NOVEL NEXT Chapter 30: Gutaxun's Bed
If modern humans had the chance, they would've domesticated dinosaurs at some point. Sure dinosaurs didn't provide milk or fur, but they were basically like huge horses with deadly jaws. They could lift several times more than humans could.
Gutaxun, for example, dragged the three-ton crocodile across a distance of twenty kilometers! Sure, he got tired sometimes, but he was a high-performing predator, who was used to being on his feet throughout the day, so even though he got tired a few times, he managed to recover quickly.
What was more impressive, was the fact that Gutaxun dragged the carcass up a mountain, which was obstructed with bushes, trees, rocks, and of course, hills that kept getting steeper. Being the beast he was, this only managed to affect his walking speed a bit, but he could also recognize parts of the mountainside that were more smooth, so he usually used flat spots to walk faster.
Gutaxun was intelligent. He knew that he was given a task, but he also acknowledged the sun above his head, so he tried to be efficient, just to outrun the sun, in a sense. He wasn't a nocturnal predator, he hunted in the daytime, so in this case he was listening to his biological clock.
This task seemed endless to him, but he kept pushing forward, respecting Jimmy's wishes, and trusting his motives.
This was a stressful trip, but it was also necessary. They had to go through the pathless mountainside, because the steel-enforced path that the tribe used was too tight to fit Gutaxun. They had to improvise, but thankfully, they were almost home.
Nechi led the way. She had explored these paths before, so she knew exactly where their home cavern was. It was easy to make a plausible estimate, considering they were climbing up the mountainside, close to the steel-enforced pathway.
Three hours into the journey, they made it near the cavern, minutes before the sun set. Gutaxun couldn't fit in the cavern, on account of the cavern's small entrance, so they dropped the crocodile carcass about fifty meters behind the cavern.
Anna then climbed down, squeezed in through the entrance, and gathered up as many people as she could. Half of them were children, which was less than ideal considering that it was dusk already, but Anna had managed to gather a couple of elders as well, who were more than strong enough to protect everyone. The rest of the people she brought out were mothers, and they were perhaps the most useful, because they were the only ones that walked out of the cavern with multiple knives on their person.
At first, everyone got spooked by Gutaxun, as even his blank stare seemed menacing. Anna had prepared them to meet Gutaxun, well, she had tried, but this situation was very unusual for them, so they were spooked, and very cautious.
When they saw Jimmy waving at them from the back of Gutaxun, they were even more confused. They believed the dinosaur in front of them had gone insane, if dinosaurs could go insane?
Nevertheless, they started tearing through the carcass, collecting its valuable meat, and having kids carry it to the cavern. This became a thirty person operation, so it didn't take them long.
At some point, Nechi and Jimmy climbed down from the dinosaur. Gutaxun made it easy for them, as he lowered his head, and let the two of them step on his snout as they climbed down.
The people gasped when they saw this. Dinosaurs were never described as this gentle by the many, fellow huntsmen.
Predators, specifically, were known and revered for their violent nature. Hunters respected apex predators such as Gutaxun, because when facing them, one mistake could send several people to bloody graves. They've lost tribesmen to predators before, plenty of them, so their confusion was valid.
"Why is it so… gentle?" One of the elders asked. He had gathered the nerve to approach the dinosaur.
"Magic," Jimmy winked at him. "No, literally. I tamed him with magic, somehow."
"Amazing!" The elder exclaimed. "I knew it was a good idea to let you run wild!"
Afterwards, he asked, "Where are the rest of the hunters? Are they still in the grasslands?"
"We don't know," Nechi interrupted. "We got side-tracked with another hunt. My sister wanted to tear a Log Bug up, to figure out why it existed."
"That sounds… inconsiderate." The elder shook his head. "Log bugs exist, because they do. It's simple. Why waste your time?"
"We didn't waste our time.," Nechi added, as she tried to protect her sister, and her impulsive decisions. "They're not supposed to exist, they don't belong here. She found out that they're surviving through magic, by breathing in more air than we do."
This was the first time the elder heard of such a thing, so naturally, he didn't understand. Nevertheless, he disregarded this issue as teenagers being teenagers, and chose not to punish them.
Instead, he said, "Stay on high alert. There's a lot going on right now, but our hunters are our top priority. We want to make sure they can rest once they get here."
Afterwards, he looked at Jimmy, and said, "I can hear the mana in your veins, boy. It's raw, strong. You tamed a dinosaur today, but make sure it remains tamed, or else we'll have a problem in our hands. Your pet is too dangerous to be around people, so we can't have him rest near our home either. Take him over to the Gray Path, and let him rest there."
Jimmy didn't care to debate over this matter. The elder was being reasonable.
That aside, he had to insist on one thing, "I'll make sure he doesn't bother anyone. But, we're gonna need a few pounds of meat. Gutaxun is hungry."
"Gutaxun…" The elder mumbled. "Well, of course. He can have the guts, tail, bones, and the head. We don't eat those anyway."
"Good enough," Jimmy smiled.
Despite his cooperation, the elder wasn't too fond of the dinosaur, and he wanted to prove his suspicions right. He grabbed a chunk of meat, weighing about three pounds, and then he tossed it towards Gutaxun.
Despite what they expected, Gutaxun did not react. He didn't even flinch, nevertheless open his mouth. The meat just bounced off of his snout, and fell to the ground.
Jimmy then smirked, grabbed the meat, but he didn't toss it at Gutaxun. Despite every bit of his senses screaming at him to be careful, he simply got closer, and tapped the roof of Gutaxun's jaws.
"Eat, buddy." He said.
Gutaxun then opened his mouth, just slightly, and grabbed the edge of the chunk of meat. He then swallowed it whole.
Jimmy turned to the elder, and said, "I'm no expert, but you probably shouldn't throw meat at him. He's smart, but he's still a predator."
"Perhaps he's smarter than I am? I'd never approach a dinosaur who stands still, and yet I did far more than that today. I taunted him with meat." The elder joked. "I expected him to bite my head off, yet it didn't. I am confused, boy, you shouldn't let me go near your new pet."
The elders in this tribe were gems. They spent most of their time sitting in dark caves, meditating, so they were usually very friendly when they did leave their caves, and not as grumpy as one would expect an elderly person to be. They were one of a kind.
"Let your dinosaur eat, and then take him to the Gray Path. Don't go alone, though, because the path back home can be deadly at night." The elder guided them.
…
After Gutaxun ate, he was ready to fall asleep. He couldn't rest near the cavern, though, so Jimmy, Anna, and Nechi took him to the Gray Path, otherwise known as the canal that was enforced with steel.
The canal was big enough to fit Gutaxun, and the elder had chosen this spot specifically, because he wanted to give Gutaxun some peace of mind. Even Apex Predators needed comfort, and protection when they fell asleep. The elder was sure that no one would bother him in the canal.
The trip there was short, on the count that Gutaxun could run a solid 20 mp/h, or approximately 32 km/h when he wasn't burdened with excess weight. He was a big beast, and naturally he was also a fast runner.
Once they made it there, Gutaxun squeezed in the canal, and quickly fell asleep. He had a full belly, and the canal to give him comfort for the night.
Jimmy stroked its snout, and whispered, "I'll come back for you tomorrow. Don't run away, big boy."
It was hard to know if he was going to find Gutaxun here tomorrow, he didn't know what to expect. He only hoped for the best.
The three of them then walked home. They were relatively close to home from this point, as they were close to the high drop of elevation, so it only took them a couple of hours to get home.
They didn't run into any trouble, because the Gray Path was ideal for safe traveling. The part that was carved across the high mountains was especially fit for humans to use. Dinosaurs who tampered with this path, usually fell to their death.
Once they made it home, they heard that the hunters hadn't yet returned. This was cause for concern, but it also hinted that they might have bagged a big dinosaur, and were waiting to move in the morning, where they wouldn't have to deal with as many predators.
If they didn't return tomorrow either, then the tribe could only assume the worst. For now, all they could do was wait.
…
Jimmy, Nechi, and Anna made sure to relax for a few hours once they got home, because this has been quite an eventful day for them.
They ate some meat, napped for a couple of hours, and then found each other. They had unfinished business to attend to, specifically, Anna and Jimmy.
They joked around for a little while, either about the millipede, Jimmy, or Gutaxun. It was fun, but they were all thinking about the same thing the more they hung out together.
As they sat near a fire, Anna inched closer towards Nechi, and let out a faint, shy whisper. "Shiny Meat."
Nechi simply smirked in response, stood up, and said, "I gotta go and check on the elders. Some of them forget to eat sometimes, so I gotta make sure they're not dead. I'll see you guys in the morning!"
Nechi excused herself, and walked away. She wanted to give Anna and Jimmy some privacy, because she knew what her sister was so shy, and nervous about.
Anna then got closer to Jimmy, and asked, "Are you ready for your reward, idiot?"