B008IFNJZM EBOK (39 page)

***

             
Iolana woke first and took some nourishment from Cinnet’s arm.  Cinnet then shook Jerrick until he woke up.  Cinnet held up one finger.  Neither Iolana nor Jerrick knew what he was telling them.  Cinnet took his finger nail and drew a rough outline of the forty-eight states.  He then drew an irregular pattern above the states.

             
“Well it looks like we are either going to Alaska or somewhere in Canada.”

             
He then pointed to spot that would be considered to be somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.  He held up the single finger again and made an arc from that spot into what Iolana thought was Alaska.

             
Jerrick looked at Iolana.

             
“I think he is trying to tell us that this next tunnel will take us to somewhere in Alaska and that this jump will be the last before we begin our search for Wolf’s Bane.”

             
The Meeratt drew the half of the sun and a line.

             
Iolana looked back at the drawing.

             
“And I suppose this is to tell us we will be arriving at either sunrise or sunset.”

             
“Yes and there is no way to find out which one it will be.”

             
Iolana rolled up her dirt bag sleeping roll.

             
“There’s only one way to find out for sure.”

             
Jerrick climbed up on the tray for the next tunnel and shot down the next passage.  Iolana and Cinnet would soon follow.

***

             
Nathan gave Elizabeth a light kiss and gently shook her.  She rolled over and smiled up at Nathan.

             
“What time is it?”

             
“About four in the morning...”

`
             
“Chelsea met with Khu and the elder Meeratt, Boyat. “

             
“How is Tom?”

             
“He is still trying to change but the urges are becoming less and the pentagram on his chest is becoming less and less noticeable.”

             
“Poor Tom...  he certainly didn’t ask for any of this.”

             
“Chelsea made her last trip for the evening and negotiated a deal with the senior Meeratt.  He will let the guides go into the first valley and extract as many Dodo birds as they need to fill their quota.”

             
“What was the price for this arrangement?”

             
“Two more rubies...  It seems Khu had told Iolana about how they hold the value of ruby stones high in priority so Iolana stripped all the rubies from the ladies’ jewelry.  Many of the Bigfoot sightings are because the senior members of their village go out into the mountains looking for those stones.”

             
Elizabeth remembered Nathan telling her that the secret to entering their world was the insertion of a ruby into a depression in the sandstone.  It made sense to her.  After all, rubies are the third hardest stone in the world and probably never wear out as a key.

             
“I thought you might help cook and serve a meal for the men.  They are going back into the first valley with their cages.”

             
“Sure.”

             
Elizabeth came out and joined the ‘mess’ cook as he too was preparing breakfast for the Sargent Major’s men.  She smiled when she saw Platt coming down the serving line with his crutch.

             
“How’s that side and your leg doing this morning?”

             
“Good thanks for your help.”

             
“You know as your doctor, I would rather have you get another day or two of rest before putting weight on that side.”

             
“The men will need me.  According to Chelsea, the senior Meeratt is the only one who can control the Bunyips in that valley and he won’t be there.  He will be in all day with your brother and Khu.  They will need protection.”

             
“Well try to stay off that leg or use your crutch.”

             
“I will Doctor, and thanks.”

             
Platt stepped down the line and Elizabeth served the next guide.

             
This time Elizabeth sat up on the ledge with Derrick and Platt.  Platt has his high powered rifle right next to him as he and Derrick scanned the valley below through the sights of their tranquilizer rifles.  Derrick got on a head set to Crosley.

             
“When you guys find the flock, drive them this way so we can cover you better.”

             
“Roger that.”

             
The men were directly below them traveling on foot along the wall leading off to the left side of the valley.  Each man had a large net on his back and carried one of the tranquilizer rifles.  They could see Chelsea and Hadiya circling off in the distance.  That was to show the men the location of the birds.  They were gray in color and incapable of flight.  They were very heavy in build that further restricted their ability to run also, each bird was large and close to three feet tall with their long curved beaks.  The flock was not very noisy and very rarely ever made a sound.  Scientists have always considered them distance relatives to the pigeon family.  The adults could weigh as much as forty pounds or more.  Nathan could see the girls circling over several trees from the camera Elizabeth was operating.

             
The men were advancing quietly on the position.  Each man was wearing special camouflaged leather pants reinforced for both the fangs of a snake or the beaks of these birds.  They were all wearing shirts and gloves made of the same material.  It was either wear the clothing that made them uncomfortably warm or expose themselves to all kinds of dangers in this valley.  Even leeches and ticks could not hold on to this special material.

             
Gentlemen I think your birds will be nesting by those trees over there.  They look like peach trees but I think they are
Tambalacoque
trees.  They like to eat the fruit.”

             
“Say professor?”

             
“Yes Henry?”

             
“I’m no scientist, but what if the trees are not producing fruit during its cycle… what do they eat then?”

             
“It is said they will eat small stones until the next season and live off of their body fat.”

             
“Strange creatures hey Doc?”

             
“That’s why the zoos are paying so much for each male/female set.”

             
Derrick came back over the radio.

             
“Okay gentlemen start to cut across the valley.”

             
Platt kept his weapon trained in and also kept relining his sight for any necessary downhill shot and always refining the range.  The last two men in the party dragged a cage made out of the parts of two of the roller cages.  The cage was also on a cable back to the hoist up on the ledge.  The line at the other end slowly clicked out farther and farther with each step.  For each of the party who carried a net with a rifle over his back on a sling, his partner was packing a tranquilizer rifle with the net over his back.  Derrick didn’t like his vantage point because the far end of the valley could not be monitored for Bunyip attacks.

             
The first to come across a bird as he came out of the tall grass next to a tree was Reynolds.  His partner was right behind him constantly scanning the grass for movements of those who were bigger than these deformed fat turkeys.  The female did not move but continued to sit on her nest.  Reynolds knew the bird was watching him and seemed not concerned by his presence.  Reynolds squatted down and set his net on the bent over grass right next to the creature.

             
“Hey Miles look at this.”

             
Miles glanced down for only a second.

             
“I don’t even need a net.  Are these birds’ stupid or what?”

             
Miles snickered and spit out some of his chewing Tabaco constantly scanning around them.

             
He watched as Reynolds picked up the bird and looked at his partner.

             
“I’ve picked berries off of vines with more resistance that this.”

             
Reynolds followed his partner back to place the female into the cage through the opening in the top.  The only sound the bird made is when it fell to the bottom.

             
“Hey guys the females are easy.  Just pick them up and come over and drop them in.”

             
Within minutes, the four teams of professional guides had the first cage loaded with their quota of females and retreated to the rock side of the valley.  Henry and Willie were about to get the last female.  It was a spare just in case one of the other females died before reaching its high paid destination.  Derrick was up on the ledge ready to hoist the cage up and then lower down a second cage for their quota of males.  The two girls had changed into birds and continued to circle above.  They could then take advantage of the slight wind current at the higher altitudes in the valley chamber to glide above the teams. 

             
As Willie reached for the bird nesting it looked up at him.

             
“That’s a good girl.  Uncle Willie is just going to take you to some of your girlfriends.”

             
Willie picked up the bird and suddenly two of the males came out and charged Willie as he stood back up.  They were squawking and trying to strike his boots and his pants with their beaks.

             
Willie smiled at Henry.

             
“Doesn’t this remind you of male geese trying to keep someone away?”

             
“Yes it does.”

             
Henry put down his net and shouldered his rifle.  Without any problem, he bent down and seized one of the males.  They were clumsy and slow and he had no problem picking one up as it continued to strike his arms.  Henry could barely feel anything as now he too, was holding a bird.  They fought being carried but their noise was far worse than their attempt to free themselves.

             
The last female was loaded and the cage was towed back and then hoisted up to the ledge and Derrick sent down the empty one as Henry continued to hold on to the first male to take up residence in its new steel home.  Willie leaned against the rock.  He felt something bounce off his boot.  He looked down and saw a snake trying to strike him with his fangs but was having no luck penetrating the surface of his clothing.  None of the professional guides cared too much about snakes.  They were too quiet and yet their presence would always scare the tourists they were escorting.  Most of them developed their own little show for their customers that would make them always feel safe as long as the guide was with them.  All the guides have been bitten from time to time while trying to entertain their audience.  Henry came up and grabbed the snake by the tale and before it could even strike him, he cracked the serpent like a whip and killed it by causing multiple fractures along its body.  He threw it down and continued to wait for that next cage.  The men in the party were now more relaxed that the job of harvesting the birds was over half way complete.  Even the two girls flew back to the ledge and transformed in an area surrounded by boxes for privacy and used the towels to cool off and wait for the second cage to be lowered down the valley wall.  The first cage was up and still the birds were for the most part quiet.  Once the second cage dropped out of sight, the girls changed back in birds and flew back out on station.

             
The flock was huge.  The men would simply approach the birds from the canyon wall and begin gathering up the Dodos without ever really reaching the large flock of birds in the middle.  Henry and Willie figured the size of the flock to be well over a thousand.  Henry thought that after they had their quota, even the Meeratts would not notice any change in their Dodo numbers.  It seemed to them to be a waste of two eight carat rubies.  The teams would go out straight to the trees and then turn in the direction of the ledge and gather up the first males they saw prancing in front of them.  The most noise they made to make the birds move in the right direction was to clap their hands.