Chapter 2: The herds stopped only to hatch their young"You still think today's the day, honey?" The grey-coloured, sturdy male Threehorn spoke in his usual short and gruff way of talking. It was as hot as all the previous days, the Bright Circle's rays, that used to be associated with life and growth, burning down on him. Rather, they were now associated with death and the terrible drought that had been decimating the numbers of many herds, including the herd of threehorns that they were travelling with. Surely, the odds of survival were against them but that didn't stop them from laying eggs which another grey-coloured Threehorn was guarding. It was his mate.
"Believe me, I laid these eggs. I just know that they're ready for this," she spoke with the same warmth that her partner was often lacking in his voice. It seemed, they were complementing each other quite well. Nonetheless, raising these eggs, four of them in fact, would prove to be quite a challenge under these harsh living conditions but what hope was left that the worst drought that had ever haunted this world would ever end? Maybe it was just because of this that the two threehorns decided to try raising children despite the odds... who knew how much longer their bodies would resist the constant lack of everything, endless journeys and the unrelenting heat burning their dehydrated bodies after all...
"Let me guard the eggs now, you go to the watering hole and drink some before these flatheads sap it all up, humpff!" The male suggested. Their herd had been lucky to discover some swamps so they decided to stay until eggs were hatched. However, some other species of dinosaurs, most notably a small group of longnecks who were also breeding eggs, had discovered it as well much to the dislike of the threehorn. Of course it would have been easy for a herd of threehorns to guard a watering hole but what a waste of energy it would be so they, reluctantly, tolerated the presence of these different dinosaurs.
Guarding eggs was a very boring job to the male but he took on the high responsibility as if he were leading the whole herd. In times like these, with many of their members weak and sick, even an egg-stealer going unnoticed could cause great harm to the unhatched. So his eyes kept on scanning the immediate area as well as everything else he could see from this vantage point his nest was built on. Nothing dangerous entered his field of view but the occasional glance high up into the sky showed him a more welcoming sight.
“Clouds…” They seemed to be rising higher and higher above the nearby mountain range - mighty towers of clouds that were white on top and black at the bottom. Most important though was that they seemed to be coming a little closer whenever he looked.
"Sky water, huh? Now that'd make my day..." the Threehorn mused though his instincts told him better than to rejoice in the possibility of a rare shower. It was just a possibility after all.
Time passed on and the heat was slowly reducing due to the fact that the Bright Circle had already started its descend from the sky. Perhaps also, the upcoming wind blowing from the clouds that kept on growing and darkening played a role. At any case, a storm seemed more likely now, a distant flickering in the clouds indicating that this wouldn't just be a shower but a downpour.
While watching both the weather and the surrounding area, he almost forgot to watch the most crucial of all things he had to look after. The eggs. If it hadn't been for a quiet sound of eggs moving across sandy ground, maybe he would have missed that they were hatching. Instantly, he dropped his guard completely, replaced by an almost childlike excitement.
"THE EGGS, THEY'RE HATCHING!!!" he yelled across the landscape, startling some ground fuzzies looking for food nearby. His booming voice was echoing from the walls of nearby mountains several times. His glowing eyes were now completely locked on the four eggs that had started shifting. In a matter of minutes, he'd finally be a father!
"I told you, didn't I?" his mate shouted while catching her breath after hurrying to the scene.
"Yes you did, honey," he smiled, exchanging a quick nuzzle with his mate.
"Though you didn't need to yell like that... it's not like we can fend off the two dozens of Sharpteeth you just attracted..."
"Jus' making sure you ain't missin' the show," he grinned sheepishly as the shifting of the eggs increased. Just a few more kicks of the hatchlings and the shell would surely break…
*crack* “Oh!” both Threehorns moaned in excectation of what was about to happen, the first eggshell cracking open, two more following mere seconds later. With tears in their eyes, the two parents witnessed how three orange-coloured little hatchlings struggled themselves free from their eggs, squealing when they saw their parents and the world around them for the first time.
“A-aren’t they…” the female stammered, emotions overwhelming her completely.
“Perfect?” the male suggested, barely trying to hide that he was crying.
“Yes, perfect…” the female managed to speak, crying and laughing at the same time as she greeted the three girls that had already hatched. Only left one egg to hatch…
“Think we should help our child, dear?” the female proposed after a while, the hatchling trying to crack the skin of the egg to no avail.
“Nah, they’ll never grow into strong threehorns if we help them too much. A threehorn doesn’t need any help, humpff!”
“Whatever you say…” the female chuckled, exchanging a quick nuzzle. “You’re right, we need to believe in our little one.”
*crack*Suddenly, with a mighty kick of pure willpower, the hatchling finally managed to free her legs from the jail that had contained her so far.
“There you go,” her mother cooed, her father merely putting a proud expression on as they both, as well as the three little ones that had already hatched, were watching with extreme excitement.
Rolling around for a bit, the hatchling eventually felt the ground beneath her feet - hard, rocky ground that felt quite warm under her little toes. She still didn’t know how to get rid of the rest of her egg but she did know these legs were made for moving. A bit unsteady at first, she gained footing and began to charge forward blindly. It felt right to do, her instincts kicking in, leading her right into the path of…
*bump*Her mother stood like a mountain while she watched in amusement how her fourth child was trying to charge into her. Given her tiny size, it was merely an act of cuteness but she seemed satisfied, considering that this was a frequent thing to do as a threehorn.
The impact knocked the child over on her back but that did little but to shake her a little. As a matter of fact… the young threehorn noticed little cracks forming in front of her eyes. Surely one more bump would do the trick… Getting up and, instinctively, facing her dad this time she charged once more with fresh strength…
*crash*… breaking the shell at last upon impact with the massive snout of the adult. Finally, she could see. A strange world met her eyes but, most importantly, two tall individuals instantly caught her interest. Were they hostile? Instincts telling her to fight, she readied herself, shaking the last remaining piece of egg shell off her horn on her snout, performing more charges against the big dinosaurs without shaking them in the slightest. Apparently, they were much stronger than she was (and, to be fair, they were also a whole lot bigger) and all she had gained was a headache so far.
It was only now though that she realised that these strange giants meant her no harm. Quite the contrary, she now realised that their faces weren’t angry. No, they were full of love and warmth!
*boom*Suddenly, a flash of light blinded the youngling, closely followed by an ear-blowing thunder.
“Oh right, the storm…” The Threehorns had been completely unaware of the distant thunder and the withdrawal of the Bright Circle until one particular lightning bolt struck ahead of the clouds to make them painfully aware.
Fear. The girl didn’t know what caused the bright light and the loud sound but it scared the hell out of her, her previous bravado gone within a blink of an eye. Instincts told her to run but where? Right, surely the giants would protect her? As the wind picked up and the first, thick droplets of rain began to torture the dry ground beneath her feet, she quickly bolted to safety, joining her other sisters.
“We couldn’t have been more lucky… all four of them are healthy and fit and rain has finally arrived!” the female exclaimed happily despite the harsh wind blowing dust into her face.
“Yeah, though my father would have liked to have a grand-son if he were still with us…” the male spoke gruffly, nonetheless happy about the situation. Even a storm blowing dust into his face couldn’t possibly ruin his mood now.
The young family sat out the storm together. The rain would help the area to remain habitable for a lot longer. Maybe there was hope after all?
*****
The swimmer peeked at the bunch of eggs in the nest, lying stretched in front of it while her mate and her sister were eating the little food that the trees and the remains of a once broad river offered them. The herd of swimmers had been lucky to discover a suitable place to hatch their young though sharpteeth were camping in the area, decimating the herd slowly but surely. Some eggs already lost their parents prior to hatching, now being taken care of by other families, some of which had lost their own nest to other malicious creatures that were stalking the herd. Life was cruel for the herd, predators decimating them as well as their only hope for the future - their offspring. Moreover, the climate had changed for the worse in recent years, hitting them especially hard since their kind relied on water more so than any other species of dinosaur.
In previous times, the young mother-to-be would have labelled her current activity taking a sunbath but, much rather, she was baked by the heat radiating off the big, bright and fiery ball on the cloudless sky, trying to offer the eggs some shade. Truth be told, they did need to be warm to blossom but the heat of the afternoon sun was ridiculous, endangering her future children so action had to be taken even if it meant taking the worst upon herself. At least that gave her the rare freedom to relax a little while the rest of her small family kept close surveillance over the surrounding area.
Maybe it was the fact that their nest was build rather in the center of her herd or maybe it could be simply credited to the help of her sister in keeping watch at day as well as in the dark that they hadn't been dealt any losses yet - quite contrary to the rest of the herd. Too many had fallen to count them and she wondered what would be left when all families were done hatching their eggs... Possibly, the numbers would be lower even counting all the new children, many of which would fall to diseases, hunger, thirst and predation though. Maybe they should have just kept going towards the promised lands - the Great Valley that was rumoured to be far off in the west. Whether it existed, nobody knew but it was their only chance in this dying world - just as it was their only chance for the future to raise new swimmers to adulthood to replace all those that were lost. Admittedly, chances were so low but what did they have to lose?
With interest, the young female gently nudged the pile of eggs. The heartbeat and the movement of her little ones had steadily increased in the last few days. Surely, their hatchday would come soon. Or maybe today? For a moment, it seemed as though one of the eggs shifted slightly upon her nuzzling it. Could they feel the presence of her? She did not know the answer - after all her own memories of hatching were too early in life to be kept. Though now she was curious.
"Hey there, little ones.."
Talking to the eggs was something she and her mate did frequently but, right now, she wanted to try out if her children could hear her and react accordingly. "Mama is here to keep you cool."
Once more, she nudged each egg gently, observing them closely. Suddenly...
"Hey, I think the time has come!" she exclaimed excitedly as she observed one of the eggs beginning to wobble. Certainly, that little adventurer wanted to feel the love of their mother on their own skin and not through the skin of the egg.
Her mate rushed to the site quickly, observing the show in development with quiet and calm excitement, wearing a knowing smile - he would be father very soon... The remaining female stayed some distance away, her eyes switching back and forth between the nest and the surroundings.
*
"What is this? I would like to see it, yes I do..." Of course the little hadrosaur within the egg that shifted first didn't know any words just yet but she did feel them just as well. There had been this wonderful feeling again that woke her up and, this time, she swore, she would go out to see what's going on out there beyond the little room she found herself in. The little light that fell in was barely enough to see rough shapes but they've been getting a lot clearer recently. She did not know what expected her but it almost seemed like she wasn't alone. Next to her lay some shapes that reminded her a lot of her own cage and they seemed to be just like her, waiting to be strong enough to break out to see what's beyond. Well, finally, she did feel strong enough to break the shell, her legs strengthening every time she woke up from her slumber. This time it would work, wouldn't it?
"One is tired of being in there, huh?" The female on guard-duty yelled, snickering. Though, as she mentioned that, the other four eggs were beginning to shuffle and wobble as well.
"All of them hatching at once, well that saves some trouble," she continued snickering upon that realization. The two parents were merely nodding, their gazes fixated on the scene in the nest as the hatchling that, one day, would be known as 'Ducky', made her move...
*
"I can do this, yes I can!" Motivating herself as best as she could, excitement building up, muscles tensing up in preparation to kick free, unborn little Ducky shifted into a more suitable position with her feet on what she assumed was the bottom of her egg. Then she did it.
*crack*With a mighty push, the egg shell broke, her head and tail breaking through first. Momentarily, Ducky was blinded by the high intensity of the light out there, blinking her big, curious eyes a few times but the fact that her mother blocked out the Bright Circle helped a lot to restore vision immediately. As Ducky looked around, tremendously excited and happy, the first thing to catch her interest was a flying object that the young swimmer quickly recognized as another living creature as it was showing movement as opposed the most of the other things around her. It was also for this very reason that the butterfly, coloured in a dull yellow colour, hovering above her caught her attention so easily.
*
"She is so adorable!" The female thought as she saw her first daughter for the first time. So small, so breakable and yet such a curious little bundle of pure joy…
*
The mere fact that there were things that were, quite unlike her, not tied to the ground, was astounding to Ducky - now she really wanted to know how that worked so she could learn it too. With a lot of effort, the little girl managed to squeeze her twig-like arms through the hole she had punched into the egg, stretching them high into the air in an attempt to free her joints, stiff from the long time of being crouched in the egg, as well as in an attempt to catch the insect hovering above her head. Ducky wasn’t disheartened at all to see it gain some altitude, taking flight. Much rather, she thought that it was going to show her more of the world around her! With that planted in her head, Ducky shifted her weight. She was on a small, elevated place. Considering that something always pulled her to the ground, surely it would also pull her down that hill? The little swimmer didn’t seem to be able to free her legs just yet but what if she could roll down? There was only one way to find out…
*
“Oh, I think she’s trying to escape,” the male spoke with an amused laugh.
Indeed, the little hatchling, still stuck on her egg, made use of newton’s laws, tumbling down the hill the nest was build on, breaking the remaining egg shell upon hitting the base of the nest.
The two grown-ups decided to give her some time to explore, staying close enough to intervene at any given time.
*
“Oh yes, I am free!” With relief, the young child found herself detached from her prison at last. Despite the fact that she had no idea how to move, she got the hang of it instinctively, hopping away from her nest in hot pursuit. The insect led the young swimmer through a rotten log next. Suddenly, Ducky caught a glimpse of a different creature. It appeared to be earth-bound just like her and slightly smaller. Also, it had some sort of fuzz all over its body - quite as opposed to herself, being equipped with a rather smooth skin. Now what should she do? Ducky was extremely thrilled to learn more about this new creature but she did not yet know how to communicate her thoughts and feelings. All she knew was how to show her mood. She would smile when she was happy and would do the opposite when she was not. But that wouldn’t help her here, would it? Suddenly, Ducky knew how to greet this fuzzy ball. Neither did she know how it was called nor if it was the right thing to do but, deep inside, she just knew this was how to show that you liked another living creature…
“I will hug it, yep, yep, yep!”In a swift motion, Ducky leapt on top of it though it didn’t quite have the desired effect. The ground fuzzy squeaked in fear when it noticed the young dinosaur hopping onto it, darting off as fast as its little legs could carry it. At first, Ducky was a little surprised, then slightly disappointed but that didn’t last long as her curious eyes had spotted yet another target worthy of her attention. It looked like a rock at first glance but, upon closer inspection, turned out to be a rock with a head attached to it. Approaching the unknown creature, Ducky saw it opening its mouth wide, exposing its mouth.
“Hmm, what does it want me to do?”Again, the young swimmer didn’t quite understand what the best reaction would be so she just relied on instinct one more which was in tight control of her adventurous side. She approached.
The creature, a snapping turtle of sorts, opened its jaws even wider, happy to see its prey just walk right into its belly, when, suddenly, a big dinosaur jumped into its view, stealing its kill just in time.
*
“You silly girl…” her mother had to chuckle despite the potentially life-threatening situation her little Ducky had just gotten herself into. Children could be so innocent, especially in their earliest days when they were still pure and unharmed by the cruel world around them. The more they learned, the more they knew and the more they experienced, their innocence was getting lost over time. But they had to grow up some day - and in this world, the sooner the better…
“Huh? What happened?” Ducky, completely unaware of the danger she’d been into, suddenly felt herself grabbed by the tail, being lifted up from the ground with seemingly no effort. Her first thought being how cool it was to be detached from the ground, to see things from above, see the creature looking after her angrily and feeling completely free, the young child soon noticed a huge body next to her which sparked up her curiosity again. Who was this? And why did they lift her up from the ground like that so suddenly? Were they even friendly? At least, upon taking a second glance at the snapping turtle, Ducky concluded that it may not have been as inviting as she had first thought. Maybe the big creature came to rescue her? Maybe it wanted her back to the place where her little adventure started in the first place? The girl couldn’t really remember all that well what way she’d been going, especially so from her airborne position that gave her a unique perspective on the landscape below her but she had a feeling they were walking the way she came from.
After some seconds, the swimmer was tired of dangling in the air. She was burning to see who was carrying her now so, with a mighty effort, she put her stomach muscles to use to lift her head up so she could take a fair look at whoever was holding her by the tail. Whoever they were, they looked a lot like her and they were looking at her. Eyes meeting, Ducky immediately recognized this particular specimen. It was the presence she’d always felt way before she could hear, way before she could even see anything - back, when there was still room in her egg and when she was constantly dosing. It was the voice she’d always hear talking to her and her siblings. Now that left only one problem…
“How do I have to react?” Ducky’s attempts at making new acquaintances hadn’t exactly been fruitful thus far. What if she made this special dinosaur mad at her? Unlike the flying buzzer, the little fuzzy and the biting rock though, this dinosaur was giving her a wide smile. Ducky just felt loved just by being looked at! How could this go wrong? There was no need to think about it further, Ducky knew who this special dinosaur was and how much she loved her already. She would go straight ahead and greet her. Although she didn’t know the meaning of words and how to utter them correctly yet, there had been one word she’d always been hearing when this wonderful dinosaur had spoken to her so she decided to try saying that word along with a happy smiley face, laughing a little as she did so.
“Hehehe… mommy…”
As Ducky soon realised, she was being transported back to the nest, being smiled at constantly. As soon as she was gently placed next to be siblings which had managed to struggle free from their encasements, she also recognized the other two presences she’d felt since she could remember - and their voices were even more beautiful than she remembered! Overflowing with joy, she got to meet her brothers and sisters at last, engaging in an improvised group hug of sorts before being nuzzled tenderly by her mother.
The whole family was rejoicing. The hatchlings were happy, exploring their new world and their parents were just happy that they were all well and safe. In this harsh world, it meant so much and it would give them new energy for the problems and hardships to overcome each and every day because now they had a mission - a task that they just mustn’t mess up… to raise their children to live in a hopefully better world than the one they were born into.
***
The Flyer looked around worriedly. Each and every second, something could sneak up on her nest so she had to be watchful while her mate was out searching for food. It had become ever so tedious to find enough food to last themselves but now they had to care for their children as well, adding to the challenge of survival. A whole bunch of little, ugly and penetrant creatures were squeaking, their beaks, huge in comparison to the rest of their bodies, widely opened in expectation of food raining into them - only things weren’t that easy, unfortunately. Food didn’t rain from the sky and neither did water since the big drought had started. No matter where to go, the situation was the same everywhere.
While she was waiting for her mate to return, the female cast a look at the only egg that hadn’t hatched yet. Now it wasn’t unusual that some eggs needed more time than others but this one had been reluctant to hatch for the last two days now. It was too early to draw any conclusions but she was slowly beginning to wonder if this particular egg might have been a failure. However, the shrieks of the hatchlings that had already hatched were too obnoxious to be thinking straight - nor to be ignored for long.
It wasn’t much later that day that the parents decided reluctantly to go searching for food simultaneously, knowing that they’d leave their offspring unprotected while they were out. It was a necessary risk they had to take though. Food was so scarce that it was hard to satisfy the hunger of their children when they gave them all there was to find. How long could they do, sacrificing themselves? Unless one of them found a plentiful resource of food nearby, they would have to give up most of their children in order to save themselves. A necessary sacrifice but cruel nonetheless. It was also what inspired the two flyers to enlarge the radius of their search that day, knowing there wasn’t much left in the immediate area around their nest.
It was evening when the female finally returned to their nest, worn out and demotivated. She had barely found enough food to feed a small junk to each of the kids who were suspiciously quiet when she arrived. They seemed to have gone so hungry that they were running too low on energy to scream for food and they fell asleep immediately after the meager meal. It wasn’t until then that the female noticed that something was off. She hadn’t been too worried to see the egg gone from her nest, assuming the little flyer had finally made it but, upon counting them, the realised that the egg, in fact, had gone missing!
Her first reaction was panic. Even though she couldn’t care less considering how hard it was just to feed a single little beak, she still loved every child or hers more than she loved herself. She’d do anything for them, she’d be a good mother to them, cost what it will! Taking a few deep breaths, she calmed herself to a point where rational thinking began to work again. There was always the possibility that one of the hatchlings were blown out of the nest by a particularly strong gust of wind or be pushed out by one of their siblings despite the wall that was build around their nest to prevent just that. She had to rule down a possible act of predation. If a predator was responsible for this, it meant they knew where their nest was and would surely come back for dessert at a later point!
“Egg shell?” A good indicator of what may have happened was the egg shell. If it was still there in the nest, it probably meant that the kid was either eaten after hatching or pushed out. However, there was none. That left little to assume. The egg was probably stolen and gone. A formidable loss but at least only one life was taken that day. The female was ready to mourn when, suddenly, she heard the flapping sound of another flyer - her mate! He didn’t make straight for the nest though, aiming for the ground below them.
“What is he up to?” the female wondered, her mind a little dull after the apparent loss. Soon after, the male made for the nest, carrying a very familiar sight in his beak.
“This kid is going places. Hardly hatched, it’s already adventuring!”
“He wasn’t eaten, thank the Bright Circle for that!” the female exclaimed, the relief falling from her visibly like a rock from the sky - or a hatchling from the nest, one may argue. The young mother had no idea how the whole egg could have fallen from the nest. Surely the other hatchlings couldn’t have pushed the whole egg from the nest… could they?
“I- I thought the egg was…” the female stammered but her mate smiled.
“Nope, must have fallen from the nest somehow. I tell you, this one will be an adventurer through and through just like your brother!” the male spoke, joking a little as he gently placed the shaking youngling among his siblings, stirring awake from all the action around them. “Seems to be a bit shaky but I’m sure he took the fall like a tough flyer!” As he spoke, the obnoxious begging for food began anew so the male started feeding one by one until their bellies were full up to the top.
“Seems like you got lucky?” the female eventually offered with mild interest, smiling weakly.
“Found food to last us all for a while!” he promptly announced proudly. “It’s far away but it has enough food to feed us as well and not just the kids. We could just eat our fill there and return home.”
“That’s great!” the female exclaimed happily. “Maybe we could even go back to taking turns?”
“Probably, yeah,” the male responded. “It’s getting dark but I could show you right now if you like. The darkness will protect the young ones a little at least while we’re gone once more.”
“I’m tired but you have a point, dear… and I'm hungry... let’s go!”
And so, the growing family of flyers managed to survive a little longer in the perilous environment, their children growing fine… although one had developed a huge fear of heights...
*****
Nobody really commented on the first chapter, that was odd :unsure:
Anyway, here's the next chapter at last. No promises but I'll be submitting this to the fanfiction voting so I've gotta work my ass off to get this one here off the ground at last
Hope you enjoyed some more birth scenes. I was trying not to get too repetitive
What do you think of Petrie's birth scene? Well, it wasn't actually on-screen (on-script? :blink: ) but... I'm wondering what you think of it? I was trying to explain his quirks with this one as you may have noticed (and if you haven't, you know it now
)
