Antediluvian by Wil McCarthy

Author:Wil McCarthy [McCarthy, Wil]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Science Fiction, Time Travel, Hard Science Fiction, General
ISBN: 9781481484312
Google: BZXrwQEACAAJ
Publisher: Baen
Published: 2019-10-01T04:00:00+00:00

2.5

It was still dark when Argur was awakened by Tom and Nortlan, and once he’d shaken off the spirits he crawled out from his bedroll into night air that was unnaturally cold and damp for midsummer. He and Snar stomped themselves warm and then stood an uneasy watch, neither one talking, just listening to the owls until dawn began to break.

Hootoo! The owls said to one another, which in the language of Nog La was both a sound of derision and one of warning. You’re in it now! Hootoo! Hootoo!

As the sky grew brighter, the walls of the pass became more visible, and something caught Argur’s eye that, for a moment, made him raise his spear. Monster! But no, it was only the bones of a monster, jutting out from halfway up the hillside. His grandfather had once told him there was a dead dragon up here in the pass, and the ground had partially swallowed it up. But it didn’t look like that to Argur. For one thing, it looked like the ground had been washing away from it, uncovering something that had previously been completely buried. And the skeleton wasn’t emerging from dirt, but from the actual sandstone beneath it! For another thing, the bones seemed profoundly lifeless. Were dragon bones made of stone? There were no shreds or traces of hide or sinew or cartilage on any part of it. This thing had been dead for many years, at least. Probably a lot more than that.

“Dragon bones,” Snar said, following Argur’s gaze.

“Mmm,” Argur agreed.

“I don’t like it.”

“Nor I.”

The creature was on its side and still partially buried, but it looked to be taller than a boolis, and two or three times as long. The arms were short and thin, with knifelike claws, and might almost have fit onto the body of a cave bear, but the leg bones were as huge as a mammoth’s. A long, snakelike tail projected out behind it. Its head was the size of a human being, with teeth the size spearheads. It could bite a man in half as easily as Argur could tear the flesh off a goose leg.

“I thought dragons had wings,” Snar said.

Argur shrugged. “Not always.”

“Not always? That doesn’t make any sense.”

And that was true; it didn’t. But they had more important things to attend to this morning, so Argur drew out his flute and, after blowing a few melodic notes, leaned out over the sleeping Knights and blasted out a shrill tone.

“Arise, Knights of Ell! We have daughters and nieces to rescue!”

They awoke, startled and grumbling. And then, as they slowly got to their feet, one by one in the rising light of dawn, they saw the dragon as well.

“Oi!”

“Wow.”

“Hmm.”

“Hootoo! We’ve been sleeping under that?”

And then Nortlan: “Dragon bones! Oh mud, it’s so big. I thought they were smaller.”

“I thought they had wings,” Gower added.

Then Nortlan asked, “Argur, have you ever seen a live one?”

“No,” Argur answered curtly, gathering up his things from around the camp. “They’ve never been seen in Nog La.

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