Trapped in Time 1: The Time Takers by Saxon Andrew Page B

incredibly sharp. Biting or stabbing; either way can kill you.”
    Maxus nodded and watched the giant flying reptiles start landing on dead Raptors. “Let’s go clean up.” Andy nodded and walked into the cave and felt Linnae’s arms come around his neck as soon as he stepped inside. He kissed her on the cheek and whispered, “Have arrangements been made for the Vikings that died?”
    Linnae sighed, “They have. They really want a Viking funeral with the burning boat. Are we going to be able to do that?”
    “I don’t know. We’ll have to see if the community agrees to take the risk.”
    “Andy, if we bury them, you know their bodies will be dug up and devoured by those dinosaurs.”
    “Linnae, do we want to lose three or four more to do this?”
    “I’ll stand guard over the ones involved.”
    “But we’ll have to go into the forest to do it. That’s a different order of danger.”
    “The Vikings say they’ll do it alone if they must.”
    Andy sighed, “We can’t force anyone to do this; but I’ll be with you in the forest. We’ll ask for volunteers.”
    Linnae smiled, “I knew you would. I just wonder how they can build a boat to make it happen.”
    Andy thought for a moment and smiled, “We’ll make it happen.”
    • • •
    The entire community decided to go and attend the funeral. Andy didn’t like the idea but didn’t know if he could prevent it. Maxus stood beside him at the evening meeting and shook his head, “Some of them aren’t ready to go out.”
    “We’ll have to make sure of their safety.” Maxus sighed. “You and I and the Vikings are going out in the morning to build the boats for their funeral.”
    “Just how are we going to do that? You’ve seen how huge those trees are.”
    Andy smiled.

Chapter Five
    T he next day, the Roman archers were in formation at the edge of the forest and the Vikings and Samurai Archers were gathered at the trunk of the closest giant tree. Andy looked up at the giant and heard the roars of Raptors and Allosaurus to the north and south of their location. He looked toward the cave and saw the Roman women that had passed the archery training moving downhill toward them carrying a blue object in an additional quiver over their shoulders. Linnae was walking with them and she smiled brightly when she saw Andy. Andy was amazed that her feelings were genuine. She really did care for him. Maxus said, “I guess we’ll find out if this works.”
    Andy looked up and saw a clear sky with the sun directly overhead, “Lay them out on their quivers and let them absorb some rays.” Maxus nodded and went over and began telling the women what to do with their loads.
    Linnae walked over to Andy and said, “What are those things?”
    “I’m hoping they’ll cut down a tree.”
    Linnae looked up at the giant tree they were standing under and looked into Andy’s eyes, “We should be done with our learning period by the time they bring this one down.”
    Andy laughed and said, “It won’t take a year if it works.”
    Linnae looked back up and shook her head, “We’ll see.”
    Andy went and picked up one of the blue swords and went back to the tree. He raised it and stuck it into the giant tree’s trunk; it easily penetrated. Maxus shrugged and said, “If you’ll replace the archers in my formation, we’ll start notching out the trunk. It’s going to take a while.”
    Andy went and asked the women to move into the archer’s ranks and they were pleased that they were being trusted to stand with the Romans shoulder to shoulder.
    Cutting into the giant trunk was slow going. The blue sword’s blades were only three feet long and it was going to take a huge number of cuts to notch out a section of the trunk for it to fall. Andy saw one of the archers standing with the Vikings shaking his head as he watched them. Andy recognized him as one of the thirty that did not have an interpreter. Andy went over and said, “Why do you find this amusing?”
    The