Dinosaur Hunter Diaries #023: When Friend Turns Foe
Turok: Son of Stone #15
Cave politics drives a wedge in Turok and Andar’s friendship.
While out fishing, a couple of locals warn Turok and Andar of dangers hiding beneath the lake — not honkers, but people! This sounds like a load of crazy talk, but just like they were told, they catch a glimpse of a man staring at them from beneath the current!
The figure is gone in the blink of an eye, and it spooks Turok enough to take themselves back to the shore; they’ll set up camp and keep watch from there, where there’s less risk of being dragged under. Andar can’t resist the urge to explore, and he’s gone by the time Turok returns with firewood; he follows his trail and finds only his bow and a lone arrow embedded harmlessly in a triceratops. Could something have happened to him?
He takes to the lake and is quickly set upon by a fearsome beast, but after defeating it with a poison arrow, notices its body being pulled by an unseen current. It leads to what looks like a sheer cliff, but actually hides an underwater passage!
Just as he emerges on the other side, he’s set upon by hunters with nets. Before he can get answers, the lot of them scarper — there’s a honker in the cave!
It guns it straight for Turok, but its clawed foot helpfully shreds the net and allows him to take it down with a poison arrow.
He may have saved their collective bacon, but it looks like the tribe are out for his blood — but when he hollers a last-ditch cry for Andar, they suddenly change their tune. Any friend of Andar is a friend of theirs!
Andar had seen the men in the water, but got KO’d by the triceratops in his bid to get closer, and was brought to their camp to heal. The natives are small in stature, making them excellent swimmers but physically no contest for other tribes, so hunting beneath the waters keeps them out of harm’s way. Turok and Andar, now fast friends with the tribe, are guided back to the surface and swear to keep their existence a secret.
Over in Young Earth, a t-rex mauls the shit out of a diplodocus.
Our heroes narrowly survive a rockfall, forcing them to seek shelter in the cave of their pal Bel. They’ve unfortunately walked in on the middle of an argument — tribe leader Bel believes the rock fall has opened a new stream in their cave and could wear away at its structural integrity. Young upstart Nadu, meanwhile, sees no reason to abandon a perfectly good hunting ground.
The tribe are splintered over the dispute, and count on their good buddies Turok and Andar to weigh. They’re in no mood to contribute to this fracture in the community, but a few nights of free board might give them time to think.
Later that night, Nadu hears a noise and goes to investigate with Andar in tow — it’s only a triceratops roaming around outside, but their eagerness leaves them unprepared to fight back. Turok bails them out and scolds them for their rashness, but the two youngsters continue to pride themselves on their hotheaded way of thinking.
The stream continues to erode at the cave, yet half the tribe refuse to listen to Bel’s concerns. It’s not the polite way of resolving the issue, but Turok suggests to Bel he leave with his half of the followers in the night; with any luck, Nadu will see the error of his ways and come looking for them again.
He wakens Andar to join them, but the youngster is firmly in Team Nadu — he alerts his pal to this unannounced exodus, and soon the entire cave is alerted to their boss bailing on them. Turok tries to be diplomatic, but it comes to blows as Nadu and his followers chase out Bel and the old guard. For the first time, Turok and Andar part ways, having chosen their side in the great cave rift.
Bel finds his split of the tribe a great new cave to live in, one that’s just as safe and even bigger than the last one. Turok, in a goodwill gesture, returns to the old cave to inform of their find, but Nadu sends him off with a flurry of stones and projectiles–
— and in a fit of hubris, the cave collapses on top of them, trapping Nadu, Andar, and the rest of the tribe inside. Bel arrives to help Turok free everyone, and they’re all reunited at their new home. Nadu concedes to Bel, acknowledging leadership requires wisdom, not rashness, and the two are happy to see Turok and Andar on their way, back to being faithful friends.
