Shipwrecked and Stranded III

Sil wandered about the coast of Crackshell point, straying onto the beaches when the vegetation became too thick to walk through.  He was still in the undergrowth, but the sea brushed against the rocky shore on his left.  Mira was ahead somewhere, looking at the odd flower, or twig, being a hatchling.  She would usually ask him to carry her by this point in the day, but she was nowhere to be found.

He heard the excited squeals of his young charge in the distance and broke into a sprint.  He crashed through the brush onto the shore to see Miramel nosing a prone, salt crusted, figure on the high tide line.  He walked over to it to see it was an unconscious woman.  He pushed Mira back from the prone girl to check if she was alright.  He snatched his hand back quickly, it was covered in blood.  It was no decision that this dolphinback needed attention fast.


Konna woke to find herself staring into the face of a grotesque lizard creature.  She screamed and the little beast screamed as well.  Before she could move she felt a staying hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t move,” said a voice, it was masculine and heavy with exhaustion.  She tried to turn her head, which felt as heavy as a lead weight.  The pressure on her shoulder increased holding her still.  “You hit your head on your way in and scratched your back on something pretty bad.”  His hand moved along her back tracing a line that felt to her dulled senses like a scar.  “It was pretty deep, you were lucky the cove had a bushel of Arctium nearby.  Or it would have taken a lot more to stop your bleeding.”  Arctium?  What was this strange voice talking about?

“Hang on a moment and I’ll turn you around toward the fire.”  It was then she realized that she was facing dark forest.  It was night, it was clear and she was on land.  When had that happened?  Strong arms grabbed her about the waist and shoulders and gently lifted her to face the fire.  It roared ablaze and she saw the makings of a well set up camp.

“How long…?”  Her voice was ragged and husky from disuse, her tongue slow and clumsy.

“How long have you been out of it?  Three days.  I had to take you further inland than I’d planned because of the full moon.”  There was a face to that masculine voice; one of rugged handsomeness, with its long nose and pointed chin.  “Higher tides.”  He further explained as he stepped back to look at her.

Konna tried her voice again.  “Where… where am I?”  Everything around her looked unfamiliar.

“Dinotopia.”  The man said simply, ladling something from a makeshift pot over the fire.  Konna just looked at him questioningly.  Dinotopia?  Where in hell was Dinotopia?  She tried to prop herself up on one elbow to look at her surroundings better, but the man stuck out a hand in warning.

“I wouldn’t do that.  The gash on your back was wide and deep.  Too much strain might open it back up.  Those stitches won’t hold under undo stress.”  He took the bowl over to her and placed it on ground beside her mat.  She realized she must be in his bed.

Seeing her discomfort he shook his head.  “Don’t worry about it.  I like the ground better anyways.”  He proceeded to gently turn her over and prop her up between his knee and chest, so she rested in between his legs.  She flushed at this awkward position, but didn’t say anything.  She saw him take the bowl and spoon and bring it before both of them.  She finally got what was going to happen.

“I can feed myself.”  She said defiantly, not wanting to rely on him to much.

“Not if you want to get out of bed soon.  The stitches are strained enough as it is.  Even something so simple as eating may cause permanent damage.”  He told her matter-of-factly and spooned a bowl of stew toward her mouth.  It was then that Konna noticed the small lizard thing snuffling through a small mound of bags and pouches across the fire.

“What is that thing?”  She exclaimed, almost standing to run, and then remembered her back.

The man chuckled softly.  “That’s Miramel, my charge.  I told you this was Dinotopia.”  He moved the spoon toward her lips and she reluctantly ate.

“What’s a Miramel?”  Konna asked between bites, the stew was good.

The man chuckled again.  “Miramel’s her name.”  He said softly.  “She’s kind of like my daughter.”  Konna thought she understood.  She had thought of her childhood retriever, Rex to be somewhat like a child.  Of course Rex was a dog, not some creepy dinosaur.

Because that’s what the thing had to be right?  She’d only heard of one thing in her life that fit the creature before her, a dinosaur.  She wondered how there could be a dinosaur in the camp, but she was too tired and in too much pain to think about it.

After Konna finished three bowls of stew, she was hungrier than she thought the man turned her back on her stomach and covered her with a light blanket.  Konna yawned widely and looked at the tall figure of the man who’d saved your life.

“I never asked your name.”  She said to him as he busied himself washing the empty stew pot.

“I’m Silvanor Nicorono of the Westclan Trader Family, but you can call me Sil.” He told her.

“I’m Konna Hanrahan.”  She said between yawns.  Sil came over with a steaming mug with a reed straw sticking from it.

“Here, drink this.”  He told her.  When she looked at him questioningly, he smiled.  “It’ll help with the pain.”  Konna drank obediently.

“Thank you Sil.  For everything.”  Konna said with a huge yawn before she drifted off back to sleep.