buy it. The soles of his hands and feet burned from the sharp pebbles on the road. He should have worn gloves and shoes. He had grown accustomed to the city's polished cobblestones and park grass. One would think that being a farmer's son, he would have no problems. Damn, at this rate, the old lizard is going to tear my skin off. The pain reminded him of the walks he used to take with his brothers. At least they could relax in the water after dropping their loads.
* * *
One day, he was swimming alone in the river, while his brothers dozed on their stomachs under the willows. He spotted someone walking on the other bank. Without his father, half asleep with the rod, seeing him, he swam to the island of oval stones and noticed the most unusual lizard he had ever seen. Stealthily, he leapt onto another flat rock for a closer look. It was a boy, covered from tail to snout in magnificent scarlet armor. I froze the first time I saw Aydan. He looked like a beast out of a storybook, Robi remembered.
The gauntlets gave Aydan’s claws real blades. He also wore a helmet with golden horns and a mouth guard that fit perfectly with hollow pointed steel fangs. Aydan fought against the battered stump of an unrecognizable tree that had been struck by lightning. “Give up! You have nowhere to run, you filthy worm,” he said, hovering over it. “Now you shall taste the true power of my fury. Die!” he howled, pieces of bark flying in the air with each claw. Then he lunged and bit into the wood. The metal teeth sank deep into the dead trunk. Clouds of charred sawdust erupted from his jaws as he choked in a sudden coughing fit.
Robi smiled at himself, couldn't keep his balance and landed face first in the mud on the shore.
“Hey! What are you doing?” the young Saurian called to him, coughing and spitting ashes.
“I fell. Can't you see, or are you blind?” Robi replied, also spitting mud.
“You are not allowed to step on land that does not belong to you,” he told him almost inaudibly, but Robi moved closer to take a closer look.
“Hey, where did you get that armor you're wearing?” he asked Aydan.
“It was a birthday present from my father's brother, who also got it from my great-great-grandfather, a great warrior who fought against the Trachpos.”
“That's a lie, the Trachpos don't exist,” Robi replied, turning around to make sure his brothers hadn't heard them. If they saw us, they would surely betray me to father.
Aydan took a few steps to the edge and stood there with determination. “Are you calling me a liar? The Trachpos attacked through the Mist Gates, and we Saurian nobles had to drive them out and close their gates forever.”
The truth is that we did not have a single book at home. There was no money for that. It was Aydan who taught me about the old stories of paladins and armies marching into unknown lands.
Aydan was obsessed with the exploits of his ancestors. He knew them by heart and regretted not having lived in those times. Robi never knew if these stories were just fantasies or had really happened. “In my veins, I have the blood of the great heroes of the past,” Aydan assured him.
So Robi was surprised the day Aydan took off his armor for him to try on. Then he discovered that his new friend was extremely thin, with pale, almost translucent skin, and several sizes smaller than Robi. Boys like that were called salamanders and made fun of at school. I never called him that, and I never would.
Paskas had gone on ahead. Robi closed his eyes to the monotonous landscape of brown plains. Over the smoky horizon, Robi conjured up Aydan's green pupils again, burning with flames of emotion as he split the charred trunk in half with a single blow of his tail. These weapons, combined with his peasant strength, made him a fearsome opponent. He felt euphoric, powerful as never before, encased in that armor.
Without fear, he scaled the rocky ledge of the river and roared toward the other bank. “Get off my land!” His poor siblings suddenly woke up and ran in fits and starts, hugging each other behind their father, who was not amused. Aydan had to intercede with his family so that whenever they returned from a trip to the city, Robi would be allowed to go to the mansion. But I did not escape punishment at home or the revenge of my brothers for the scare.
* * *
At every meeting, Aydan would propose a new mission, one that only the Falcóndez heir could think of. Sometimes they explored the caves where the river disappeared and, one time, Aydan got the keys to the family mausoleum. They locked themselves in there for hours, talking in echoes with the spirits of the dead.
But, as the years passed, they grew apart. Aydan's parents forced him to travel to other regions in search of a wife, but the boy confided to Robi that all those banquets made him terribly bored. “All the maidens do is gossip and stroll in the gardens. And my parents want me to marry one of them. That will be my end, I assure you.”
Robi was amused by the silly suffering of the rich; but he was also a little distracted when his family opened a grocery store in Raquilla. It was an opportunity to get away from the furrows, from the plow; but he also stopped going to the forest lagoon. He and Ayden saw each other less and less. Robi noticed slight changes in his friend during their rare visits. Aydan became more and more depressed until the day he told me he was going on a long trip and that it might be some time before we meet again.
Since then, Robi had not been able to find him. No one knew about him. It was as if he had vanished from the earth. Now Robi knew where Aydan had been: with the humans. Noon warmed the air a little, but it was a cold sun, one of those that burns without making you sweat.
Robi was breathing hard and felt a bit annoyed. He and Paskas were already on their way up the mountain. The landscape was not exactly one you would choose for a holiday. Hardly any vegetation grew between the faded rocks and cliffs that alternated on either side of the zigzagging path. Robi tried not to notice how far away the damn peak was. If he's not up there, I'll jump off a cliff, I swear!
Some columns of smoke were about to merge with the dirty clouds. “Is that the volcano?” Robi asked, but Paskas took a few seconds to answer. He, too, seemed to be deep in thought.
“Yes, the one people call Castigo,” he replied without taking his eyes off the ground.
“And who could come up with such a beautiful name?”
“I don't know. They've been calling it that since the day it woke up. This whole area used to be covered with green hills. There were wild rabbits, foxes, and all kinds of birds. But since those humans came and settled up there, I don't know what the hell they've done to cause us this punishment.” His tail sliced through a granite slab.
Robby was pensive. What the hell did you get yourself into, Aydan? He remembered his tired and dreamy face the last time they said goodbye. The truth was that the pale boy never fit in anywhere. I am a simple farmer. The world is full of them, but Aydan was different. Perhaps it was fate that they had met.
Aydan had unveiled a phenomenal world for him. Robi loved those fantasy games, too but, eventually, it was time to grow up and move on. He built his hut in Raquilla, for himself and Alicia, who was going to have a baby, then Sari was born and Lina was already in her egg. Maybe Robi had neglected his old friend, yes. But what could I do? Life is the way it is. Everyone moves away. It's not a strange thing.
“And are there many people living up there? There can't be many.”
“Well, you better believe it,” Paskas replied with a snort. “I saw the lights from my watchtower. They have built a nest around the crater, and there are rumors of giant birds making sure no one comes near. I will lead you to the pathway that leads up to the caves. From there you will have to go on alone.”
I can't believe he's more afraid than I am. It was not a good sign for a ranger to be scared. I must be the fool. The sandy ground and gray slopes of the mountain suddenly turned to solid rock. To advance, they had to jump from one block to another, carefully not to lose footing. The temperature was noticeably on the rise. The volcano is close. Why did it have to be in a volcano?
Paskas began to curse every three steps, and Robi didn't dare to apologize, lest the old man turn around on the spot. After helping each other over a sloping, black-smeared wall, they were able to look over the edge. On the other side, they saw the pathway, which was a natural staircase leading steeply upwards. Paskas pointed in that direction, and without saying a word, he prepared to make his way back.
“Thank you, Mr. Paskas, would it be possible for you to wait for me near here? It won't take long, and I'll pay you. You have my word.” Robi sat down on the edge of the wall.
“Good luck, sir,” the hermit shouted without turning around.
Copyright © 2023 by Javier Pérez Rizo
