Tales of Dinotopia

The History of Setna

Rainy Basin, Dinotopia Year 1991 CE, Month 5

The rain poured down through the rainforest canopy. Every living thing was soaked, and small animals retreated to their burrows to escape the rain. In the distance, Setna heard the rumbles of thunder.

He was traveling with a sauropod convoy, trying to transport 7 humans and 5 saurians to an outpost a few miles away from Thermala. Everyday Setna did the same job. He was one of the chief scribes to accompany the convoys on their journey through the Rainy Basin. He was supposed to communicate with rebel carnivores in case there was ever an emergency. He had to be the one to reason to them.

Five years earlier, Setna had saved an entire settlement form a massacre, even though only six beings were killed.

“I remember those funerals for the lost ones,” Setna had said, talking to the Brachiosaurus, Bolt. Bolt was a convoy sauropod, carrying the passengers on his back from destination to destination. He was heavily armored to protect himself from Tyrannosaur attacks.

“Anyway, the six bodies were cremated and then their ashes put into terra cotta jars. Beautiful jars they were, decorated in the words of Classical Dinotopian. Then the family members dumped the ashes into Deep Lake. The idea was that in death, we would cumspiritik with the lake, of the earth herself. That was a new funeral ritual for my home of Great Gallows. As far as I know, it was only a funeral ritual for that settlement.”

It was not raining hard, but gently. Even in the rain, people and saurian socialized amongst themselves. To do so was normal, and it eased the stress of making the trip. Water droplets poured in amongst Setna’s armor. He was dressed like an armored knight, like the Troodon knights of the 18th and 19th centuries.

On his head, he wore a customized helmet that was made to fit over his crests and head. Every few years though, Setna had to get his helmet refitted because his crests grew bigger every year. Around Setna’s neck, arms, and buttocks he wore layered chain mail. Metal guards went on his back legs, around the knees and ankles. On his back, he wore a type of “suit.” It was fitted together with thick, metal strips, to prevent from serious injury if he fell on his back.

Setna also carried with him a long spear, mostly resembling a pike spear or a sarissa. The spear was nearly 3 meters long, and at the end of it was a sharp point, a bodkin.

“I carry the spear, a weapon,” Setna said, “because if we want to have survival of all, then we leave none. If one day we must fight, then we will. With nothing we would perish. With something we would live or at least have a chance. A weapon is only a weapon if it must be used. So far, we have not needed it.”

In all of Setna’s travels through the Rainy Basin, he has rarely come to any aid of trouble. Setna never really had problems with giant carnivores of the Rainy Basin. There were confrontations in the past, but never in his 3 years of being a convoy scribe has he met any physical violence.

Setna had become a convoy scribe so he could find his great grandfather’s lost city of Paleopolis. Since he was in the Rainy Basin, he always kept an eye out for any clue of remains of a civilization. And yet, he found none in all his 3 years.

Hours passed and eventually the rain died down. The travelers in the convoy were quieter, rarely engaging in any type of long conversation.

The other convoy scribe peered down at Setna.

“Double Crest,” said Mori, a female Caudipteryx.

Setna glanced up at Mori. Her feathery body was easy to recognize.

“You go ahead Double Crest. Must find danger. You tell if danger there. You one who have armor. There you must go. Go for 90 meters or so.”

Mori pointed straight in front of the sauropod convoy. Mori spoke broken English, as it was not her first language.

“Then I will go,” Setna replied. “I will signal if there is danger.”

Mori nodded.

“Be careful Setna,” said Ace, the human guide in charge of the convoy. “There have been a lot of encounters with the carnivores. Last week, there was an entire convoy killed by a pack of Tyrannosaurs. Even the scribes were slaughtered.”

Setna gestured that he would be leading farther ahead. He broke into a jog, instead of traveling in a slow gait. Soon he was about 50 meters ahead or so.

Setna’s dark green eyes swiveled each way. Unlike humans, Setna’s eyes were on the sides, being able to see left and right. Whenever he wanted to see straight in front of him, he would have to shift his head at a 45 degree angle. This would allow one eye to see the front and the other eye, to see in back of him.

An hour passed, and as usual there was no danger ahead. The convoy was behind but Setna could still clearly see the Brachiosaurus, Bolt, in view. Setna’s legs began to ache. Instead of holding the 3 meter long spear, Setna used it as a type of walking stick.

Setna began to day dream, remembering a time very young in his childhood. He remembered playing with little stones. He would throw the stones across Deep Lake, trying to get them to skip on the water.

Right when Setna was remembering, his thoughts were were shattered by a loud, eerie call.

Spooked, Setna dropped his spear. His eyes widened, trying to search for an answer of what the call was. Setna looked in back and noticed the convoy had come to a complete stop. All the passengers were looking around, wondering why they stopped so suddenly. Ace was staring directly at Setna, though he did not say a word. Bolt groaned, and he could sense there was danger ahead.

Immediately, Mori climbed down a small ladder leading off the convoy carrier. She looked around, darting her neck in all directions. Then she sprinted towards where Setna was standing, some 60 meters ahead.

She stopped to catch her breath.

“That call,” she said, “is unknown. Direction does it come from?”

Setna shrugged.

“It sounds like its coming straight ahead of us, though I do not know what particular direction. It does not sound like a Tyrannosaur call.”

Mori was quite small, only about 1 meter long and .7 meters tall. Setna towered over Mori, nearly 5 meters long and almost 2 meters tall. Mori wore no armor. There was no point since armor would not protect her small, fragile body anyway.

Another call emanated across the basin. This time it sounded close, not as distant as it had been before.

“Two saurians,” said Mori, “having sex. That what it sounds like. Or two males fighting. What saurian type, I not sure.”

“No!,” retaliated Setna, nodding his head in disagreement. “It sounds like an unknown carnivore. If two saurians were having sex, you would hear more calling, and it would be much louder. There is no time to ponder now, we must act.”

Mori stopped to think for a moment.

“I go back to Bolt. I tell him we go forward. You watch, Double Crest. You tell if more danger come. Then we go from there. Okay?”

Without Setna’s approval, Mori quickly retreated back towards where Bolt had halted.

Out of the deep forest came a large, lightning quick mass. The creature came out of nowhere, snatching Mori in its jaws. There were no screams that came from Mori. The creature departed back into the clustered plants, carrying Mori with it. Dead, thought Setna. She is gone, therefore she must be dead.

Ace sounded out the alarm.

“All of you keep your eyes open. We have predators. Stay alert, watch, and listen. Scribe, come forth. The feathered scribe is gone, caught by some predator.”

Adrenaline pumped through Setna’s body. At the same time, he felt fear and excitement. He felt alert, more aware of his surroundings. This was an instinct he still had after generations of human intervention. When saurian and man had first met, they learned to become accustomed of each other. They learned language, and learned how to live together. But not all those things were gone. While no longer being a carnivore, Setna still had ancestral roots of what it was like to be a wild Dilophosaurus.

Setna had gone into a full sprint, trying to reach back to his target, the convoy. Next thing he knew, he was standing right beside Bolt’s massive front feet. One of the human passengers pointed straight in front of him.

“There!” he pointed. “Something moved past that giant fern bush!”

Suddenly, hysteria broke out among the saurian and human passengers of the convoy. Ace tried to calm down the passengers. It was not working.

“We want to go to Thermala,” yelled one saurian on board.

“Yes, we want to live!” exclaimed another passenger.

Ace grew ever more impatient. He became nervous and then began to scream at Setna.

“Damn it, scribe. Talk to the creatures. Speak any language. Do it scribe. Save us!”

Setna panicked and lost control. One of the carnivores came into full view, and he immediately realized the creature was a wild Megaraptor. It sported a giant 15 inch long claw on each hand and stood more than 6 meters in length. Unlike Setna’s weak powered jaws, the jaws of the Megaraptor were strong and flexible. Their teeth were dagger shaped, and were roughly serrated.

Having no clue what tongue the Megaraptor spoke, Setna spoke in Dinotopian. He raised his hands and he widened his fingers.

“Cum-marré, ses serenee.”

Breathe deep, seek peace.

It had no effect on the Megaraptors, now more than one coming into view.

Setna tried Ceratosaurian.

“Krarn’ob-bray.”

He even tried Tyrannosaurian.

“Grar’ranastet.”

Still, the languages Setna was speaking had no effect on the Megaraptors. There were only 3 of them, but they still sprinted around the convoy, harassing all of the passengers. Ace was growing uneasy, cursing in some human language, maybe Spanish or Italian. One of the Megaraptors had blood on its mouth; the one who no doubt killed Mori.

This apparently was the leader, out to have a good time. She must have been female, because her color was dull and dark. The two other Megaraptors were male.

“Grantos!” snapped Setna, in his Ceratosaurian tongue. It meant “stop doing this at once!”

The Megaraptors were oblivious to Setna’s commands.

The passengers on board began to scream and shriek. Ace began yelping in fear and in anger. Bolt began to dangerously stomp around, trying to keep the Megaraptors from trying to take a bite out of his legs. The panicking passengers screamed once more, causing more uneasiness in Bolt.

The female Megaraptor focused her attention on Setna this time.

Setna stepped one pace back.

The Megaraptor approached. She was timid at first, licking the blood off her lips. In her eyes, Setna saw stupidity. Unlike the intelligent Megaraptors in the cities, the wild ones chose not to speak a language and only wanted to create mischief. They wanted to be in control of the environment.

Once again, the female focused her attention towards Setna. She yawned, revealing rows of dagger teeth.

Setna had no clue as to what the female was going to do. He guessed that she would either strike or perform some complex maneuver. Setna held out the spear in front of him, creating a barrier between him and the female. The bodkin tip seemed to be screaming towards Setna. “That’s it Setna. I am your protection. Come on, point me toward that dumb ass female! Do it Setna, do it! I will save us all!”

Setna felt an urge to kill all of a sudden. He wanted to drive that bodkin tip right through that wild bastard. He wanted to put the creature out of its misery. But instead of doing so, he hesitated. It would be the female who would make the first move.

The female roared, and when she leapt towards Setna with full force, she felt the metal bodkin tip strike right through her heart. It all happened so quick, Setna did not even notice the female impaled herself on the spear.

The female Megaraptor fell to the ground, with the bodkin tip implanted into her heart. She flailed her legs up into the air. Then she twitched for a moment, and finally she died.

The two male Megaraptors had watched the whole thing. One of them fled in fear, into the darkness of the forest.

The other male looked gravely at Setna, and said something that sounded like “Heshrenoss.” He then ran off as well.

Everyone on the convoy was amazed, and from this awesome fight they settled down.

“He killed a raptor!” one of the saurian passengers said.

Setna stared at the lifeless body of the female. He was afraid to take the spear out of the body, his right hand stressing to not do so. He fought the force that his body was doing to him, and he pulled the spear smoothly out of the body. The bodkin tip was colored with dark red blood. Setna found the blood disgusting, and found some moss to wipe the blood off the bodkin tip. He was not sure what he had felt right now. The emotions were not understandable. What have I just done? He thought. What just happened?

The bodkin once again spoke to Setna.

“See Setna! I did it! I protected you from that wild bastard. You allowed yourself to use me and now we are safe.”

Setna was losing his sanity, thinking the bodkin was talking to him. He began to shake and tremble. He tried to calm down, but it was no use. The foolish Mori was dead and so was the female Megaraptor.

Ace showered Setna with his excitement, as did all the other passengers. Setna paid no attention to them. He had done something forbidden, something that went against the codes and laws of Dinotopia. Killing was not permitted, even for survival.

“I live in a society,” Setna said outloud, “where I am not allowed to fight to survive. This is no utopia. No land of peace. No land of nothing. This is a land of hell.”

When the convoy reached the outpost 2 miles away from Thermala, Ace had told the guards of the event that had happened. All the passengers gave their testimonies, excited that Setna had killed this predator to protect them. The guards reported the incident to the mayor of Sauropolis. Setna was sent to jail 2 days later in Thermala, without ever having a trial.