Page 26 of Of Serpents and Ruins
A tyrannosaur?
Why was I shocked? What else could it be!
Did holding perfectly still keep tyrannosaur from seeing us?
Buttercup tossed her head and snorted, her right foreleg striking the ground.
Ihlkit!
The tyrannosaur roared. The branches around it cracked and swayed violently as it strode forward with heavy steps. It bared its massive teeth.
Buttercup’s eyes rolled up to look at me as if asking, "What're you going to do about this?"
She was scared. More scared than she was of the deinonychuses and the assassins.
Rage swelled in me. No one scared my baby.
Flinging myself off her crest, I landed on the soft grass between Buttercup and the river with the tyrannosaur on the other side. Spreading my arms, I roared back.
The tyrannosaur straightened. Its jaws snapped shut as it cocked its head, its amber eyes narrowing as it studied me.
I lifted my chin, swallowing hard. My body hadn't changed. I wasn't—wasn't bigger. I was supposed to be a lot bigger. And have teeth. And venom. My mouth, though itching, was decidedly…human right now.
Yup.
I pressed my hand over my lips.
Very, very human.
Buttercup huffed again and stomped her foot on the ground. Dust kicked up beneath her heavy foot. The side eye that girl was giving me was next level. But how could I blame her?
Obviously both of us had thought I could do something, and clearly I wasn't doing it.
The tyrannosaur tilted its head again. Then its eyes narrowed, and it roared, stalking down closer to the river's edge.
Spinning around, I ran back to Buttercup and scaled her side.
"Go!" I half expected her to take off before I was safely positioned, but she didn't even flinch until I settled back. Not even when the tyrannosaur bellowed again and started forward.
Then she lunged diagonally from the river.
Another bellowing roar tore through the air, the ground shaking beneath its feet. It reached the river and stalked through, sending out crashing surges through the muddy waters.
Something large—something below the water’s surface—snapped its angular jaws at the tyrannosaur’s hindquarters, more a warning than a threat, like the tyrannosaur had gottentoo close for comfort. The tyrannosaur only snarled at it and kept moving through the river.
The ground shook beneath it as water sprayed in all directions. Whatever creature lurked in those muddy shallows wanted nothing to do with it.
My palms sweated as I gripped Buttercup's crest tighter. She galloped at full speed across the grasslands, aiming for the narrow stretch that went between the sloping hills of the jagged rock line and the river with the seemingly impenetrable forest on the other side. If we weren't careful, we'd get pinned.
Behind us, the apex predator’s thunderous footfalls battered the earth. Twisting about, I saw it bearing down on us.
"Come on, Buttercup," I urged. My hair whipped back and forth, streaking wildly across my face and into my eyes.
No flashes of inspiration or knowledge struck me. My heart clenched and pulsed, squeezing adrenaline through my veins, each breath a knife.
The landscape passed in a blur. How much longer could Buttercup keep up this pace? Her sides heaved against my legs.
Human-like shapes moved on the top of the jagged line of stones. Flashes of silver suggested they had weapons. If they wanted to see me dead, then this tyrannosaur after us in hot pursuit was about to do them a big favor.
