Chapter 66: Picking Up the Pieces
Three gruelling cycles of the Night Circle have passed since the great and decisive battle with Red Claw in the Badlands, and much had happened to the surviving forces throughout this turbulent period of time.
After the battle was over, the surviving forces had the mundane task of counting the dead, which was swiftly followed by an avalanche of painful news to the loved ones of those who died in the fearsome fighting. Only a few days after the battle, the whole of the Great Valley got together and spent a night sleeping together as a united herd. During this long cold night in which the frozen sky stars fell and blanketed the earth in a thick white blanket, the many families and friends that had lost loved ones in the newly named Battle of Striker’s Canyon got together to talk, share warmth, and find comfort with each other through their common shared grief.
From there, a new tradition was born; Remembrance Night — a time to remember the battle and those who had fallen, as well as the ones who had survived and saved their Valley by defeating a terrible tyrant. While Remembrance Night was technically a celebration of the end of Red Claw’s fearsome regime, it was also a time for those who had lost someone to find solace, especially for a large portion of the herds who had lost a friend or a family figure in the bloody battle.
The only group who were spared any casualties during the battle were the Flyers. This was not because they had fled like cowards, though, as they had simply used their mastery of the air to remain completely untouchable throughout the whole battle, their assistance and contribution definitely making a difference to the outcome. It was widely accepted that everyone had played their part during the fighting and during that long night together many stories and recounts of the battle were told between the adults, certainly real eye raising stories to those that had not been present in person, but for the sake of the children these stories were only shared in private.
However, there were still a small number of children that had been present and had a significant effect on the outcome of the battle and they had not escaped this battle without trauma.
The most obvious trauma that must be pointed out was the death of Nod, whose fall had inadvertently killed Ali’s mother. Their son’s death had been a harsh blow to Nod’s parents and they experienced much grief over this as well as the demanding of answers. This in turn led to them discovering that Hyp had led the group up to watch the battle and thus putting them in danger. From that day on up till the night of remembrance, they cast their ire and scorn upon him, their anger towards Hyp only changing when they understood the role that the kids played and the actions that their son had bravely taken to protect everyone at such a crucial moment. While they may not have gotten over their son’s demise, they had at least found it in their hearts to forgive Hyp.
Speaking of Hyp, the poor dinosaur had been rocked by seeing Nod die in front of his eyes, and Mutt was no exception to those final haunting moments that would likely be seared in their memories for the rest of their lives. With Nod gone, they were no longer a true gang and the two simply couldn’t seem to break through the haze of depression that fell over them both. They no longer spent time together and just stayed at their respective homes while both trying to come to grips with the events of the battle.
The loss of Mr Thicknose was also a hard one to take. Most of the Valley children knew him, including the Gang. If there was any consolation, he would at least never be forgotten as someone who had tutored and befriended many children in his long life.
His death was not the hardest, however. Mr Thicknose had lived a long life, but many others died young before their time. The hammer had come down hardest on Ali though. The death of her mother had sent her world crashing down upon her with enough force to break the longneck’s spirit to pieces.
The night that came after the battle, Littlefoot found Ali resting by herself in her mother’s sleeping spot, the poor longneck sobbing and consumed by despair, just as he once had. He slowly walked up to Ali, reviving memories of his mother and the pain he had to go through when she died with each step. His mother’s foot print, the first special treestar she’d given him, and that false shadow all relentlessly struck his memory, and yet despite everything he made it through without falling apart but that was not without the help of his newly found friends. Littlefoot resolved that he would not let Ali suffer like this, taking up a spot next to Ali who had her head buried between her fore legs, her body racked by the occasional sob.
“Ali.” Littlefoot said, his voice quiet and sympathetic as he gently pushed Ali’s head up with his own. Ali looked at him, deep sadness could be seen in her eyes and in the tears that were falling down her cheeks in streaks. With a shuddering breath Ali crossed her neck over Littlefoot’s and started sobbing into his back. Littlefoot could do nothing other than nuzzle his friend’s back while she let out all her emotions, only once they were all out and expressed could he finally attempt to console his hurting friend.
Ali’s mind was numb of thought, all that went through her was pure, painful emotion stirred up whenever she thought about her mother. The one who hatched her, looked after her and raised her, she had many years to bond with her mother as she was the only family Ali had. After her death, the world now seemed to lose a little colour. It was a hard loss to take for her despite the fact that she lived in a migrating herd out in The Mysterious Beyond because even as a farwalker Ali had still lived a relatively sheltered life away from trauma, in contrast to the rest of her friends.
But now her mother was gone and she was an orphan without a herd. Sure, she was in a relatively safe valley, but at this point Ali had no concise direction to go and absolutely no clue of what to do apart from mourning her mother.
The only one she could turn to now was the one who was standing right beside her.
Eventually Ali’s sobs began to subside until she had no more tears to shed and just collapsed onto her belly, her legs unable to support the weight of the world that had cruelly been dropped onto her back.
“You’ll be ok, Ali” Ali looked up at Littlefoot, his voice cutting her thoughts of loss away and only to replace them with the more turbulent anger.
“Ok!? OK!? It’s not ok! Don’t you get it!? My Mom is gone! How can you say it’ll be ok!? I have ‘NOTHING’ left!!” Ali shouted in Littlefoot’s general direction, she wasn’t paying much attention to his startled reaction but rather screaming at the world and everything in it for taking away the one whom she loved and shared so much happy experiences with. The fact that she died protecting the Valley was no consolation for her, it was just cruel that Nod should have been thrown and her mother just happened to be in ‘that’ spot right at ‘that’ time. Fate was indeed cruel in how it dealt death to those who didn’t deserve it.
Littlefoot approached her with a shaky sigh, it would be clear to any onlooker that Littlefoot was also feeling very emotional at this point by the expression of pain, the distant glance of his eyes and the pain deep in his heart which could almost be felt by those nearby. They were the same now. Ali was the same as he had been after he lost his mother, the screaming, depression, the shouting and sheer loneliness that nearly consumed him: it was all manifested in Ali’s behaviour as she was in shambles while suffering through her crushing loss.
Even despite the heavy darkness, Littlefoot felt as though there was a ray of hope for Ali though, remembering that he had pushed through and learned so much since the lowest point of his life. “Ali, you are never alone, you have me. You may not have your mom now but you have me, Grandma, Grandpa, Dad and Shorty. You no longer have your herd….”
Ali looked down but she felt Littlefoot’s tail lift her chin up from beneath. “But now you have gained a new herd… you can be… the sister… I never had.”
Ali’s eyes widened and she took upon an expression of shock. “Is he really asking me to… he could be… my brother…?” Ali felt her eyes water and pressed the front of her body up against his and kissed him straight on the mouth. Pure happiness radiated from Ali, chasing away her despair as she now found herself her reprieve by looking upon the beginnings of a new family… a new life.
“Thank you… Brother” She said as she nuzzled him.
“Your welcome… Sister” was Littlefoot’s warm reply.
Littlefoot’s heartfelt offer gave back what had been taken and Ali gratefully accepted. From this day forward, she would have a father, she would have grandparents and she’d have two brothers that she would love with all her heart. Through the strength of her new family Ali was soon able to recover from her mother’s death, even though she never forgot and still felt some lingering pain when she thought of her mother. However, it only took one look at Littlefoot to remind Ali of what she did have and she was able to move on.
But Ali was not the only victim of the battle and out of all the other children that were there to witness it, there was one who had just had so many of her preconceptions shattered in an instant when she saw the battle. Now Diver was suffering from nightmares in which she was caught up in that battle, in a desperate and primal struggle for survival.
Her innocence had been shattered at seeing her parents fight and kill in such brutal ways. It changed Diver on a deep level, as she could no longer look at her mom and dad in the same way and the naïve view she held of real-life combat and what it was truly like had been wiped clean from her mind. Before she was the toughest girl in her family and would often engage in playfights with Rapid and sometimes Echo and they were all very strong opponents. Diver had great speed and technique, Rapid had endurance and strength, while Echo had superior tactics and rather quick reflexes. They had learned some basic fighting skills from their father but only Diver pursued and mastered them, which had led to her father even tutoring her in basic defence and combat. However, throughout the lessons he had never once ever spoke about what real combat was like, and only after the harsh slap of reality did Diver learn why. Now that she had seen it with her own two eyes, the once-brave swimmer quickly surmised that she didn’t like it, not one bit.
Every night for a week since The Battle of Striker’s Canyon, Diver awoke from frightening nightmares in a similar fashion to how Ducky used to wake up minus the night time accident. However, she certainly felt a lot more vulnerable and each night she’d curl up and desperately try to get to sleep despite her constant shivering. Her harsh night terrors had led to a string of bad night’s sleep and with such cold conditions it didn’t take Diver long to catch a rather unpleasant cold.
Her mother was adamant about her daughter keeping warm and staying out of the cold weather and water to prevent things getting worse, but whenever she was in the same area as her father, she’d tense up. She could not get her father’s actions out of her head and also the fact that he actually taught her how to fight and only now did she realise that her father was teaching her to do what he did.
It left her feeling very unsettled, and his strong daughter constantly being on edge was something that was not lost on Ruphus. Diver didn’t realise how much she was hurting her father but it was a rift Ruphus knew he had to address and heal. So, at noon eight days after the battle Ruphus went over to his sniffling daughter who was rubbing her runny nose with a small leaf, looking absolutely miserable.
However, to Diver’s surprise she found herself suddenly hoisted up into the air in the arms of her father. Ruphus cringed as he felt Diver tense up as soon as she realised who held her. “Wat iz going on daad?” Diver’s words were heavily slurred due to the state of her nose constantly shifting from runny to blocked.
“We need to talk, Diver” Ruphus took his daughter across the river and over to a tall solitary rock that was nicknamed reflection rock by the family as it was one place that the children were sent to reflect if they were naughty. The rock was also a nice place for solitude and to be alone with one’s thoughts. Ducky herself had sat on this very rock after Spike had left the Valley with the Spiketail herd.
Ruphus placed Diver on the rock. “Whaat iz iit?” croaked Diver, her voice far quieter than it usually was, mainly because of her cold.
“Look at me Diver,” Ruphus said as Diver’s gaze drifted off to one side, though she reluctantly turned to look up uncomfortably at her father when he addressed her. “I want you to answer me truthfully, do you understand dear?” Diver nodded at her father’s somewhat direct and no-nonsense tone. “What have you been seeing in your night terrors?”
Diver cringed and briefly considered lying but with her father’s gaze directly over her, she knew she’d have no chance to get away with it, both her parents could spot a lie from their children nearly all the time with few exceptions. “I taw the…” Diver gulped and took a long sniff which sounded more like a snort but at least she could breathe through her nose now. She looked up at her father, “I saw the battle…”
Ruphus nodded, it was as he suspected. “Can you tell me what you saw?”
Diver fidgeted with her hands nervously “It was like I was in…. your place in the battle… it was horrible…” She turned a rather unpleasant shade of green as the youngling recalled her memories of the battle and her dreams.
Being very careful to be gentle he placed his hand around Diver’s back. “I know. It’s not nice, is it?” His tone held sympathy and understanding to Diver’s feelings. His daughter nodded, looking down solemnly. “Oh my dear… come here” He lowered his hand and Diver took her father’s invitation and jumped into his hand which he raised to his eye level where she embraced her father’s beak tightly, taking several shaky breaths as her composure threatened to break.
“My poor Diver, I’m so sorry you had to see what you did.” Diver hugged her father’s beak with her eyes closed tightly, she seemed to forget all her tension and apprehension about her father in that moment, though it had not left her mind and as they broke off from each other and after her father placed her back on the rock, Diver finally said what had been nagging at the back of her mind for days.
“Dad, you…you taught me how to…” Diver sniffed again loudly as her nose became runny and her speech started to slur again. However, Diver had no need to finish the rest of her sentence as her father pretty much guessed what she was trying to say.
“I taught you and all your brothers and sisters who were willing to learn how to fight for times and places like in that battle?” Ruphus stated. Diver nodded and so did her father.
Diver looked down but her father lifted her head up with a finger.
“Diver remember I am, first and foremost; your dad. I only want to give you the best chance at life. I know it’s a hard change to see what you believed in comparison to the reality. I was the same.”
Diver was now engaged in her father’s conversation, she sat down and listened intently.
“Like you I had a view of what I thought combat to be like but it all changed the first time I went into combat and it was terrible, I thought we were just as bad as the Sharpteeth that we were fighting, if not more so. However, when you are in those situations everything is do or die; that is the harsh truth of combat, Diver.” Ruphus said, making sure to keep eye contact with his daughter, the hard tone of his voice indeed hitting home for Diver, as she could tell her father was talking from personal experience, one that was similar to hers.
“But why teach me and my brothers and sisters?” she asked.
Ruphus put a hand over Diver and gave her a gentle squeeze but never taking his hand off of her. “So you can be prepared. I have no doubt that you will go into the Mysterious Beyond many times in your life but with my teachings you will have the ability to defend yourself, you have a natural talent Diver and one position that would benefit from your talent is the herd defender.”
Diver’s eyes glowed with understanding and she nodded.
“Because the reason why I taught you to fight was not just so you can protect yourself, but others as well. That is why your mother and I fought so hard; to protect you from becoming food for all those Fast Biters. We would have given our lives for you and your brothers and sisters.”
Diver nodded. “I think I get it Dad but… all the blood… it was just…”
Her father nodded solemnly. “I know Diver, but that battle is now over, leave those memories in the past and remember that you know why we fought the way we did, do that and remember that I will always love you as a father and you will get over your night terrors soon”
Ruphus put his open hand down right next to Diver, who willing took the invitation without hesitation and jumped onto the palm of his hand. The two Swimmers nuzzled and headed back to the nest. Diver felt a little better now that her father had provided her with a sense of closure over the battle. Already she felt a little stronger and she promised to herself that she would get over the night terrors and beat her persistent cold.
A promise that would ring true after another few days.
*
Roll right, roll left and repeat, had to keep sharp, had to react immediately or fail the exercise. Ducky was finally learning the more advanced Swimmer manoeuvres under Cyrest and the various members of her family. At the moment she was learning the barrel roll, a basic move that allowed for quick evasion whist allowing Ducky to continue moving ahead with hardly any loss of speed. Her Father had placed a zig zagging line of long sticks in the sediment in one of the many secluded water holes in The Great Valley, Cyrest had demonstrated the action and now Ducky was doing her third run of the sticks. The idea was to swim ahead straight at the sticks and the only way she could avoid them was with performing consecutive barrel rolls on each side until she got to the end without stalling, hitting a stick or going off course.
Ducky however, was having trouble staying on course. The barrel roll was easy enough to do, but the trick was staying on course after spinning rather quickly while changing her body’s orientation. As she became dizzy half way through the first run, she ran completely off course and had to surface until everything stopped spinning.
Now on her third run she was desperately trying to remember Spinner’s secret to staying orientated. He had been asked many times before how he could have such a good sense of direction even after Swimming really fast in circles and he said that he always kept his eyes fixed on a point straight ahead of him as a way of keeping him going straight, however he still kept it a closely guarded secret..
Ducky really didn’t know how her brother did it, sure it sounded simple enough in concept but it was a whole lot harder in practice, she found it very difficult to find a constant stationary mark ahead of her that stayed where it was whenever she was moving.
If she’d understood what Spinner meant then it would’ve been easy, but right now she was starting to feel a little queasy again. Yet she still pushed through, trying to stay on course for her third run.
Stick ahead, roll right.
Another stick, roll left, stay on course.
Roll right, keep steady, feeling a little wobbly.
Left, three quarters of the way to go.
Roll right, to fast going cross eyed!
Get back on course! Go left!
Get back in position!
“Go with the flow Ducky….”
“Wait, what!?”
Two sticks left….
Roll left or was it right…? No left! GAH RIGHT!
Just got past, to dizzy, roll righ-Crash!
Go straight through the next stick and collide with the shore…
“Ooohhhhh, spiinnnnyy-ing, eeerrr!” Ducky groaned and plopped her face into the ground as she became overwhelmed by the dizziness. She kept her hands tightly over her mouth as she attempted to keep her breakfast down for the third time in a day and she had barely started the exercise! She heard footsteps approaching and just managed to groan out. “Nooo more…”
She felt a hand of possibly one of her parents on her back but Ducky didn’t want to move yet as she was barely keeping the bile down. It was a mercy then that her mother didn’t pick her up and kept her hand over in a comforting gesture till after five minutes when Ducky could finally stand again without falling in the water.
Ducky sat down in the cool water and looked up at her parents then at Cyrest. “Please no more rolls, Cyrest it gets me too dizzy, it does, it does.”
“Ducky, you might be a little dizzy, but this is a simple move. A lot of the other moves incorporate some sort of roll, you must learn to get past that dizziness” replied Cyrest, his sympathetic gaze not complementing his serious tone in the slightest.
“Can I have some time off before I try again, pleeeaaassse?”
“Augh! Of course, you can, and stop with the cute eyes and stuff, you could convince me to kill with that look!” Cyrest exclaimed as he quickly broke away from Ducky’s wide-eyed gaze.
Ducky couldn’t help but giggle at Cyrest and quickly headed off before Cyrest got her training again. “Be back before the Bright Circle sets!” Cyrest called, exchanging a tired look with Sura and Ruphus. “I don’t know she manages such optimism when she has got her Trial ahead” he shook his head.
“That’s just the way Ducky is” Sura said.
Cyrest sighed but his beak pulled into an opportunistic smile “Well I suppose we can have lunch now that the lesson is on hold”
Both Sura and Ruphus thought that was a good idea. Ducky walked at brisk pace back home; she could spend time with her friends later but first she needed advice from the one Swimmer with an unbreakable sense of direction; Spinner.
“I know of a good meadow with plenty of trees and a large watering hole next to it, where we can have lunch” Sura said.
Cyrest stopped and stood still with his head up. “Do you hear that?” he asked he seemed to be straining his sensitive Swimmer ears. Sura and Ruphus both listened and found that there was indeed a new sound, different from the normal sounds of the Great Valley’s flora and fauna, it was the sound of many moving feet.
“You don’t think that is what I think it is do you?” Cyrest asked.
In response to the unanswered question all three Swimmers headed off to the main pass of the Great Valley. It wasn’t too far but they got a good vantage view from the top of a nearby hill. They beheld a large herd of Swimmers; the first of many that would be arriving for the upcoming Swimmer Trials.
“Is that…” Sura squinted her eyes to the Swimmers at the front of the herd. “I know that herd. It’s Rarlap, he’s come to The Great Valley!” Sura cried as she spotted the young leader helming the front of his herd with Alane beside him.
“A bit early, don’t you think?” Ruphus said thoughtfully, scratching his chin.
“Well, better early then late.” Cyrest commented.
Sura, however, was looking at Rarlap, her expression turning sad as she realised that the task of telling him of Bluey’s death and eggs fell to her. Speaking of eggs, she would have to give them to him. It was Bluey’s last wish and she would honour that. She led out a sad sigh, her tail drooping slightly.
“Sura?” said Ruphus.
“Let’s go meet them…” Sura walked off in the direction of the herd with none of the enthusiasm she had before. She noticed that Topps and Grandpa Longneck were approaching as well however this was her business more than theirs.
*
“Welcome to The Great Valley,” Grandpa Longneck said to Rarlap, the herd stopping a short distance behind their leader.
“Thank you, Longneck,” Rarlap said.
“How long are you planning on staying?” Mr Threehorn said gruffly.
“Just till the end of The Swimmer Trials.”
Grandpa Longneck nodded, “Well you are welcome to stay as long as you need.”
“Rarlap!” Sura, Ruphus and Cyrest arrived on the scene. Sura was met with a smile from Rarlap but inwardly he was concerned at the higher number of scars over her body, he noticed that it was the same trend with the other two Swimmers who were unfamiliar to him.
“Sura, how good to see you…” His tone was cautious as he gazed at the scars.
Sura stopped moving forward and followed Rarlap’s gaze. “Oh, don’t worry about me, I’m in perfect physical health. This is Cyrest, Ducky’s tutor” Sura gestured to her left, Cyrest nodded. “And this is my mate; Ruphus.”
Rarlap nodded. “Nice to meet you both, I don’t suppose you know a suitable place for my herd to rest up?” he asked.
“Oh, of course, I believe I know a few places, follow me” Sura gestured with her hands and began leading the herd deeper into the Valley. Many Swimmers seemed pretty impressed by the Valley.
“I can see why you live here” Alane said.
“We wouldn’t trade our current lives for our old herd ones” Ruphus said with a smile.
Oh, this is my mate; Alane” Rarlap said, the female giving a friendly smile. “And if you don’t mind me asking Sura…but you look rather beat up, care to elaborate?”
Sura let out a long sigh, an invisible weight seemed to slump onto her shoulders, a tear fell from her eyes. “The Battle of Striker’s Canyon is what happened.”
“What?” Rarlap and Alane exchanged confused looks as did a few other Swimmer’s within hearing range did the same. “I think we are lacking a bit of context here” Rarlap said.
Sura looked down. “You remember the Fast Biter that attacked us?”
“Yes” Alane and Rarlap both said as one. Ruphus chuckled at the synchronisation.
“His name was Striker and he came to us in the Valley, not to attack us but to warn us that Red Claw had found another way in. There was a battle in the Badlands, he was killed but his actions saved us all. Red Claw was killed, Screech and Thud fought with us and the army of Fast Biters was routed” Sura took a breath and let out a shaky exhale. “We lost so many good friends for that victory…”
All the Swimmers in hearing range began talking in shocked murmurs. Rarlap and Alane’s jaws hung open. “Oh my, you guys fought in the battle?”
“They did, I didn’t” Cyrest said as he pointed to Sura and Ruphus.
They continued walking in silence for a short while until Sura stopped under a few scattered trees in the front of a large meadow with a stream going into a large water hole in the distance.
“I think, this will be suitable for you and your herd.” Sura said; Rarlap nodded. The herd was already going to settle down and build nests but Sura mournfully looked back at Rarlap, “Come with us, to our nest, there is something you must see” she said and without another word she, Ruphus and Cyrest started heading off. Rarlap and Alane exchanged curious looks and followed them but they would not like what they found out….
*
Ducky arrived back at the nest only to find to her dismay that her clutch mates were not at home but her younger brothers and sisters certainly were, many who were too young to leave the nest without supervision which they were never left without anyway. The issue was that Ducky was looking for her clutch mates, not her younger siblings, but she didn’t let it get her too down. The couple of second clutch younglings were sitting around in a circle and playing a game of truth or dare. This game seldom ended well for her clutch mates mainly due to the fierce head butting of Rapid and Echo so she never really played it, but that wasn’t the case for her younger siblings.
“Ok, truth or dare Reedy?” asked the female light green Swimmer.
“Um… I’ll go for dare Sardine” replied the bright, yellowish brown male Swimmer sitting across.
“Right! I dare you to… Oh hiya Ducky!” Sardine waved at her older sister as she came by. “Wanna play with us?”
Ducky shook her head. “I am looking for Spinner but I do not know where he has gone, no, no, no.”
“Oh, he and the others went to their favourite water hole, you know, the one that we’re not big enough to go to yet” Reedy said in a dejected voice.
Ducky put a hand on his shoulder. “You will grow and be big enough soon Reedy, yes, you will, you will” she said in a reassuring tone.
Reedy grumbled. “Wish it would happen sooner…” he muttered under his breath, he had a lot of issues with trying to live up to the expectations and experiences of his older siblings but he was still a kid at heart despite trying to act like he was bigger. “Can we get on with the game?” he asked Sardine.
“Goodbye Sardine and Reedy” Ducky said and quickly took her leave, the other two smaller Swimmers exchanged their goodbyes but just before left Ducky heard her sister say “I dare you to sleep with the hatchlings” She chuckled to herself as her brother voiced his dismay before starting to jog swiftly down to the stream. It would be quicker to swim most of the way.
Reaching the water’s edge, she ran over to one of the larger rocks and jumped on top before diving beneath the water and swimming off towards her sibling’s favourite water hole. Swimming along with the current she sped along like a torpedo, diving rapidly down to the bottom as she had experienced greater speed when swimming deeper while swimming with Mo and his water kin.
She had a good lung full of air so she wouldn’t need to surface just yet. The water was almost crystal clear, so there were times when Ducky almost forgot that she was swimming and instead thought that she was flying, she couldn’t help but wonder if this is what Petrie felt when he flew, though of course Petrie could at least breathe when he flew. As things were, it was only because Ducky was consciously holding her breath that snapped her out of her illusion, as she had almost forgotten that she was underwater.
She passed a few large silver fish lurking around the edge of the stream. The stream edge was littered with brown leaf litter and green algae and descending down into the deeper regions of the stream, the bottom was covered with patches of fine and coarse sediment, along with larger patches of green freshwater plants.
This was the underwater world of The Great Valley that Ducky was so used to swimming in. Making her way around a turn, she went along with the current, there were a few boulders scattered throughout this portion of the river, they were rather deep so they could easily be avoided but not this time. Ducky headed up, took a breath at the surface and dived under again and started casually zig zagging between the rocks, she found that without the threat to her life that swimming like this was rather fun.
She slowed down slightly and started a few barrel rolls. She managed the first few alright but after that she started overturning and losing control as she became increasingly dizzy. Realising that she was not going to accomplish anything she headed back up to the surface and hit the bank with a groan and held her head in her right hand.
“How am I going to learn to do this?” she asked herself as she pulled herself up and out of the water and shook herself vigorously till, she was relatively dry but not stable in the least. Ducky fell to her left and into the side of a tree before giving up on walking and crouching down till she recovered from her dizzy spell.
Ducky sighed and got to her feet and noticed that she was now close enough to the watering hole to walk, or in her case jog, her break time would not last forever and the sooner she got the hang of barrel rolls the better. However, to get better at barrel rolls she needed to get better at keeping the overwhelming dizzy spells in check and there was only one Swimmer who could give her the proper instructions.
“Spinner!” Ducky called as she arrived at the relatively secluded watering hole. It was large enough to fit all of Ducky’s siblings plus herself and Spike without any trouble and was situated against the base of the cliff and had a small weak waterfall trickling down the steep rocky incline and because the waterfall wasn’t so strong at the moment, the water was relatively calm or it would be had it not been for Ducky’s clutch mates playing in the shallow waters near the bank.
Spinner, who was just about to dive into the water from the large rock that he and his siblings used as a diving post, jumped while looked back in surprise. “Ducky-iiiiiieee!” he shouted as he slipped on the water covered rock and fell into the water with an ungraceful splash while Sandy and Diver laughed from the bank.
“Nice dive Spinner!” laughed Echo as Spinner surfaced with an angry string of mumbling, before quickly swimming over to the shore and shaking himself dry.
Ducky giggled “Sorry, Spinner” she said through her giggles.
“Thank you,” groaned Spinner with an annoyed roll of his eyes. “Aren’t you supposed to be training or something?”
“Unless that training is knocking unsuspecting Swimmers into the water” Joked Rapid.
“Well, I was but I needed a break to—”
Take care of some business, yes we know” interrupted Rapid.
“Rapid!” Ducky cried out in a mortified voice at her obnoxious brother. “I wanted some help from Spinner…I cannot seem to do the barrel rolls without getting too dizzy…I think he can help me, he can, he can.”
“You bet!” Spinner said, his other siblings perked up and Diver saw a chance to get a little wisdom herself. She blocked Spinner off from moving over to Ducky. “He’ll help you…when you show us how to do the barrel roll!” she said with an excited grin.
Ducky shook her head. “Mom and Dad said you are not supposed to know the wisdoms. Nope, nope, nope!”
“But it’s not like we’ll use them in The Trials, so I don’t see any harm in this” Diver counted, her curious siblings nodding along as they were also eager to learn this wisdom from Ducky.
“Oh, come on Ducky, if you can do it so can we!” pressed Echo.
“Yeah!” the synchronised voice of all her clutch mates rang out and Ducky sighed. Faced with all the pressure from her peers and needing to keep to a timely schedule lest she make Cyrest mad Ducky answered rather hesitantly. “Ok… but you must not show that we know this or we will be in so much trouble we will, we will.”
“Ha!” cried Diver.
“I never thought I’d be getting a lesson from Mrs wisdom stuffed and Mr dizzyfying” chuckled Rapid.
The group of siblings had only just entered the water when a rustling of the bushes was heard from the surrounding foliage. Everyone turned into the direction of the sound and they were greeted by an arrogant voice before they saw anybody, a voice that Ducky knew all too well, to her great distress.
“This is a nice little place you Great Valley Swimmers have got here.”
The bushes parted to reveal three Swimmers; Barge, Storm and Whirler. Their herd having just arrived and found a place to settle down had allowed The Trio to get together and explore The Great Valley but it seemed fate had pulled them here to meet with Ducky again.
Ducky put a hand up to her head and groaned. “Oh, not you guys again” she said.
“Well boys! Look who it is, the little hatchling from The Big Water” said Barge, the two Swimmer’s beside him laughing at his remark.
“Is the wittle hatchling going to cry?” said Storm in an immature voice.
“You gonna wet the nest at us, baby!” mocked Whirler.
Whack!
“Owwww!”
Barge fell onto his tail as a small stone hit him in the face. His buddies were caught by surprise and helped him up onto his feet only to be confronted with three other Swimmers; Diver, Echo and Rapid; each one glaring at them furiously, a facial expression shared by their other siblings standing on the sidelines.
“I think it’s time to give these three bullies a piece of our mind” Diver said, she blew the dirt off her hand; it was evident that she had thrown the stone.
“You read my mind, Diver” said Rapid.
“You’re going to really regret hurting our sister” said Echo, he and his larger brother took up flanking positions on either side of Diver. It was evident that they intended to have a confrontation, their aggravated body language and fighting stance was a real teller for their siblings because it was Echo, Diver and Rapid that had truly been taught to fight by their father and getting on their bad side like this was a recipe for disaster.
“And we are going to show you Great Valley Swimmer’s just what kind of weak, helpless hatchlings you all are. Your no match for us Mys-Ooff!” Barge’s monologue was silenced by Diver who had crossed the distance between them in an instant and grabbed the skin of Barge’s chest and pulled him to face her, the Swimmers were now almost beak to beak and even Barge couldn’t help but be taken aback by the enraged glare and aggressive snarl from Diver.
“You bastards hurt my sister! You had no right to! She’s been through more and is going through more then you could ever hope to understand and since you never received a…humbling experience, we Great Valley Swimmer’s will be glad to provide it.” She hissed her words through gritted teeth right into Barge’s face before pushing him back hard.
“You really want to fight us? You’re just a scared little girl!” said Whirler who dismissed Diver’s threats as laughable despite hearing her curse. As a result of his arrogance, he didn’t see the attack coming until he was sprawled on the ground, head reeling from Diver’s powerful punch.
Whirler was hastily pulled up by Storm, they seemed a little wary now. This was a completely new situation for them. Here stood three Swimmer’s equal in age, size, speed, weight and strength along with a girl and they all stood together to fight them rather than squabble at their feet like everyone else in their herd had done before.
“Come at us and we’ll kick your butt’s so hard you will fly all the way back to The Big Water!” challenged Diver.
“Please! Do not fight no, no, no!” Ducky cried, walking in between the two groups and holding her hands out to both, trying to stop them from escalating the situation any further. “Mom and Dad would not want us to fight no, no, no!”
Diver growled angrily but she knew better then to push Ducky aside but the bullies didn’t have that same mentality. Barge ran up to Ducky and kicked her foot out from under her and she fell down on her back with a startled cry. Barge pressed his foot down over her abdomen hard, causing Ducky to give a short cry of pain.
“YOU DID NOT JUST DO THAT!!!” An enraged Diver shouted; she was seeing red now. She was as protective of her siblings as her mother was of them and it was a very bad idea to harm any of them on her watch and Barge had just crossed the line by hurting Ducky not only at The Big Water but also right in front of her. In a single action Diver, Echo and Rapid were running then crashing into each of the bullies. Diver was taking on Barge; Echo was going up against Storm and Rapid was confronting Whirler. However, this fight was rather one-sided, The Trio did not work together while Diver, Echo and Rapid fought as one cohesive team as they had years of practice and understanding of each other to know what to do.
Diver literally collided head-on head with Barge and Echo unexpectedly broke off his attack from Storm and slammed Barge from the side and moved on to help Rapid who had tackled Whirler and was pushing him back, Echo kicked Whirler in the flank and Rapid tail belted him to the ground and both boys (Being careful to step on Barge) ran to Diver who had stopped Storm from following Echo when he went to help her. Storm stood no chance against three Swimmers and within seconds the once mighty Trio lay groaning in a heap on the ground in defeat against the Great Valley Swimmer’s that they had badly provoked.
Diver stood over them. “Now listen here boys, if you ever hurt my sister or any of my family ever again then you will have us to answer to and we will give you far worse then what we have given you now. Are we clear?” Upon seeing the frantic nods, she nodded “Good now, GET OUT OF HERE!!!” she shouted, the three Swimmer’s made a mad dash away into the foliage, they would spend a very long time licking their wounds.
“Ha! We showed them!” Rapid shouted triumphantly.
“That served them right” said Echo, cracking his knuckles proudly next to Rapid who stood beside him for once.
“Good riddance to bad Swimmer’s” said Diver in a satisfied voice.
Ducky sighed. As she watched them, Sandy and Opal had been quick to help her when she was knocked over and while she was unhappy that there had been a fight, she was at least glad that things were back to peace but it was unfortunately not peaceful in another part of the Great Valley.
*
Sura had arrived at her nest with Ruphus and Cyrest and trailing behind them was the confused Rarlap and Alane. The couple couldn’t deny that this was certainly a nice place to nest. With a large river and waterfall right next to the nesting area with a few shallow ponds for the younger children and a large space beside the bank with several trees and bushes nearby in which the main nest was. There was plenty of space of children to hang out and play and also a good supply of food nearby and plenty of water and best of all, no predators; A great nesting place. However, Rarlap wasn’t paying as much attention to the scenery as he was to Sura. As they got closer to her nest, he noticed that weariness in her steps and that blank expression that was so clearly designed to hide inner turmoil that it was a dead giveaway.
Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.
His heart thumped in his chest, he had a bad feeling grow in his gut that just made him feel like running away but yet he continued to follow Sura until she stopped next to a nest filled with eggs, about eight but beside it was a smaller nest with two eggs in it. The latter nest is what Sura bent down over and picked up the two eggs and held them out in her palm in front of Rarlap.
“These belong to you…” She said, her voice stricken with melancholy.
“What…?” Rarlap, he suddenly felt something drop in his belly.
“I’m sorry…” Sura’s voice started to break and she sniffed. “Bluey… didn’t make it… Red Claw killed her before we could reach The Valley, She died saving me… her last act was to lay the eggs, her last wishes was for them to go to their father; You” She said the last part with a fixed resolve as she offered the eggs to Rarlap.
Rarlap and Alane both gasped in horror. Rarlap’s hands started to tremble as he wordlessly accepted what were Bluey’s only surviving eggs. “She asked that if you get a girl that she is named Mellessa and if you get a boy to name him Rimmer” Sura said.
Rarlap could only nod, he had tears in his eyes and so did Alane. “I can’t believe…” he said.
Sura gave him a look of terrible grief and understanding, she had lost a sister after all. “Just promise me to look after them as best you can, they are all that is left of my sister.”
“We promise” said both Rarlap and Alane at once and slowly turned and walked slowly back to their new nest but with a noticeable slump in their steps. Sura fell to the knees as they disappeared from view and Ruphus sat down and held her gently as his mate sobbed. “It is done…”
She forced herself up though Ruphus still looked at her with great concern. Sura had been hit hard by giving away Bluey’s eggs, she felt that she was finally fully separated from her poor sister and that hurt far more then she showed despite that fact that she knew this was Bluey’s last request and that her sister’s eggs would be going to a new and probably good home. She still wished in a small selfish part of her mind that she’d never have to give up those eggs.
*
Ducky and all of her clutch mates now stood in the shallow part of the water hole. Ducky and Spinner were in front of them while they all stood waiting like obedient soldiers but this was no battle speech. Ducky was going through the proper way to do the barrel roll. It was simple enough for all her brothers and sisters to understand and Rapid even laughed. “And these are supposed to be Wisdoms that we kids can’t learn!”
“We’ll show them” Diver said in agreement.
“Just remember that we cannot show that we know this stuff until after The Trials are done or we will be in so much trouble, we will, we will” Ducky said.
“I’ll go first” Diver said but Ducky shook her head.
“I will show you how to do it first, guys” Diver reluctantly agreed to Ducky’s statement as she had the most experience of them all when it came to this kind of manoeuvre. Ducky dived under and with a twist of her body she rolled right then left, not deviating much from her straight line but enough to clear any would-be obstacles in her path, she repeated the move on her way back. She wasn’t too dizzy when she got back out of the water but she knew that she would get dizzy pretty quickly if she continued for much longer.
As Ducky returned to the shore and surfaced Diver almost instantly said “Can we try now?” sounding highly impatient.
“Ok, you can try, go for as long as you can” Ducky said.
Her siblings dived under at once and began to execute the move that Ducky had showed them while Ducky climbed onto the diving rock to get a better view of them. As expected, her brothers and sisters had no trouble in doing the barrel roll, at least for the first few laps but that’s when Sandy lost control and crashed into Echo, that knocked them both out of the running. Diver was next, as she veered off course and hit the shore looking like she’d been completely turned around. Rapid seemed to be doing well but he seemed to be really pushing himself, not to stay on course but to stay ahead of everyone else and it really seemed to Ducky that he was pushing himself too hard. There was also the issue that he wasn’t going nearly as fast as he normally did and Ducky believed she knew why; Rapid’s leg had been badly injured during The Killer Storm and while it may have healed he was now marked just like Ray, he could no longer swim with the strength or speed that he used to due to his recently acquired handicap.
Ducky grimaced as she watched him push himself too hard, he was coming up to the surface to breath every few seconds cause of how much he was pushing himself and he was barely staying ahead of Ray who was doing surprisingly well but Spinner was ahead of them both and Ducky was amazed by how effortless her brother made the barrel roll look. He could turn and spin so effortlessly and gracefully despite the dizziness factor.
“How is he doing that?” Ducky said to herself.
It became pretty evident that Spinner was the best at the barrel roll after about eight laps when Ray and Rapid finally dropped out but Spinner just kept on going and going until he reached lap thirty to the amazement of his siblings so when he surfaced he was greeted by over half a dozen floored jaws.
Spinner shook himself dry but stopped when he spotted all the astounded looks directed at him. “What?” he asked.
“How in the whole Mysterious Beyond did you manage to do that!?” Diver said.
Spinner blinked. “Was it supposed to be hard?” His siblings groaned at Spinner’s ridiculous comment. “And anyway, I’m only telling Ducky” Spinner said.
“Hey, I want to know your secret too!” Sandy exclaimed loudly, her siblings muttering loudly in agreement.
Ducky was still up on the rock above so Spinner quickly ran up to the top and passing Ducky he said only one thing “Run” She shook her head in surprise but when she saw all her clutch mates running after him she thought it would be best to listen to Spinner’s advice or she would never learn what she needed to. Ducky turned tail and ran after Spinner.
“Where are we going!?” she called to him, she could only see his tail from where she was.
“Anywhere that’s away from those raving rollers that are our brothers and sisters!” Spinner replied as he ran. Ducky managed to catch up to him panting heavily and spotted a crevice nearby in between one of the rocks.
“In there” She pointed to the crevice and dived into the narrow opening, followed closely by Spinner. Ducky grabbed a large leaf and put it over the entrance and huddled back with Spinner and sure enough in a few moments they heard the numerous running footsteps of their siblings. Soon the silhouette of their siblings ran past completely oblivious to the whereabouts of Ducky and Spinner.
Once they were sure no one was around the two Swimmers pushed the leaf aside. “So, you ready to hear my spinning secret?” Spinner asked Ducky who nodded. “And you promise not to tell anyone?” He eyed her suspiciously.
“Yep, yep, yep” Ducky said without hesitation while nodding her head.
“Okay…how do I explain this…” Spinner scratched his chin and seemed a little hesitant, this was his secret, the way he could avoid dizziness better than anyone after all and he had been asked about it many times but to his amusement and his siblings’ constant annoyance, they never got it out of him… until now. However, despite his apprehension in relinquishing the one thing that he’d kept to himself all his life, Spinner had no doubt that Ducky needed to know. His sister would need all the help she could get if she wanted to survive The Trial.
“Alright, I don’t just focus on a still object, but many objects, the one that is in the middle of my sight and when I spin, I count.”
“Huh?” Ducky gave him a surprised look.
“I learned how fast I could spin by counting how long it took to make a single spin or roll and I know how far and fast I move in the water so I never really lose track of where I am. I could close my eyes and swim and then roll this way and that and I will remain straight on target because I know how far my body moves and when to move. You should try the same” Spinner explained.
Ducky looked amazed; it was such a clever, simple method. Ducky was astonished that she and her siblings never figured it out. “Come on then!” Ducky took Spinner’s hand and raced all the way back to the watering hole they were at before.
“Come on Ducky!” Spinner cried as he arrived at the water hole and dived into the water without any hesitation while Ducky waded in and stood next to her. “Right! You ready to give this a try, sis?”
“Yep, yep, yep” Ducky said. Spinner stood and while Ducky crouched. “Now just start swimming a slow lap and count how long it takes then we can try your normal speed then a fast lap and then the roll” Spinner said.
With a nod Ducky dived under and swam at a speed she considered slow and mentally counted how long it took to do a lap, she then repeated the procedure going at her normal cruising speed and then at her full speed, and as expected her times got smaller the faster, she went. Now as she surfaced Spinner said, “Now try the same but do one roll and count how long it takes you to do it each time and see how much movement your body must take to move.”
Ducky dived under. Going slow then made one slow roll. “One… Two… Three.”
She then increased her speed and performed another roll. “One… Two” Ducky noted that the faster she went she needed less body movement to do the roll, she went off with her final roll.
“One…” After concluding, Ducky swam back up to Spinner. “Now swim each speed and do three rolls with this on.” He tied a leaf around Ducky’s eyes so she couldn’t see. “Rely on counting and movement.” Spinner helped his sister into the water. “Ready?”
“I am ready, Spinner. I am, I am!” Ducky said.
“Go!” Spinner shouted.
Ducky took off. Her vision was blinded by the leaf but she counted. She remembered it took her twenty seconds to swim at slow speed and it took three seconds to do a single roll so she would use up nine whole seconds in doing the triple rolls that were required of her.
She did her first roll to the right. “One… Two… Three” Ducky corrected her course and rolled to the left following the same method. Once she hit nineteen seconds she turned around and headed back. It was not the first time that Ducky had swam blind so the feeling was not foreign to her but since she hadn’t hit anything, she figured that she was doing it right. Ducky did her final roll successfully and returned to Spinner’s side without a hitch. Ducky pulled off her leaf blindfold, grinning from ear to ear.
“Well, you did rather-Gah!” Spinner let out a startled cry as he found himself being crushed in Ducky’s asphyxiating hug.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you Spinner!” Ducky shouted. “I can do this now! I can, I can!”
“Ducky! Choking…!” Spinner wheezed out. Ducky quickly released her brother with an embarrassed giggle. “Thanks” Spinner said after catching his breath. “You did well but we are not done yet, we are going to go fast and normal and with sticks until you can do the barrel roll in your sleep!”
Ducky nodded, determination radiated from her cerulean eyes. She would soon be ready to face that blasted Sharptooth.
*
Cyrest and Ruphus were heading back to the water hole where they had been training Ducky earlier. It was late afternoon and dusk was starting to fall. The Great Valley took on a grey colour as the coming night chased away the light of day. Sura would have joined them but she was emotionally exhausted from giving away her sister’s eggs and she also had dinner to prepare for the little ones. “Not long left now, the herds are starting to arrive, once everyone is here…The Trials begin” Ruphus said.
“Ducky is not quite ready, she needs to get better, she needs to learn faster” Cyrest said, his eyes narrowing in frustration.
“Have faith Cyrest, Ducky has met every challenge thus far and she has always made it through. I know she seems like she is struggling but she will not let that stop her, she will be ready of that I am sure” replied Ruphus in a passionate tone. Ruphus’s words reassured the old Swimmer, after all Ducky had been through Thunder Pool and managed to get out. If anyone of her age could do it, Ducky could.
The two Swimmers walked up the hill that the water hole lay beyond. “You know, when the other herds arrive, we are going to need a place to train Ducky where none of the other Swimmers can find her” Cyrest said.
Ruphus smiled. “Oh, don’t worry about that, Sura and I have that sorted, all we need to do is get Ducky up to the Hidden Clearing while - Oh my word!” Ruphus looked astonished. Cyrest frowned and turned to see what had gotten the other Swimmer’s attention. What he saw send his jaw dropping.
Ducky was swimming the course she had attempted earlier and she was flawlessly rolling in and out of the sticks with what seemed like no effort and her previous trouble seemed to have vanished as if they had never existed at all. However, this was not what caught the two older Swimmer’s attention, it was the sheer speed Ducky was going and the fact that she was doing it blindfolded!
“Go, Ducky!” Spinner shouted from the side.
“Am I having a sleep story?” Cyrest asked after blinking his eyes a few times in disbelief.
“If you are then we must be having the same one” Ruphus said as he quickly made his way down to the edge of the watering hole, followed closely by Cyrest. Spinner saw his father approaching “Hi Dad!” He said. “Look at Ducky go! It’s amazing!” the little Swimmer ran over to his father, his tail wagging wildly behind him, a wide smile on his beak.
“It certainly is amazing, how on earth did she end of beating her dizziness. She was completely turned around before” Cyrest said.
“You wouldn’t have anything to do with this, Spinner?” Ruphus as he narrowed, he recalled Echo and Ray turning up looking for Spinner, saying that he was giving up his spinning secret but they couldn’t find him. Now, seeing Ducky’s incredible performance Ruphus believed he could guess as to what Spinner had done.
Spinner smiled innocently which couldn’t have been more of a dead giveaway. “I may have given her a helping hand” He said which earned him a nuzzle from his father.
“I’m glad you did it, Spinner” Ruphus said. Their chances were far better than at first glance, he could never have believed he’d see his daughter come this far when he first heard she was going to do the Trial but here was the proof that the hope they all trusted in her was very much real.
Ducky finally surfaced and pulled her blindfold off. “I did it!!!” She shouted but she was stunned by the presence of her father and Cyrest.
“Well done, Ducky” Ruphus bent down and picked up both Ducky and Spinner in his arms. “I think you two have earned some extra-large tree sweets for dinner tonight” Ruphus said to the delight of his children as he headed off back home.
“This will make Spike so jealous!” Spinner laughed.
“Yep, yep, yep! Just do not let him get your tree sweet Spinner, oh no, do not” Ducky replied, her warning was incredibly valid as Spike was known to eat through his sibling’s food if he was given the chance.
“I think you’ll have to worry more about keeping your little secret Spinner” Ruphus said with a smirk.
“No worries” Spinner brushed his father off with a wave of his arm. “Ducky and I are good at keeping secrets.”
“We are, we are” Ducky confirmed, not knowing the bombardment of questions that she and her brother would receive from their clutch mates on her return.
Cyrest stayed back for a few moments still shocked by the situation but as he had more time to process everything, he found the smile appearing on his beak getting wider. “She is ready to move on to the final parts of her training” He said as he followed Ruphus back to the nest.
There was no doubt in his mind now. Ducky had the greatest chance of any Swimmer to beat that rotten Trial.
*
The appearance of Rarlap and his herd in the Valley had not gone unnoticed by the Valley residents. It was a clear sign that The Swimmer Trials were just around the corner and that they could expect many more herds of Swimmer’s coming to The Great Valley, normally this might be a problem due to the greater numbers and the availability of food, however it wasn’t this time due to the significant losses the residents took in The Battle of Strikers Canyon.
For a few other residents, specifically the Gang’s parents, this was also a time of increasing worry simply because The Trial of Destiny was approaching ever closer and they had been notified of Ducky’s agreement with Sculra. They could only hope that the little Swimmer would have what it took to come out alive for the sake of their kids.
There was another who was eagerly looking forward to the coming Trials and that was none other than Sculra herself. Ever since she made the deal at Ducky’s nest and after her almost fatal run-in with Ruphus she had retreated back to her own nest as knowledge of the deal was now spreading throughout The Great Valley, enabling an uneasy truce between Sura and herself at least until the end of The Trial of Destiny.
Her wounds from her fight with Ruphus had also healed despite the fact that they had pained her greatly. She didn’t concern herself with the battle that had recently been fought, it was nothing to her now, Red Claw was dispensable and from what she could tell, just as incompetent as her other hired hands.
As Sculra sat in her nest eating a hand full of green food she couldn’t help but look back at how she had gotten to where she was now.
It had taken years and it all started in The Mysterious Beyond with her birth. Her mother died before she was born though she was never told how and only a handful of her siblings survived their infant years but that was merely the beginning of many hardships. Sculra’s father was a strict traditionalist, ridged in his ways and as inflexible in his beliefs as her. He never spared the fist with her or her siblings when they stepped out of line.
Harsh beatings nailed in his messages but when Sculra was only a kid, the beatings were only small factors contributing to who she’d become. It was a talk with her father that she remembered almost word for word to this day.
“Sculra, that there is a herd leader, they have the most power in any herd, do you know what power means?” Her father asked her as he pointed at the current leader of their herd.
“No” the child replied, she was only five years old and despite all the beatings she was still a kid but she could not understand the psychology her father invoked upon her then.
“Power means you are in control. We guide our lives with tradition but us Swimmers are known for being the weakest kind of all the others out there. If a Swimmer holds power over other Swimmers then they can control them any way they want, and they in turn will become the strongest Swimmers” Her father said, staring deep into her eyes.
“But why should we control—”
“SILENCE!” Her father bellowed at her. Sculra kept her mouth shut, realising she had spoken out of line again.
“You see? I had control over you at that moment, you don’t do a thing without me knowing and you don’t do anything that I don’t want you to do. Imagine being able to create a world where everything is how you want It. You control everything and no one tells you otherwise. That is what power grants us!”
Sculra didn’t say anything but her eyes glowed with desire. After living a life devoid of power and control she was fully entranced by this idea and her father could see it, that is precisely why he was talking to her and not her other siblings, she had something that they lacked and it would make Sculra incredibly dangerous later in life.
“So how do you get power?” Sculra asked.
Her father’s eyes narrowed. “You get a good position in the herd but that only gives you a little sway which is why it is the first step. Getting power means you must be able to make others listen to you and believe you, so they give you power, but the trick is keeping it.”
“What do you mean?” Sculra asked nervously, as though the concept of losing power was an unthinkable one.
“Other Swimmers will want power and you must also stay alive. So how do you keep power? You stay alive and you must be ruthless to any Swimmer who crosses your path with a desire for your power for they will show none. You must be prepared to do anything, whether that be threaten them, beat them or even kill them.” Sculra gasped at her father’s explanation.
“But- but to kill…”
Her father glared at her and said, “Nothing is too much, as I said before, you ‘must’ be willing to do ‘anything’ to be powerful, unless you want to be a weakling all your life and hang off another’s will. There are two kinds of Swimmer’s in this world Sculra; Those with power and those who hang from the ones with power, which one are you?”
Those words had shaped Sculra’s mentality forever and for the worst, she chose power and from that point onward she did everything for it. She learned how to fight by fighting her siblings until she beat them so bad that they dared not say anything against her. It was the first taste of power Sculra ever had and she relished it as she never truly had power over another before but it wasn’t enough; she wanted more.
She began imitating other Swimmer’s, those she couldn’t fight she outsmarted with her wits, manipulating them to make deals that would benefit her or getting them to take life threatening risks for trivial things. Slowly but she surely, she learned the ropes and with that came a fierce cunning and ruthlessness that had never been seen in a Swimmer before.
When she was a kid her biggest humiliation came from being found inadequate for The Trial of Destiny, a Trial that Cyrest would take. It raged Sculra that her ticket to gaining power and proving herself the best had been taken by someone that she saw as weak. It was at this point that Sculra truly understood what her father had said and the change over her was almost instant. She was truly willing to do anything for herself, no matter what, screw morals and ethics. She would often hangout at a water hole that was frequented heavily by Sharpteeth and occasionally flat teeth but with a water truce in effect there was a relative peace.
It was here over a period of two years that Sculra began to listen to the Sharpteeth and decipher their growls and over time she soon managed to learn the Sharptooth language. She was able to fluently speak it and understand it and at the water hole when Sharpteeth were around, she listened. She heard tales of hunting, strategy, tactics, risks and of other prominent Sharpteeth.
She took those ‘lessons’ very seriously and applied them to her own dealings within the herd which only strengthened her power but it also changed her temperament to something more akin to a Sharptooth. After the Trials she was trained as a healer due to her knowledge of plants however Sculra not only learned about healing but also about poisons and about The Swimmer Wisdoms. However, she was unable to learn them as they were only taught to those of high rank and that made her furious. So, she took the time to eavesdrop on other Swimmer’s learning the Wisdoms and practicing them in her own time.
Once Sculra became an adult she got a position as herd healer.
It was a job she loathed, helping the weak but she had learned to be patient and to take her chance when needed. It was then that she learned about the position of High Elder and she found the position very attractive, it gave power and respect in the herd and it allowed her to be the keeper of the traditions that she knew so well. However, there was one small problem; Her father was the High Elder.
Immediately Sculra started planning her father’s downfall, his words that had so profoundly affected her life would also be his undoing when Sculra slipped a plant that was fatal if ingested into her father’s dinner. He never stood a change, Sculra watched as her father died by her hand. With her father dead, the position was hers by inheritance and since no one else stood up to her, Sculra’s right to become the High Elder was indisputable and she swooped in to snatch the position up with greedy arms.
Years would pass and Sculra would soon become envious of mothers, she wanted children to carry on her legacy but she could not find a mate that she desired. There was never anyone good enough for her unrealistically high standards. That’s when Ruphus came into the picture. The perfect mate, traditionalist, firm, strong, smart, brave and deadly. Sculra’s lust for him was incredible, she introduced herself well enough, playing the sweet girl act with Ruphus and his father and it worked well, Ruphus understanding her and was slipping into her clutches.
This was a point where something completely unexpected blew a great big hole in Sculra’s plans; the arrival of Sura.
Sculra didn’t trust this young adult, especially after hearing that she had been chased away from her nest by her father. It was a bad sign but what’s worse was that Ruphus was developing a liking to Sura. She matched him far better than Sculra, especially in age, there was not so big a gap as there was between Ruphus and Sculra and the young couple started to hit it off.
Sculra found herself jealous and of Sura and envious of her ‘power’ over Ruphus and her un-traditionalist ways made her shudder in revulsion. This simply would not do. From the moment Sculra and Sura met there was tension between them and while Sculra tried manipulation on Ruphus and his family in an attempt to discredit Sura. She soon tried drastic measures to kill off Sura but the plan backfired in the worst way and when Ruphus found out that Sculra had a hand in the events that led to some prominent deaths in his family, he rejected her.
Sculra’s master manipulation in the end turned out to be no match for the power of a concept she had all but forgotten; love.
Sura and Ruphus loved each other, nothing, not even Sculra could stop them from becoming mates. Then to add insult to injury they had a first clutch of children, Sculra had never been angrier in her entire life, to see Sura take the mate she desired and have kids with him, kids that would carry on Sura’s un-traditionalist ways and not hers. She would have killed them all but the attack by The Great Sharptooth had thinned their numbers to such an extent that it was impractical and Sculra was very strategic. Since she couldn’t kill anyone, she plotted on making Sura’s life a living hell eventually by targeting the one thing a mother holds dear; her children.
However, all she could do was plot as no good opportunity presented itself.
The Great Earthshake did nothing but strengthen her hold over the Swimmer herd, she was the keeper of traditions and with their herd leader killed in the disaster, the Swimmer’s clung to the one who gave them order and while Sculra gave them order she was however highly racist to the other kinds in contrast to Sura who made major decisions with the other herds as well as their own. This led to the dual power that they held over the Swimmer herd to the present day.
After the discovery of The Great Valley, Sculra took the time to explore every nook and cranny the Great Valley had to offer until she knew many of the Valley’s secrets that no one else ever knew and it would seem that fate had dealt Sura a blow in the loss of Ducky so it was with astonishment that Ducky returned and with Spike who to Sculra’s outrage was adopted by Sura.
Sculra confronted Sura in a fierce shouting debate but it didn’t change anything. Sculra had no sway over Sura and the latter knew this which is why she chose to keep Spike. Of course, Sculra was enraged by this and she responded in kind; with poison. The same way she killed her father however every time Sculra spiked Spike’s food he would always come out the next day alive and well, to her bewilderment.
She didn’t know that Spike could hear the songs of his food and he never ate anything with song as unpleasant and unwelcoming as the ones the poison plants had. However, this barely bothered her when she discovered the Crescent Caves and bargained with the one that occupied the caverns. So, it was with great joy that Sculra watched Cyrest break down over the death of his son and that got her thinking that she could do the same to all others who stood up against her and posed a threat and so that’s just what she did she did.
Through her years in The Great Valley Sculra built up her strength within the Swimmer herd. She formed close links with the traditionalist families who had followed her since the Great Earthshake and those few families that Sculra didn’t get on with so well. The veiled threat during a talk was generally enough to warn others to keep in line and if more was necessary then Sculra showed them how easy it could be for her to be successful in her endeavours. One of her favourite tactics was to show up in the dead of night with a foot hovering threateningly other the children and some small talk with the mother was easily enough to keep the others in line.
But Sura and Ruphus never could be caught. Ruphus kept vigil over his family until his breakup but he eventually reunited with Sura.
Sculra might have tried to kill Ducky and Spike earlier but as they went off on all their adventures Sculra found that she could only hope that they’d get themselves killed but no. She did make some valuable allies when she stumbled into those two egg stealers. When she heard they were looking for eggs she pointed them in the direction of Sura’s nest just to spite the Swimmer she despised. Sierra was also similar to herself so she was able to get along well enough with him.
Another reason why Sculra was so light on Sura and her family was because she wanted to stay on Ruphus’s good side. Some naïve and hopeful part of her still thought that Ruphus would come to his senses and break through the ‘brainwashing’ that Sura had put him through but once time of The Trials approached Sura’s children she finally resolved to present him with an ultimatum.
That was when the events of the present come in for Sculra, as she had given Ducky the Trial not only to get rid of a future threat and to torture Sura but also to blackmail Ruphus into leaving Sura. But when Ruphus threw aside her terms and nearly killed her, a rejected and angry Sculra decided to make sure that Ducky would fall in the Trial. What Sculra didn’t count on was the lengths that Sura would go for her daughter Ducky, and while the Trial approached ever closer Ducky was preparing and training for it under Cyrest, who had previously beaten it before.
This was not good. At the rate that things were going, the precious power and control that Sculra had craved from such a young age was slipping out from her grasp despite all of her efforts.
Ducky could make it out of the Trial of Destiny if fate smiled upon her, as it often had on her many adventures.
Not on her life, Sculra decided. She smirked as another devious idea struck her, a clever precaution that would seal Ducky’s fate even if she were to make it to the end. She looked in the direction of Sura’s nest and said her last words before going to a satisfied sleep.
“My revenge is nigh, Sura, and there is nothing you can do to stop me.”
She would take action in the morning…
Nearly 11 months in the making to bring you this chapter. I really hope that this will be the last major hiatus of the story and special thanks to OwlsCantRead for proofreading this chapter.
Also I have a special announcement. The next chapter is going to mark the beginning of The Swimmer Trials and I have made the decision to allow you readers to create your own Swimmer OC's that will compete in The Trials. I will allow a month for submissions and send them to me via PM (Whether on the forum or discord is up to you) and I will incorporate your OC's into The Swimmer Trials.
That being said you'll need to have a bio for you OC that includes.
Name:
Gender:
Species: Saurolophus (Duh, that's what Swimmer's are)
Age: Is 12 for all competitors
Eye colour:
Physical Appearance: (Includes scars, body colour(s) and any unique physical difference like size, deformities etc. that your OC has.
Personality:
Family/friends:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Backstory:
Fill in this Bio and send it to me via PM and I will try to incorporate your Swimmer in however, I may only be able to fit in a certain amount but I think the more the better. You will have from the 26th of November to the 27th of December. Good Luck, have fun and thanks for your support!
