Primal Saga Volume 1: The Queen of Silence

Chapter 18: The Laughing Death

I tossed Miaybi the sword.

She was on her feet as soon as the laughter began. She drew the blade and dropped the scabbard on the ground. Then she tossed me one of the emergency torches we made and grabbed one for herself.

"Donovan! Behind you!"

I turned. "Holy frick!" One of the laughing death was standing right behind me, drooling, in a low position of attack. As soon as I brought the torch near, it shrieked and retreated to the edge of the trees where it was greeted by two, three, four more animals.

"They have us surrounded!" I shouted.

"How did they even get in here? Did they come up from the plains?"

"No, there's a network of caves in these cliffs, they must have come in from there - Woah!" I stepped back, one of the dinos had charged from my left turned back at the last second. "They are afraid of the light, their eyes seem to be sensitive to it."

The dinosaurs paced back and forward, occasionally flashing their heat-sensing organs, looking for an opening. Miyabi and I were now standing back to back by the fire, weapons, and torches at the ready. The animals were all the size of an average-sized dog. None of them seemed as big as I expected the laughing death to be.

"Do you think we hold out till morning like this?" I asked in a panic, looking at the fire which was already beginning to die down. The woodpile was ten feet away, close to the edge of the trees surrounded by the giggling freaks. If either of us ventured too far from the fire it would leave us exposed.

"I don't think so," Miyabi said. " We need to get off the ground and I do not see a way to break through-" An animal lunged for Miyabi and swung her sword, cutting off one of its head plums. "Unless we fight our way through."

Another batch of animals arrived bringing up the total to at least twelve. There was no way to fight them all off. The torches protected us slightly, but our main line of defense was the campfire, even then, the dinos would make brief charges into the light, and as soon as the fire had died there would be no way to fight them all back.

"Donovan, the spear gives you a reach advantage I do not have. If we can kill one, maybe it will scare the others away," Miyabi said.

"I can't aim the spear properly with the torch in my other hand," I said.

"Support one end on your shoulder like a javelin."

I repositioned the spear-like she said and in response two of the animals charged. I thrust the spear causing one of the creatures to rear back roar. The other animal continued forward stopping just to my right, I waved the torch at it driving it back.

The attacks continued for several minutes, becoming more and more frequent. Miyabi and I managed to wound a few of the animals but haven't been able to kill one.

"This is hopeless, even if I could stab one of them the others move in. We just need to get out of here." I placed down my torch and grabbed the backpack, stuffing any lose supplies I can into it, and slipped it over my shoulder. I picked the torch back up just in time to ward off another attack. "I have an idea?"

"Oh really?" She swung her sword at another attacking dino striking it in the side, causing it to yelp. "Think you could share it with me?"

"I have the fusion lighter in my pocket. If I drop it into the fire it will explode."

"Why would you do that?" Miyabi asked.

"Fusion lighters explode in a bright flash. If I do this it should light this area up long enough to hopefully stun them. It could give us enough time to make a run for it."