Ice-Cold Welcome

After spending days wandering through Atlantis, Vanim yearned for the open prairies of his home. It felt like he couldn’t take two steps without nearly tripping over an overgrown root or a carnivorous plant’s snapping jaws. He’d gotten better at avoiding them, but having to stay alert at all times wore on his patience, and his nerves. He spent more time resting than he would have if he were traveling aboveground, but even then he didn’t feel like he could relax; he’d endeared himself to some of the euoplos, but many were still unfriendly. His sleep was light and fitful.

And aside from the occasional uncanny break in the ceiling that showed the ocean beyond, there was nothing close to starlight or sunshine. The spotlights only made the place feel even more artificial, if he could see them through the canopy to begin with.

So when the trees suddenly stopped, and the rough terrain was replaced with mossy cobblestone paths… He wasn’t exactly at ease, but it was a welcome change. He finally felt like he was making progress, not aimlessly wandering in a harsh, inhospitable jungle. And the smells! Vanim was used to the constant humidity and scents of angry plants, and now, as he set foot on the road, the air felt clearer, faintly floral but not overwhelmingly so.

There was another smell, too… other dinosaurs. But not any kind that Vanim had seen (or smelled) before. He sighed; there were ovis and euoplos, and now there was another. Hopefully they wouldn’t mind him appearing in their territory, but he hadn’t exactly had great luck with their stony guardians. Really, if the euoplos were trying to keep others out of this oasis, that was all the more reason to think he wouldn’t be welcome…

But he had to press on. He’d told himself he would find out everything there was to know about the newcomers, and what they were planning—first the ovis on the surface, then the euoplos in the jungle, and now whatever this third species was. He couldn’t turn back now.

As he walked, he focused on the changing terrain around him; there was a lot to take in. After spending so much time in the jungle, this place was charmingly urban—two words Vanim never thought he would put together, given his wariness of human-built areas. Benches lined the streets, some of their boards broken and splintered; iron fences separated parks from the concrete; tall buildings had shattered windows and moss creeping up the walls, but were otherwise shockingly intact. It was as though someone was very interested in preserving the humans’ construction.

The humans themselves? Vanim shook off the thought. There were no humans on the islands anymore. Possibly anywhere in the world. No, there had to be something else. Someone else. Whoever these new dinosaurs were.

“Who is that?” came a loud whisper.

Vanim paused. Some heads poked out from the alleyways, or windows high overhead. But when he tried to get a good look at them, they grimaced and ducked out of sight. It was not a very reassuring sign.

“Hello?” Vanim called, not expecting an answer. At least, not a friendly one.

“You look a little lost, there,” came a voice from behind him.

Vanim whipped around. And standing before him was a truly massive dinosaur. The dinosaur, whatever it was, was so tall Vanim’s head barely reached his shoulders. And as the stranger stepped towards him, Vanim couldn’t help but notice the giant spikes on his wrists.

“Another cryo…” he scoffed. “Those euoplos need a good kicking to remind them what their job is!”

Vanim attempted to back away, only to bump into something. He slowly turned his head, to see another of them had manifested behind him.

With no other choice, Vanim went along with the gruff pair.

He learned a few things with some careful questioning.

These dinosaurs called themselves iguanodons, and had apparently established themselves in this underground oasis for quite some time. The two that had captured him were Kratti and Guerrilla; Kratti was by far the more talkative of the two, though that didn’t make him very helpful. He was prone to insulting just about anyone that came up, whether it was Vanim, or the incompetent euoplos, or the wayward oviraptors that had fled to the surface. The only ones free from his ire, it seemed, were his fellow iguanodons.

Guerrilla, on the other hand, was almost entirely silent. Vanim might have appreciated it more if he wasn’t just as tall as his spiked comrade, and equally as imposing.

As they walked, the city slowly changed around them. More and more, the aggressive plants of the jungle were restrained to pots and dedicated lots, and no longer creeped up the sides of buildings. And the buildings were growing steadily in size, with larger doorways to boot. Oddly, the doors weren’t getting any bigger; in fact, they were completely absent.

The streets also became more populated, largely by iguanodons, but with a few ovis and euoplos here and there. Instead of the disdain he’d been shown at the city’s edge, these ones hardly noticed him at all, though a few waved to his escorts.

It really was a wonder that such large dinosaurs managed to inhabit a human-made city. Surely they must have done some of their own construction since all the humans left, as all the doors, windows, and the buildings were much too large for human use. And the euoplos he’d met had metal helmets and pauldrons, which he doubted the humans made for them. He supposed the iguanodons were very large, and strong enough to carry building materials from location to location; the euoplos could gather them with their thick tails; and oviraptors had fingers that were dexterous enough to actually use them… Was that how they made everything work?

Soon the trio came to a large pit, several body-lengths across, and so wide Vanim couldn’t see the ends of it. Maybe it would be more fitting to call it a ravine. The dirt walls were nearly vertical, and not a single blade of grass had been allowed to take root in the ground below. A handful of other dinosaurs were at the bottom, sleeping or wandering listlessly. There weren’t any oviraptors, euoplocephaluses, or iguanodons among them.

A terrible dread began to form in Vanim’s stomach.

Before he could take a step back, Guerrilla slammed against him, and Vanim fell all the way to the bottom. He skidded when he landed, sending up a cloud of dust and scraping his flank. As he tried to stand, he heard Kratti’s cutting laughter. The two guards stood at the lip of the ledge, sneering down at him. “Make yourself comfortable! The Queen will see you soon enough.”

Vanim shuddered, ceasing his efforts to get up. He was no climber, and even if he were, he doubted he’d have much luck with walls that were more than double his height.

Kratti turned and left first, still laughing; Guerrilla stood for a while longer, glaring down at Vanim and the other captives, before turning and following after his partner.

If this was the attitude of the locals, he couldn’t imagine their queen being very welcoming. But what was there to do, other than wait for her summons?