I may have joined this thread a little late, but I feel like contributing seeing as it's not something I've been doing recently...

Anyway, like pretty much any genre of fic, how good LBT war fics are depend on how they're handled. Storylines that take time to build up to the war and the conflict behind it will almost at all times be more likely to be good than something that rushes into it.

In my own fanfiction, Venatione Venatus, this is what I attempt to build up. The true outbreak of war doesn't hit until the climax (which I still need to write   ) and I'm still trying to work my head around the conflicts present.

Also, I concur with LittlefootAndAliTogether that the premise of liberty vs tyranny is more engaging and appealing than leaf eaters vs sharpteeth. Again, this is what I try to convey in my fanfic (not shameless advertising at all!   ) where there are in fact three opposing factions - our protagonists consist an alliance of leaf eaters and sharpteeth (though not without tensions) united against an army of radical leaf-eater supremacists and a force of embittered sharpteeth who wish to change the world order.

However, leaf eaters vs sharpteeth could work as a concept, provided it was portrayed as a grey vs grey morality, and one of the driving conflicts of the story was how both sides felt what they were fighting may not necessarily be evil.

This makes me feel old... :blink:

I feel like I owe Chomper a birthday present...I dunno...he's been my fav character for ages, and now he's getting so old.  

To become the director of the next LBT film.  :blink:

Why does Doc have no eyebrows?

Hi to people who remember me, and those who are new and don't.  

Yeah, I haven't been on this forum for a considerable amount of time, so I thought I'd make a reappearance. Things have been very busy with me recently, cutting down my time to write. Not really in the best place at the moment, but nevertheless have a new computer and will be getting down to interacting more on the forum. Should also be continuing to write my fanfiction Venatione Venatus. For those who haven't read it, it's never too late to start.  

So, yeah, my regards and best wishes to you all.

Ah, here it is finally!  : In actual fact, I decided to make this a chapter when it was originally part of another chapter, but it would take too long, so I decided to shorten the wait and make two chapters out of one. For this reason, this is shorter than the previous ones, but at least you get to find out about Lini's past...

Chapter Twenty-Two: Lini’s Lament

The image was a parody.

More than a parody, it was a blatant and barefaced mockery. For the first time in near months, Saureen was finally feeling a sense of familiarity with the steps she took into the undergrowth of the Fanged Forest, the path lit by the silver of the Night Circle. It was a path she had taken many times before – the steps came naturally. But this time, it was not one of those pleasant days basking in warmth where she would be free to run around, or play with Seizon, or spend time with her family. Times where there were no Piercers at every step, or any massive sharpteeth with backgrounds in bloodlust and savagery were long gone, it seemed. The steps she now took were just a ghost of the days that once were. On the plus side, at least there were no butterflies…

Only one other shared this sense of ghostly familiarity, although it was difficult to tell – Seizon, for such a colourful individual, had the most awkward habit of being hard to read sometimes. As when he was leading them to the forest, he was remaining silent, simply leading the way, the Piercers’ footsteps coinciding with his. Saureen’s frown became slightly more contemplating as she examined the sea-green sail of her old friend. That exchange between them and Xal…what had it meant for him?

Chomper’s thoughts were preoccupied by other things – as far as he was concerned, Seizon was too far gone, and therefore only contemplating on how he could serve his stepfather further. No – Chomper’s thoughts concerned Lini.
On the hand, the anticipation to see her again and the relief that she was still alive provided welcome respite from the harsh reality of the situation. Even as a prisoner, it would have been a lot worse if he hadn’t been fellow prisoners with people he truly cared for. This in mind, he felt a longing for Littlefoot and the others to still be with them.
But on the other hand, what Gigas had said about knowing Lini of old was harrowing – still hanging over his head like a migraine. What history did they share? Now he came to think of it, Lini was the only member of the pack whose past he knew absolutely nothing about. Why had she so determinately hid it? What was she ashamed of?

Swallowing nervously, Chomper made to ask Saureen what she knew of Lini’s past, but before he could, Seizon spoke up.

“Well, Chomper – first impressions on Xal?”

Chomper and Saureen’s thoughts were cut short as they shifted their eyes to Seizon, who had stopped right in front of them, gazing back at them, the same slightly saddened look in his amber eyes. But Chomper’s sympathy was gone. He glowered at Seizon, and found his teeth involuntarily baring, his upper canines getting exposed.

“What do you think?” he snarled. “Don’t keep on asking in some delusion that you’ll get a different answer, because it’ll always be the same. Xal is a dangerous lunatic, and so is everyone who supports him!!”

At this, the two Piercers began to bare their teeth also, but they hung back from any physical retaliation after a signal from Seizon.

Saureen, her mind ticking, watched this exchange take place. She had learned by now that trying to intervene in confrontations between Seizon and Chomper were pointless. However, the signals she was getting from Seizon were no longer threatening. It was obvious he did not want to attack Chomper anymore…so…?

Seizon grunted, turned away, and continued to walk, muttering to himself,

“Always determined to see the one point of view…”

Saureen frowned slightly. What did he mean by that? Obviously, his opinion on Xal was different to theirs, but he spoke almost as though he considered there to be many legitimate points of view…

But Saureen’s thoughts were soon forgotten when Seizon led them into a clearing and she caught sight of Lini.

Although it had only been a matter of around twenty-four hours since they had last set eyes on Lini, the amount of change that had occurred during that time was visibly immense. Even though the ruby-redness of Lini’s scales was still clear, they were covered in mud and earth from the forest floor, something that made her look quite diminished. Her bright blue eyes no longer sparkled with the happy-go-lucky compassion that was synonymous with her, and the bags that were under them now might have belonged to Old One. Her leg that had been injured by the rocks back when the pack had abandoned Seizon looked painfully contorted, and she had a forepaw on it as though in an attempt to ease the pain. Most prominently of all, she was imprisoned.

It seemed like a strange way to imprison her, as Chomper felt it would have been far too easy to break out. But she was done so underneath a huge felled tree, at a forty-five degree angle and with its tangled roots exposed and creating a complex knotted cage which housed Lini. Despite looking more miserable than Chomper had even seen her, or indeed, probably anyone, her eyes lit up faintly with what may have been hope or simply recognition when she caught sight of Chomper and Saureen.

“Lini!!” they both chorused, running up as quickly as they could to the knotted root network. For them it didn’t matter that the space beneath the roots was big enough to house them both also, or that rushing up here was simply an invitation to be imprisoned. Right now, all the two of them wanted to do was to get to her, just to prove that she truly was still alive.

It took both of the Piercers and a third that had apparently been guarding Lini up until this point a lot of strain to lift the tree roots enough for them to shove Chomper and Saureen underneath. Saureen vaguely noted that it would be too heavy for her, Chomper and Lini to lift, but at the moment this didn’t matter, for as soon as she and Chomper were under the roots, they flung themselves at Lini, clinging to her in crushing embraces that made all three pairs of eyes well up.

“We can hold them here now,” one of the Piercers muttered to the third guard. The guard nodded and strode off into the undergrowth, leaving the other two and Seizon to guard the three young sharpteeth. Seizon gazed into the cage and smiled slightly, but didn’t say a word as Saureen continued to breathlessly talk.

“Lini…! Oh thank God…you had us so worried…”

Lini swallowed and spoke for the first time.

“Where’s…Al? And the others…?” Her voice was cracked and mournful, something that allowed a chill to sweep through Chomper’s being.

Seizon scoffed.

“Al is a filthy traitor. You’re all better off without h-”

“Shut up!!” Chomper snapped, thumping the root cage. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t weaken the incarceration. Seizon did, however, fall silent.

Saureen, determinately ignoring the exchange, spoke softly to Lini.

“Everyone’s fine, although everyone except Al is here with us.”

Seizon muttered something under his breath, though nobody noticed.

Lini nodded, before staring down at the ground. Before the other two could even register what she was thinking, large, wet tears began to leak from her eyes and drip dismally onto the ground. Chomper went numb with shock – he had never seen Lini like this before, she always had such a cheerful disposition…what the hell had happened in their day apart?? Saureen however, had seen this before. Swallowing hard, she cast her mind back to White Mountain, when Lini had saved her from the fastbiter tetrarchy member Mei. A fit of unfathomable and uncontrollable rage had overtaken her and she had finished by snapping Mei’s neck. And after that she had simply broken down.

“Nobody who needs others’ pain to make themselves happy…should be kept alive…you should understand…”

That was what she had said, Saureen noted. At first, she had believed Lini was simply talking about the matter in general – but no, the entire issue had been a lot more personal, that much was clear now.

Saureen glanced at Chomper, who stared back at her with a look of mingled alarm and helplessness. Saureen gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile before bending over to place a small hand on Lini’s shoulder.

“Lini? What’s up?”

Slowly, Lini raised her tear-stained eyes to look at them both.

“You should spit in my face.”

Chomper frowned.

“What?”

“I mean it…” Lini was looking at them in earnest. “Both of you should spit at me. It’s what I deserve.”

“Don’t talk like th-”

“But why stop at spitting?” Lini’s breaths were coming sharp and shallow now. “You might as well attack me, pin me to the ground and tear my throat out.” She drew a shuddering gasp.

“After all…” she muttered. “A few years back, that’s what I would have done to you…all of you…”

Chomper once again stared at Saureen, his alarm even more pronounced, before shifting his eyes back to Lini, once again in silent floods of tears. Saureen too had her jade eyes stretched wide in mingled shock and fear, and for once she was at a loss for words.

Seizon had hung onto every word of this conversation from his dutiful guard position. Although he had his back to the three conversing sharpteeth, his mind was ticking and reeling from everything Lini had said. Although Gigas had made it clear he knew Lini from somewhere, he had never been any clearer than that, an irritating knack which had given Seizon a persistent thirst for further knowledge.

“Whatever the deal is, it’s caused her a lot of pain.” Seizon thought to himself. “And something that unsettles Lini is a frightening concept to grasp. Though if that creep Gigas is involved, I can hardly blame her…”

And so, he strained his ears, silently begging Chomper or Saureen to prompt Lini into telling the story.

But they didn’t have to.

Eventually, Lini managed to regain some of her composure, and she wiped her eyes and gazed up at the two tyrannosaurs.

“I’m going to tell you everything…” she said, and although her voice shook, her message was as clear as day. “I owe you that at the very least. I only hope you will not hate me after I have told you, though I can’t say I would blame you if you did.”

Chomper and Saureen both nodded, eyes still fixed upon her. Lini took a deep shuddering breath before beginning.

“I guess I should probably start with a bit of background. You two might be too young to remember it, so I’ll have to explain…either of you ever heard of the Sharptooth Civil War?”

Seizon, from his position outside the makeshift cell, felt his pulse rise and his amber irises widen in recognition. Almost immediately, his thoughts took him back to something Xal had once told him, in regard to the revolution…

“Eykion was the victor,” Xal said bluntly, as his stepson gazed up at him in awe. “You weren’t around back then, but the Sharptooth Civil War was brutal – with all the rival gangs and packs, you never knew where you stood…but Eykion had the greatest cause, and everyone rallied around him. Even Blackclaw, his greatest rival, backed down once he saw what a following Eykion had managed to gather…”

“And that’s why you’re continuing his work??” Seizon chirped. “Right??”

“Exactly…” Xal replied, his eyes growing misty. “Eykion’s ideals were different. He didn’t just want to assert his authority; he wanted to change the world. To end the war, and all wars to come…”

So, Lini was old enough to remember that war? This reality intrigued Seizon, and he continued to listen.

“I think I’ve heard of it…” Saureen murmured uncertainly. “It was this big war that went on during the rise of the drought and just before the Great Earthshake, yeah? Or was it after…?”

“Before,” Lini replied quietly. “Although I know some belligerents still continued to target their enemies after the war essentially came to an end…”

“My parents mentioned a war…” Chomper murmured, frowning slightly in concentration as he tried to remember exactly what they had said. It had been quite a while back, when they were living on the island. “They told me stories from their childhood, and occasionally referred to a war…”

“They may have been refugees,” Lini replied delicately, her breathing now coming in shorter rasps. “The point…the point is…there were refugees, and then there were actual fighters…”

“What was this war all about though?” Chomper asked.

“Sharpteeth,” Lini said simply. “Look at us – without any Great Valley to sustain us, we’re left to scrape out a living as best as we can. Some sharpteeth became powerful, of course, with huge numbers at their command…when resources were plentiful, they never really needed to go into open conflict…but then of course…”

Lini sighed dismally, and rubbed her eye with her hand.

“The drought came. The land changed, and soon all sharpteeth became very worried for their lives. Paranoia spread, and competition for food and hunting territory became even fiercer. Thus begun the war…this was before Shark and Zyro’s Great Sharptooth Community as well, so most refugees, those without massive armies to back them, were at a loss at what to do, and had to travel alone, and scared…”

“How long did this go on for?” Chomper asked, his mind reeling in the information, images flashing before his eyes of small sharpteeth running for cover as massive ones lined up troops on a battlefield…

“Only a couple of years, from what I’m told,” Lini replied. “At least, the time when it was fully open war. But there were…” A tear began to form in her eye once more. “There were so many casualties…many not from fighters. I’m fairly sure Al’s parents were victims of this war – he never knew them. And the pack camped out at the Grand Cave Network-”

Chomper gave an involuntary shudder.

“It’s likely they were all orphans of the war as well.”

“Yeah…” Chomper murmured, a vague memory floating back to him. Although he clenched his fists slightly as Pyron’s killer swam into focus before his eyes, her words to him he remembered most of all.

“Yuti…she said that her parents were killed right before her eyes by a rival gang of sharpteeth. She mentioned the earthshake, so I suppose she was a victim of the aftermath though…”

Lini nodded.

“Still count as victims of the war. The effects…we still feel today…”

Saureen frowned slightly.

“Lini…?” she said tentatively. “Where exactly is this going?”

Lini choked back a sob.

“Well…” she muttered, managing to control herself by drawing shallow breaths. “Many of the participants in the war had greater forces than others. They were eventually all usurped by Eykion’s Revolutionary Army that Xal was part of, but anyway, the most feared ones were the forces of Blackclaw. I’m sure you would have heard of him – Redclaw’s older brother, from what I can gather, and a legendary Sharptooth rumoured to have gone one-on-one against the Lone Dinosaur. Another group with a terrifying reputation was that of…well…Pyron and Nycha’s pack, led by the bloodthirsty tetrarchy…”

An uncomfortable shudder went around all those listening, as they tried their best to forget Pyron and Nycha’s untimely demises.

“And then there was Gigas’ army,” Lini finished, her voice becoming more rapid as her emotions began to take hold again. “And I hatched within that faction. I was raised within it. And I was turned into a p-a perfect k-killing machine…” Amidst rapid breathing, a single tear hit the ground.

“And when I say that, I don’t just mean a hunter. Oh no – I mean a torturer. Butcher…MURDERER. I WAS A DAMNED MURDURER…DURING THE COURSE OF THE WAR…” Lini was practically screaming the last part as the wave of tears overtook her, and the air was filled with her racking sobs.

It had suddenly got very cold. Both Chomper and Saureen had chills invading their entire being, and even Seizon, unseen by them, had gone numb with shock.

Eventually, Chomper began to speak.

“B…but…this is the same as what I told…I told Nycha. Just because standards were set for you by heartless rulers, doesn’t mean you had to…”

“You’re not getting it!!” Lini snarled at him, her leaking blue eyes actually flashing with what was unmistakable anger. Chomper was dumbfounded. What had happened to the Lini he knew? She was NEVER angry…though admittedly, given what she had just said, it seemed that there was a lot they didn’t know about her.

Lini bowed her head.

“It wasn’t a case of me not complying with the standards set by Gigas and the other leaders,” she explained quietly. “In fact, the opposite was true. Even before the most open parts of the war, I was hunting down rivals of our gang. Fellow sharpteeth, whose pleas for mercy I c-could hear as I sank my…my claws in…”

Chomper and Saureen were now at a complete loss for words, staring unblinkingly at Lini is mesmerisation now coupled with fear.

“Every day it was the same…” Lini muttered, now not looking at them, tears falling thick and fast. “Every day there were more defenceless sharpteeth to capture and slowly t-t…torture…to death. Some were my own age…” Even with just staring at the ground, Lini’s own eyes widened and her mouth went slack with the absolute disgust of her own actions as she spoke them.

“I completely understood that they were fellow sharpteeth. I completely understood they couldn’t fight back. I completely understood they were feeling pain…but something just didn’t click!! For the first few years of my life, all I knew was…how to enjoy myself…by torturing my peers to death…”

The sobs were overtaking her speech now.

“I pulled out their guts and slowly ate them in front of them…I gouged out their eyes with my claws…I did all these things just because it was the done thing, and not only did I not stand up to it, I didn’t even c-care it was wrong…”

With this in mind, she absolutely lost it.

At that very moment, Lini threw back her head and emitted a howl that tore through the night and everyone listening to it like a blade. This was no ordinary howl of pain or one of anguish. The scars of the Sharptooth girl who had emitted it were too deep for something so simple. This was one of the purest agony of the soul, the feeling of deepest hatred for oneself and everything she was. No joy or margin of error or self-satisfaction was to be found anywhere in this sound. The very noise of such despair and misery made Seizon cringe and bite into his finger. Both Chomper and Saureen dropped to their knees and Saureen was moved to tears. Even after this very howl, Lini was still not finished. Now she screamed her self-loathing to the night air.

“I’M AN EVIL MONSTER AND I SHOULD NEVER I HATCHED!!! I HATE MYSELF, I HATE…I DON’T EVEN DESERVE TO BREATHE THE SAME AIR AS YOU, THOSE WHO HAVE ONLY EVER SHOWN ME KINDNESS. EVEN XAL IS NOT THIS LOW, HE HOLDS BACK. NOT ME…I’M SICK, AND I’M DISGUSTING, AND I WISH I WAS DEAD. THAT’S THE VERY LEAST I DESERVE. I WANT TO DIE RIGHT NOW, RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!”

And she collapsed onto the earth, curled up in a foetal position, sobbing forcefully in earnest, screaming and crying and hoping beyond anything else that anyone, Chomper, Saureen, Seizon, or even one of the Piercer guards would come and end everything.

For a few moments nobody said anything as Lini continued to wallow in her own self-disgust. Eventually, Saureen found her voice again. Wiping a few tears of her own from her eyes, she said softly.

“So…what’s changed?”

Lini paused in her screeching sobs to contemplate what Saureen had said.
“What…what do you mean?”

“Well, the Lini you just described is about as different from the you we know as possible…” Saureen explained. “And until now, you’ve never let the guilt destroy you before. So…what happened?”

Lini sniffed her sobs back a few times to gather her composition to answer.

“One day, as the war came to a close, I simply ran away,” she said. “I didn’t want to fight anymore. Maybe I regretted killing others, or maybe I was just fed up of doing the same thing over and over…but one day in my exile, I encountered a family of fastbiters…

“At that point…it just occurred to me…I didn’t have to kill them…but there was more to it than that. They were nuzzling each other, the way families do…and suddenly, everything seemed very familiar…”

Lini bit her lip as she strained to find some of her very earliest memories – those of her own parents.

“Yellow…” she muttered distractedly.

“Huh?”

“My mother was yellow…” Lini murmured. “I don’t really know what happened to her, she sort of disappeared when I was young…but the fastbiter mother was yellow too. And then…” she choked back another sob. “It just occurred to me…they didn’t just talk the same as me, or scream the same as me…they also had feelings…they had their own values and agendas. I had lived in such a self-centred view, I didn’t understand the concept of…well, the value of any life…” At this point, she became quiet.

“And so…?” Saureen prompted.

“So it just sunk in…I may have cried a bit…I don’t know…but eventually I…well, I found Seizon’s pack…I sort of forgot quite how monstrous I was…but then he came for me.”

“Gigas…?”

“Who else? He told me…we’re the same. And he’s absolutely right. Everything came back to me. I saw a reflection of myself in him – we are the same…” She sobbed.

“We are both heartless monsters with no regard for life. We don’t deserve to be with people who have values and feel love…!” She let out a great cry of despair once more. “AND THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD KILL ME NOW!!!! TAKE OUT ONE MORE PIECE OF PATHETIC SCUM, PLEASE…!!!”

These pleas were suddenly cut short when Chomper placed his claw on her.

“No,” he said simply.

Saureen glanced at him, unsure of what to say.

Lini looked up at him.

“Wha-?”

“I will not satisfy your request,” Chomper replied woodenly, turning away. He had a faraway expression fixed on his face, frowning slightly as thoughts were ticking away inside him. His initial shock had apparently worn off, and now he was beginning to consider what Lini had said…and done…

Realising this, Lini waited for the eruption to come.

But it didn’t.

Instead, Chomper turned back to her, the same stoic expression present on him. And when he spoke, it was not with a particular warmth or coldness.

“It seems interesting to me that someone who’s had a relatively recent revelation on the value of life should be so dismissive of her own,” he said simply.

It was just a remark, but Saureen and Lini’s expressions grew more puzzled as they watched him. Chomper closed his eyes and thought for a little longer.

Then Lini spoke.

“But I deserve it…” she whispered. “I’m a monster…”

“Oh really?” Chomper questioned, now moving closer to her. “Then prove it.”

“H-?”

“Kill me.”

“What??? No!!!” Lini’s tearful blue eyes looked suddenly appalled again. She was absolutely horrified, and that reality, oddly enough, relieved and satisfied Chomper. Saureen, twigging to the point he was getting at, suddenly smiled.

“See…?” she whispered to Lini. “You can’t do it either.”

“Exactly.” Chomper said, nodding. “And you’d probably find it easier, considering your size and strength. But neither of us will move into the kill, because we’re not monsters.”

“But…” Lini was adamant. “I killed so many in cold blood when I was younger…”

“Very young,” Chomper added. “You were told from birth that torturing and killing was the way of doing this. You had no idea what you were doing, and when you found out, the reality terrified you.”

Chomper then smiled at her, and in spite of herself, Lini found new warmth spread through her being. She still didn’t understand though. Chomper, to her, was not making sense.

“What do you mean?”

“Once you were old enough to see what you had done,” Chomper continued. “And when you had come face to face with the one who brainwashed you into thinking it was the right thing, you broke down. You died inside. You even wanted us to kill you…and why? Because you understand, Lini!”

At this, he actually seized her shoulders and made her look into his eyes.

“You understand the value of life, and you care for it. You can feel everything everyone else feels. You’ve escaped being brainwashed into not feeling it forever. And that makes you very different from Gigas. You are not the same.”

Chomper took a deep breath and blinked back tears.

“Believe me Lini, I am so sorry for the way you’ve been brought up. I can’t even imagine anything so…vile…but remember this - there is a reason you can no longer kill the way you did before. There is something very important stopping you. Something you always had in you and…you were just made not to see it before. This is the same reason me and everyone else was drawn into coming here, and why we so delighted upon discovering you were here. It’s the same reason my parents marched into the Great Valley the day I hatched. It’s the same reason we are all banding together to save the Valley we either grew up in, or for many, have never even seen. We can all love…”

At this final word, Lini seemed moved. At long last, her mouth twitched upwards into what could probably be called a smile. The sight of this broadened Chomper’s grin, and he enthusiastically continued.

“The only reason you can feel such remorse is because you are not a monster. Gigas does not remorse, he relishes in the suffering he causes. But you understand differently. You are not him – you are Lini, one of the nicest people I know, who would be the big sister to the whole world if she could. I know you’re weighed down with despair at the moment, but things are always darkest just before the dawn. The love we feel for each other…” He shot a quick glance at Saureen before blushing and turning back.

“The love we feel for each other, for our ways of life, for the Great Valley and its values is what brings us together. Its how we know we’re not monsters…it makes us mourn in one voice when our…when our companions have fallen…and it makes us sing in one voice when victory is secured…we know what you did Lini, but it’s not the same you now. There’s no way it could be…this is the Lini I know, and I feel this will be the one to stay for a very long time.”

As he finished this speech, he saw Lini begin to tear up again. Beaming shamelessly, Saureen went over to her and wrapped her in a tight hug. Chomper soon did the same.

As the three of them sat there, still imprisoned in the moonlight, Lini voiced something else that had been on her mind.

“Will Al think the same way?”

“I’ll put it to you this way,” Saureen whispered. “If he feels the same love for you that you do for him, there’s no doubt.”

Seizon, leaning against the knotted root cage, listened to the end of this exchange in silence. His mind was ticking over. Eventually, he raised his amber eyes to the starry sky and scowled.

“So, it’s one rule for her, and another for me.” He thought. “Yes, Chomper, we all make mistakes. Forgiveness is a virtue, but why not for me also?” Perhaps it was because he wasn’t so ready to abandon his own ideals, Seizon reasoned, but that didn’t mean he didn’t regret his foolhardiness…not to mention the loss of Pyron and Nycha…

Seizon closed his eyes and felt a single tear slide out from under his eyelid. He furiously wiped it away, and stalked off into the forest. The Piercers were still guarding, they would be fine without him. Under a sheltered tree, Seizon set himself down, still thinking hard.

“I do wish they didn’t have to see Xal as an enemy,” he thought wistfully. “Things would be so much simpler otherwise.” He gazed up at the sky. “You’re absolutely right Chomper – love is a powerful thing. And it is because of that that I can’t abandon Xal in his hour of need. Not only military support does he need, but emotional as well…because I don’t want just his worst side to be seen…”

~0~

So there we are!

Now, I'm a little worried that the way this was written (little bit at a time) has made this of slightly less impressive quality...but I'll leave you to decide that...thoughts? And yes, the next chapter will involve major fight scenes...

How do you mean beaten down?  

And here it finally is!!! I don't actually know how long it's been, but anyway, here is the next VV chapter!

It's a fairly long one, and to be honest, I'm not sure I'm completely happy with it. This chapter contains a lot of significant events and references (as will be the case with pretty much all chapters from now on, as we are approaching the climax) and I don't know if I've done the significance justice.  : Still, I shall let you decide...

Chapter Twenty-One: Prisoners

Lini drew sharp, harsh breaths, sounding notoriously loud in the silence of her confinement. She could feel the sinister re-awakened throbbing of her leg as it lay twisted beside her, and the damp earth beneath her scales. It seemed that the information they had wanted to extract from her hadn’t been anything they didn’t already know, making her brutal interrogation somewhat pointless. But it wasn’t as if she cared. No stinging bruises on her skin, no agony in her damaged limb could begin to compare to the pain that lingered within and incarcerated her heart and soul.
She had liked to forget – she had tried her hardest to forget about the Lini that once was – the one who used her possessive nature not to console or protect, but to control and dominate. But just spending an hour with Gigas was enough to remind her that that Lini definitely existed once upon a time, and no denial would ever change that.

“The sight of blood drove you wild…” Gigas’ savagely pleasured voice had echoed inside her skull. “For anyone to bleed got your juices going…you considered a perfect day to be bathing in the blood of your tortured victims, many still alive as you controlled them…”

Lini gave a dry racking sob, clenched her eyes shut and tried in vain to block out this unwelcome conscience. But now it was giving her a new message – her incompetence had led her to be captured, and, just as Xal had said, this would lure everyone else out. She was the bait for the trap, and if anything happened to her friends from hereon in, despite her best efforts, it would be her fault entirely. If so, she didn’t even know if she would be able to live with herself. She wouldn’t be able to face waking up every day, knowing the great evil she had committed. She was disgusting, and if there were no friends left that she needed to support, she would be better off dead…

*

Boasting? Grand team speeches? Just generally talking about Xal?
These were all things Chomper had come to associate with Seizon. Here was a Sharptooth who liked to talk a lot - that was something he made clear from the very start. He was arrogant, always spoke his mind and argued forcefully if anyone dared to suggest his opinions may be a little awry. Yes, this was a Sharptooth who loved to talk.
And now?
It was incredible to behold, but as Seizon led his prisoners guarded by their Piercer guards across the flat earth, the Bright Circle staining the sky blood red as it descended above them, he wasn’t saying a word. He wasn’t even holding his head high at this point, in the confident swagger he usually betrayed, or even the malicious determination he had revealed when imprisoning them. He simply seemed to be lost in thought.

But he wasn’t the only one, Chomper reflected bitterly. Despite this observation, he had little thought to spare for whatever Seizon may be thinking. His concern was the predicament he had managed to carelessly get himself and his nine friends into. How could he possibly have trusted Seizon, the one who had once struck him in the face for insulting his insane stepfather, a stepfather, Chomper realised with a sudden stab of dread, they were on their way to right now?

And surely, Chomper thought desperately, chancing half a glance behind him, attempting in vain to see past the Piercer that was positioned at the rear; surely Zyro or Al or Bron or someone must have noticed they were missing? Shouldn’t they be sending a search party after them? He turned to Saureen in an attempt to confide these misgivings with, or perhaps to console her – either one would do, though it would be difficult under the gaze of the Piercers…even though they hadn’t given an order for silence…

But Saureen’s expression told him everything he needed to know, and his heart sunk even lower into the depths of despair that engulfed him. Nobody would have noticed their absence as of yet – they were still too busy debating the next best course of action, and by the time they reached that verdict, the issue at hand would have increased tenfold. Chomper forced himself not to think of an angry and paranoid longneck crowd convinced that the sharpteeth were conspiring against them, perhaps some sharpteeth thinking likewise, and a whole load of infighting this once-strong alliance to save the Valley…

Almost in an attempt to distract him from his own unwelcome thoughts, Chomper chanced a glance at everyone else, marching along so stolidly. Their expressions were largely unreadable, other than nerves of course…he couldn’t tell whether they were secretly absolutely livid at him for his careless actions. He didn’t know whether he could live with himself if that were the case.
Carefully, he began to walk in step alongside Spike, and addressed a terrified-looking Ducky, who was on his back.
“You alright?”
Ducky looked directly at him, her sky-blue eyes upon his red ones, and she promptly swallowed and shook her head.
A knot tightened in Chomper’s chest. His friends clearly had no time to play the blame game now – they were too worried about their trepidation, and who could blame them? They were, after all, about to be lead into a lair dominated by their natural predators…

This thought seemed to jolt Chomper into a new nightmarish scenario that he couldn’t erase from his mind. Making a brash decision, he barged straight to the front of the marching group, blocked from going any further by the Piercer at the front, who grabbed him and held him in place. Struggling furiously, Chomper yelled openly and defiantly at Seizon’s retreating back.
“I AM NOT GOING TO CO-OPERATE WITH YOU SEIZON, ESPECIALLY IF YOU THREATEN MY FRIENDS!! IF YOU EVER LAY A HAND ON THEM, I PROMISE, I WILL KILL YOU!!!!”

Seizon stopped dead in his tracks as these defiant words echoed through the empty landsacape, and Chomper couldn’t tell what he was thinking without seeing his expression. Then he heard the young bladeback sigh.

“It’s really upsetting Chomper,” Seizon said, at Chomper could genuinely hear the note of sadness in his voice. “We could have been really good friends…it’s a pity you chose to make things more difficult for yourself…and everyone else?”

“Me???” Chomper yelled back, his temper rising, even though he knew this sort of reaction is exactly what Seizon wanted. “And what about you, allowing two members of your own pack to die? That made it easy for them did it? And you’re still just going to be sitting safely in your little comfort zone, far removed from it all, planning more death…”

“No!”

Chomper stopped abruptly. It was from Seizon that the utterance came, and now the bladeback in question had wheeled round to face Chomper. Chomper was taken aback to discover that he had actually struck a nerve with this individual – Seizon’s amber eyes were aglow with anger and wild distress, his teeth gritted and his fists balled. It normally took a mention of Xal to get under Seizon’s impervious skin, and Chomper wasn’t even deliberately trying to irk him. This surprise kept Chomper in a silence as he watched Seizon eye him aggressively from between the arms of the Piercers, all of whom were simply surveying the scene with mild interest. Seizon’s eyes swept the rest of Chomper’s companions, except for Saureen, whose eye contact he seemed to be avoiding, before he took a deep breath.

“Comfort zone you say? Comfort zone?? You really have been living in your sheltered little Valley for too long rockhead. The Fanged Forest is not a cosy little paradise, it can be as dangerous as you can imagine, because it’s one of the many front lines of this war!”

“War?” Shorty suddenly exclaimed in sharptooth.

“Yes, war, bark-breath!” Seizon snapped at him, his eyes quivering for a moment on him in apparent trivial curiosity. “And I have to say Chomper, that’s quite a feat teaching them to talk…I just hope your skills can be put to better use…”

“What war?” Shorty demanded.

“The endless and bitter war we face on all sides by the likes of your grass-gorging herds!!!” Seizon snarled back. “With them charging across the landscape unkempt, the Fanged Forest can often be no safer than anywhere else…we were attacked there…” And finally, though it seemed to cause him great pain to do so, Seizon fixed his eyes upon Saureen and said loudly,
“Saureen – you tell him!”

Saureen too, who had been brooding in her own thoughts, looked up at him, startled.

“Well…yes…we were…” she murmured slightly.

“So there we are!!” Seizon snapped at Chomper, eyes immediately coming back to him.

Chomper hesitated for a short moment, wondering how quite to respond to this. Perhaps what he had said had been insensitive to Saureen (he didn’t much care about offending Seizon), but that was really beside the point…

“And as for a planning more deaths…??” Seizon had leaned in closer to Chomper now, so they were almost nose-to-nose, and suddenly, his eyes had taken on a more pained expression, and his jaw drooped a little.

“It was never my intention to let Pyron and Nycha die…” he murmured, avoiding Chomper’s gaze. “I don’t know how often I have to tell you that, and whatever you say about my priorities, you don’t think I see their faces everytime I close my eyes? Hear their voices across a silent landscape?”

His voice began to crack a little as he said this, and he moved back from Chomper. Chomper heard a sharp intake of breath from Saureen beside him, but hardly noticed it, as he was too busy staring at Seizon. Did Seizon even realise that he had just spoken Chomper’s mind? Did he know that that was exactly how Chomper felt about the untimely passing of their fastbiter companions? Suddenly, Chomper felt more connected to Seizon than he had in a long time…but this moment soon passed when he voiced new curiosities.

“If you feel so remorseful about what happened,” he said slowly. “Why are you still taking orders from Xal?”

Fury flashed in Seizon’s amber orbs once more.

“It’s got nothing to do with him, alright?” he howled, a primordial hissing growl being heard from his throat as he shouted. “It’s my own failings as a leader – there, I admitted it! But it’s all in the past now – right now, we’ve got a job to do, one that’s going to make sure NOBODY else close to me dies…”

“Seizon…” Saureen spoke at last. “What about my grandmother?”

The expression that passed across Seizon’s face at these words told Chomper everything he needed to know – this was the one subject he had wanted to avoid at all costs. Saureen, quite deliberately it seemed, just let the silence hang nastily in the air – even the Piercers began to look uncomfortable.

“Saureen…” Seizon said at last, staring down at his feet. “I don’t want to discuss that right now…you can…you can ask Xal yourself…when we see him.”

“I don’t want to hear his thoughts on it…” Saureen replied quietly, her emerald green eyes quite expressionless. “I know what he did and why he did it. I want to know what you think…”

“I’ve tried not to think about it!” Seizon replied defiantly, or as defiantly as he could manage – he still didn’t look at her, but turned his back and began to walk. “Come on, let’s go!”

“He’s having doubts,” Saureen told Chomper firmly, speaking in flattooth so that the Piercers, chivvying them along, couldn’t understand them. “I can tell – he hasn’t got a clue why someone he admires so much would kill someone who cared for him so…” her voice trailed off a little sadly and she closed her eyes. “Honestly Chomper – I don’t think he’s a bad person at all…he’s just got the wrong view of the world.”

“Well, if he’s as pure as you claim,” Chomper replied, failing to keep the impatient and irritated edge out of his voice. “Why is he still following Xal this blindly, even at the costs of others???”

“Maybe he’s scared…” Saureen looked a little worried now as she watched Seizon walking ahead of them. “Scared of what Xal will do to him if he declared his intentions to leave…”

“No, it’s not that,” Shorty chipped in.

The other nine children all being guarded by the Piercers swivelled their heads to look at him in astonishment.

“What makes you so sure?” Chomper demanded.

Shorty sighed.

“Well, it’s obvious isn’t it?” They all looked at him blankly, so Shorty continued. “If you’ve spent all living memory with no parents, the first person to come along and offer voluntarily to take up that role creates a debt you feel you can never pay back. The connection Seizon has with Xal is something that none- well…some of us can’t understand. There’s something deep within it, and Seizon, whatever his feelings on matters may be, has no greater affection than that for his stepfather, and wants nothing better than to please him, even at the sake of his own values.”

“That’s…deep, Shorty…” Ali remarked. “How did you…how did you come up with it?”

Shorty simply shook his head, indicating he didn’t want to discuss it further. Indeed he didn’t want to indulge on how he knew this simply from first-hand experience, but he saw Littlefoot give him a knowing look and a small smile, which Shorty managed to return.

With his watery blue eyes fixed on the form in front of him, Shorty began to consider. His friends were a blessing - was for certain. But he had always known there were would be divides between him and them, divides which weren’t entirely unique to him, but for reasons that his experience with upbringing was simply different to them.

Shorty had never known his parents. He was too young to remember anything about them, or even how he had lost them. Sometimes, during the night he would lie there and forcefully burn images of what they may have looked like on the inside of his eyelids. A father, with a crafty smile, perhaps ready to go on adventures with his son – explore a dark and shadowy forest, creep up to a smoking mountain, or maybe simply sit him down and give him sound advice about girls. And a mother, so gentle and loving, with a smile as warm as her body, as she bent down to nuzzle him. In the wilder fantasies, Shorty would feel her tongue, tenderly and lovingly washing him, maybe gently scolding him for getting himself dirty, but with such a scold only because of how much she cared…how much she loved him. But it was the realisation that this love was imaginary, and these wonderful figures that ran wild in Shorty’s head were not real, and now they were dead, would never be real, that made the very worst experiences of all.

It still made the boy wonder how he’d ever managed to survive his early years at all, as he had spent them completely alone – wandering from place to place, on a constant search for food, water and shelter, always just escaping the shadow of a predator, or a natural disaster. There were moments of fear, where he’d cry out for his parents, followed by moments of resentment and anger, when he would sometimes scream at them, even with no ears to hear, demanding to know why they had to die on him, why they had had to leave him, without at least leaving someone to look after him…followed by remorse and guilt for his anger at those who had maybe even died saving him…how was he to know?

Most herds were unsympathetic – mothers would anxiously shepherd their precious darlings away from Shorty if he had approached, looking at him like he was some sort of monster.

And so of course, the first person to look at him in a different way instantly became Shorty’s favourite in the whole world. He would never forget that fateful day, when he had tried to take on the responsibilities of looking after a few small hatchlings (with parents, I might add) himself, when he had looked up and first seen Bron.

“Was Seizon the same?” Shorty wondered, as he watched him. He could never tell – but he for one knew that he would always do whatever Bron wanted, because Bron had been the first to drag him out of the hell that he was living, make him feel like he had some importance. Of course, soon after that, came Littlefoot and Ali and all of the herds. But Bron had been the first, and Shorty doubted he would have had the same connection he did with the others if he hadn’t had that connection with Bron to begin with.

“He gave me a purpose,” Shorty realised. “He gave me a reason to continue living…even now, I think I might be simply living for him. But when I think back to where I was before, it’s actually chilling to consider how far gone I might have been, or how anyone could have misled me. If someone had made me feel wanted, what would I care if their ideas were a little insane? What they matter to me is what’s important.” Shorty could imagine Seizon’s amber eyes before him now, and he knew – he had seen it when Seizon had been talking. Xal had something in Seizon that could never be taken away, because of what Xal had taken away from Seizon – the same in Shorty with Bron, reflected in both their eyes – their stepfathers had taken away the feeling of inadequacy, uselessness and helplessness. And there’s nothing they wouldn’t do for them at all.

No matter what it was.

“Getting through to Seizon with a dedication like that is going to be very hard,” Shorty concluded, as he watched Seizon lead them up towards some shaded conifers, and the Bright Circle disappeared below the darkening horizon. “But for his sake, it may be up to me to make him see sense…”

*

“You can’t be serious…”

Zyro gazed up nervously into Bron’s thunderstruck expression and waited for the axe to fall.

“You mean to tell me…” he murmured, chewing on the words in an attempt to stem his rising panic. “That now my two sons are missing as well as almost everyone else???”

“I can assure you we are sending scouts out to find them as soon as we can,” Zyro told him, attempting to maintain the steadiness in his voice.

If he had thought that these words would calm Bron, he was gravely mistaken. On the contrary, the longneck’s face twisted into an even more livid and horror-struck expression, and he emitted a bellow of frustration and rage.

“Scouts???” he roared at Zyro. “What good are they going to do now?? You sent them out to look for the other girl, Lini, as well, and that has yielded nothing either!!!”

Bron didn’t seem prepared to play the blame game – even as he stamped and paced and grunted loudly at every spare second, most of it seemed to derive from panic and stress. It was therefore unfortunate that many of the other longnecks took these expressions of raw emotion as an incentive to get riled themselves. They of course had their own opinions about the Sharptooth community’s motives, not to mention the reason for the disappearance of eight leaf-eater children as well as three sharpteeth. But as co-operative herd members, they knew better than to allow their opinions colour their judgement for the sake of the herd as a whole – now however, Bron’s panic over this development seemed to be the permission they had been waiting for.

“You monsters had better come clean as to what you’re doing!!!” snarled one particularly outspoken longneck, stepping forward to glare at the sharpteeth facing him. None of them except for Zyro and Al, of course, could understand a word he was saying, but the body language was enough – raised tail and pawing at the ground with a face twisted with the anger that was now being sent as a ripple through the herd. More longnecks began to raise their own aggressive objections, each one spurring on the next.

“They’ve been manipulating us from the start!!!” growled another one, addressing the crowd as a whole, jabbing his tail forcefully in the direction of the sharpteeth with the same sort of malicious tendency as one would stab someone through the heart. An audible near unanimous agreement rose up from his fellows, far louder and more violent sounding than the previous. Eyes of molten fury swivelled onto the Sharptooth crowd, most of whom drew back instinctively. Al was left, hovering awkwardly between the withdrawn crowd and Zyro, looking nothing short of petrified. Behind his widened purple eyes was a furious and violent jumble of emotions, pricking into panics and insecurities he wasn’t even aware he had, and even as the herd of angry longnecks grew steadily angrier, each one about ten times his size or more, only one thought shone through his numb and horrified brain:

“This is all my fault…it’s all my fault…I shouldn’t have left them…now they’ve gone the same way as Lini…” And when her face broke into his line of thoughts, he simply couldn’t bear to think anymore. The stabbing pain that tore through him then was far from physical.

“We can’t continue to treat them as friends any longer!!!” came another scream from the longneck herd. This particular scream came from someone whose insides were also being torn to shreds my mind-numbing panic – Ali’s mother. As though blaming someone would lessen her grief, she was now glaring directly at Zyro with a look normally found only on true murderers.

At these words, another wave of pugnacious bellows rent the air, and as one, these longnecks began to march forward. The foremost one however, soon found his way blocked by his own matriarch.

“OK, that’s enough!” Old One snapped as she struggled briefly against the weight of the angry longneck. “I understand your reaction but we need to consider a proper plan of action…” she turned to look at Bron, who was staring into space with a vacantly horrified expression. He clearly was barely aware of what had just unfolded. Deciding to snap him out of this morbid trance, she called,
“Bron! Help me out here…”

“What do you think you’re doing??” hissed a voice of slightly amused incredulity just behind Al, and before he could turn to see who was speaking, he found himself seized and dragged backwards. He was deposited amongst the withdrawn Sharptooth crowd, and between two fastbiters who changed his expression from a mortified one to one of deepest dislike.

“What was that all about?” he snapped furiously.

“Haven’t you seen the size of those longnecks?” Thud asked him, sounding matter-of-fact and utterly relaxed. “With them in this mood, they could crush you to death…”

“And we wouldn’t want to get Zyro on our case if we allowed that to happen,” Screech replied, exchanging a mildly amused smirk with his brother.

“Oh, very amusing,” Al growled in a tone that suggested the complete opposite. “But in case you haven’t noticed, the crisis we have on our hands is of the priority right now, and if you can’t suggest anything worthwhile to help resolve-”

“Oh, but my poor pugnacious puffed-up pliosaur, I think we can…” Thud cut across him, still just as calmly. “If you think about it, we as sharpteeth have a natural ability for tracking and detection that the leaf-eaters lack. That’s because we tend to use it to sniff them out…”

“Yeah,” Al responded, growing irritated. “But so do the scouts Zyro sent out, and they haven’t been able to track down Lini or the others…” The words caught in his throat as soon as Lini sprung to mind again.

“That’s true,” Screech agreed, not reacting to Al’s sudden shift in mood. “But pinpointing individual scents can be difficult when you don’t know the specific individuals particularly well. If they are, or were once close to you, you should be able to determine the individuals both being taken, and doing the taking.”

Al looked up at this.

“Are you saying…?” he said slowly. “That you think you know who’s behind this…and you haven’t told-?”

“We have been speculating,” Thud cut across him once again. “But we chose not to say anything to Zyro, as not only does he not have enough trouble at the moment, but we don’t want just a hunch blown out of proportion.”

“So…?”

“So, use your brains son! You’ve been Zyro’s spy from the beginning, and have been up close and personal with those liable to try and make use of prisoners of war. Bottom line, it was their mistake to trust you so much, as you can continue to use your familiarity for our advantage to find out where the missing ones are…”

Twigging onto what was being said, Al gave a small nod.

“Alright…but you’d better be on the level here…”

With that said, the three sharpteeth slowly slipped away.

*

Even with the carnage and violent chidings from the longnecks beginning to simmer down, the effects of everything that had come before to cause it was still being felt. Opal stood some way apart from the rest of the crowd, watching the confrontations intensely, nothing but blind panic and confusion rushing through her head.

She should help. She must help. But what was she to do? There was nothing she could do to stop angry crowds, not since…

She shut her eyes and groaned at something that may have been a vague and misty memory attempting to penetrate her skull. It was like having a persistent headache. The noise of the heckling spread by paranoia and fear…something that lay primordially permanent and sometimes dormant in everyone and something nobody could control…and she herself, powerless even in her grief to prevent dangerous ideas spreading and far more dangerous events taking place…

Dangerous ideas…always so popular in a time of panic…and that was it. That was what had led to this.

Barely consciously aware of it, Opal found tears beginning a silent yet sustained flow down her face and dripping to the ground with morose impact. This shock of coming to terms with her past however now made her choke on her sobs as the tears continued. She didn’t want to remember, it hurt too much…and yet she was unable to stop – every frame of that time she had spent before her amnesia, each single memory of it was a cruel reminder of everything she had done so badly wrong, every tragic mistake she had made…how much she would rather stay forgetting…or even, she resigned miserably, much rather she was dead…

Even as this thought crossed her mind she found a small, gentle hand press against her side.

“Try not to let it weigh you down too much. Just cry it out for a minute…sometimes that’s all anyone needs.”

Opal recognised the voice immediately. Beyond all rational explanation, Hoshia the rainbowface was standing by her side, speaking to her in a soothing and gentle way, like any close family member would, her words determined to cause only comfort.

Tetsugaku and Keibetsu were standing some distance away, keeping a respectful silence as they watched Hoshia continue her soothing conversation with Opal. They had all agreed to allow her to deal with this alone, although Tetsugaku was frowning in concentration as he strained to hear what was being said.

“Have you been following me all this time?” Opal eventually asked, closing her eyes in attempt to stem the flow of both tears and memories.

“Well,” Hoshia replied, a small smile creeping onto her lips. “That would be telling wouldn’t it?”

Opal couldn’t even bring herself to roll her eyes. Instead, she fixed them up at the twilit sky and muttered,
“At least now I understand why you didn’t tell me before…”

Choosing to ignore this, Hoshia then asked,

“How much has come back to you?”

“Everything,” Opal whispered in a traumatized tone. “The role I was expected to perform…Omendric and how he sacrificed himself for everything he believed in…Ulciscor…” she choked back a sob. “And how I didn’t have the spine to stick around and challenge him…! I just fled the place, dragging Ronan with me…suppose it makes sense that Ulciscor sent his henchmen after us…they…they killed Ronan and our unhatched child, and I, cowardly scum that I was, should have died with them!!!” Tears once more leaked out like burst drains.

Hoshia patted her on the side again.

“Now, that isn’t true,” she assured. “You dying along with Ronan would have done nobody any good. Now that you remember everything that happened, you can help overturn Ulciscor like I’m sure you wanted to do so long ago…”

Opal nodded vigorously, tears still falling.

“I did…I did…but I hadn’t the guts…”

“Oh, but you do,” Hoshia contradicted her, so forcefully that Opal turned to stare. “Yes – your determination to be on the front line in your amnesic state is proof of that. Before you just didn’t realise you had it in you. Perhaps you expected your kin to deal with all of the problems for you.”

Opal gazed down at the ground, considering…

“If you feel the need to redeem yourself, then you can secure a victory over Ulciscor,” Hoshia continued, gazing with a near-motherly pride at the spiketail.

“But how?” Opal demanded desperately. “The kids are missing, and-”

“They will find them,” Hoshia promised. “And once they do, you are the one they will be looking to. You know I’m not allowed to reveal too much…but…well, as a native Valleian who has been within the core of its governing body, a certain someone is duty-bound to accept requests from you to help…”

The one to whom Hoshia was referring sprung to Opal’s mind immediately.

“OK…but I don’t know where he is…”

“No, you’ll have to stay here,” Hoshia advised. “A messenger will do it. A Sharptooth flyer may cause a communication problem, so…” she cleared her throat a little awkwardly before glancing back at her two rainbowface companions. “We – that is to say, me, Tetsugaku and our acquaintance – will be willing to carry the message for you.”

“But how will you find him?” Opal demanded. But even as she said it, she thought she knew the answer.

“That would be telling,” Hoshia replied, smiling as Opal said it in unison with her.

“Yeah, alright…” Opal murmured. “Well…thank you…”

“But this is imperative,” Hoshia continued. “We cannot tell him anything of our own accord – the message has to come direct from Valleian authority. So, tell me exactly what you want me to say.”

“Well…” Opal drew a breath. “Basically that he must come to our aid. The Valley has been subjugated by a tyrant and we together must overthrow him. Let him also know about our alliance with the sharpteeth so that no confusion arises…”

“No problem at all…” Hoshia smiled once more. “Now – I have no doubt he will be with you accordingly. But there was one flaw in your memory.”

“Yeah?” Opal glanced around at her, surprised.

“Your unhatched child did not die alongside Ronan,” Hoshia said quickly. OK, technically, she wasn’t meant to tell her this, but the temptation was irresistible.

“But…”

“You will find them once the rescue takes place, I promise!” Hoshia assured, and with that, turned and walked away, leaving Opal staring after her, lost in her own thoughts…

*
Zyro felt his body physically sag by the relief he felt that the short moment of rowdy dissent was over. Old One, and, despite his distress, Bron had managed to calm the hoard down, even Ali’s mother, although her breath was still coming in shallow rasps. As he tried to figure out another course of action, he heard someone speak his name.

“Umm…Zyro?”

It was Al, and the larger Sharptooth turned to look at the youngster expectantly. He was looking slightly apprehensive, a complete contrast to Screech and Thud, who stood behind him, looking rather smug.

“Go on, Al,” Thud encouraged. “Tell him what you know.”

What Al said after that was the best news Zyro had been hoping for. Grinning so broadly at the three sharpteeth Al was sure he’d strained his jaw muscles, Zyro turned back to the longnecks and called,

“OK! Listen up everyone, we have some important information!”

To his surprise and relief, all of the longnecks listened obediently, though some did so with a visible bad grace. Prompting Al to translate for the sharpteeth as best he could, Zyro continued.

“I have just been informed that a persistent and sustained scent around the area which the children disappeared is that of Seizon – Xal’s stepson. It seems almost inevitable that they were brought to the Fanged Forest, Xal’s own centre of operations. Screech and Thud here still roughly know the way to the forest, and…yes?”

Old One had raised her tail. Zyro prompted her to speak.

“Yes…if they were aware of the location, why did you not simply storm his operations earlier?” she asked.

“Well, like an uncalculated assault on the Valley, it would have been too risky,” Zyro replied. “Honestly, I think this whole thing may be a little too easy…” he looked slightly uncomfortable. “But obviously we don’t have much choice. Now, to avoid detection and to make this whole operation easier, I don’t think we need too much of a large force.”

“I concur,” Old One agreed. “Some of us should stay behind to maintain our ground, and then regroup when the rescue team return with the children…presumably at that point we should march on the Valley?”

“Yes,” Zyro agreed. “At that point we should have disabled Xal’s forces enough to ensure they won’t be a problem when we try to overthrow Ulciscor. After we return, we shall briefly prepare, and begin…”

There were mutters amongst the crowd, the mixture of nerves and excitement that would follow any announcement like this.

“I shall remain here,” Old One declared. “And begin to organise factions.”

“Certainly,” Zyro nodded. “And with you holding the fort, there is no reason for me to remain here myself. I volunteer to lead this rescue operation.”

“Are you sure that’s a wise decision?” barked a disgruntled longneck. There were mutters of agreement.

“Of course,” Old One replied, her glittering eyes fixed upon Zyro. “I cannot allow you to conduct this mission with sharpteeth only.”

“Of course not,” Zyro responded agreeably.

Old One turned to Bron.

“I presume you will want to be part of this mission?” she queried. Bron nodded furiously.

“As I’m sure will you, Fumei?” Old One then queried to Ali’s mother, glancing her head back. Fumei also nodded, her shock still leaving her largely silent.

Nodding, Zyro turned to the sharpteeth.

“Screech and Thud, obviously I’ll want you two with me to show me where to go,” he told them. “Remember this is your chance to redeem yourselves.” The two fastbiters nodded, and then Al spoke.

“Zyro – I’d like to come as well.” Zyro frowned.

“I’m not sure that’s wise, honestly,” he told Al. “You’ve already been put on the front-line of danger often enough, it’ll be safer if you-”

“Please,” Al pleaded. “I can be useful. I understand Seizon’s mannerisms and things…and I feel somehow responsible too…” Lini flashed through his mind once more. Could it be possible that they had taken her because he had revealed too much? “I need to see them!”

Zyro looked carefully into the desperate purple orbs for a while before relenting.

“OK…” he murmured slowly. “But if we get into a fight, stay in the background, alright? Don’t try and take Xal head on or anything…”

Al nodded to show he understood. Still glancing back at him every few moments suspiciously, Zyro then turned to Ross, Rhea and Ferox.

“Considering your children are the ones who have been taken, I’m sure you’ll want to accompany us?” They nodded, all staring into space with a fierce determination. Ross’ jaw was set – Rhea had an expression similar to Fumei’s, but still just as furiously determined…

“Ferox,” Zyro commented. “Umm…considering your history with Xal, it might be dangerous for you to show your face around the Fanged Forest again…”

“Xal doesn’t hang about,” Ferox told him shortly. “It’s dangerous for anyone to show up at the forest with intentions of challenging him. For me it’s no different. Besides…” he drew in a deep breath. “My daughter is at risk…what else can be done?”

Not arguing any further, Zyro nodded and turned back to Old One.

“OK, I think we’ve got our rescue team, so…”

“Wait!”

All heads turned underneath the now starry sky, as Opal came striding forward, looking nervous but determined all the same.

“I would like to be part of this rescue team also,” she said.

Zyro shrugged.

“Certainly,” he said. “Umm…any particular reason?”

“Well…” Opal bit her lip. “I do actually have some important information that I wasn’t able to give before due to my amnesia.” She swallowed. “It concerns Ulciscor…”

The information she revealed at that point positively blew the minds of everyone listening.

*
The shimmering silver light of the Great Night Circle cast a beam down to the opening of the infamous Fanged Forest. The Piercers that surrounded the young captives paused and stood, watching the dark trees. Seizon stood in front of them, practically within the mouth of the forest already. He too was silent, keeping a wary eye upon the treetops, and how the leaves rustled as the wind gently caressed them. It seemed such a fitting breeze. All of the young dinosaurs taken captive chose to remain silent also…it only seemed right. And yet it didn’t stop them shivering in the wind with the intense fear that dominating their beings. Petrie and Ducky clung to Spike’s shivering scales, desperate to for warmth or comfort of any kind. Behind them, the other leaf-eaters in the group huddled closer together, sharing far more than body-heat as they stood, clinging to the comfort that stemmed from the feeling of not being alone…

Chomper and Saureen did not join in this mass huddle – for a reason they couldn’t voice, it just seemed unfitting for them to do so. However, they still stood close to one another, shoulder to shoulder, just grateful for having someone else by their side, and even though Chomper was still carefully scrutinizing Seizon’s every movement, he internally expressed a great wave of gratitude that he found Saureen’s small and warm hand in his own.

It wasn’t much longer after this that Chomper noticed Seizon’s nostrils flare, condensed air rising up in a wispy cloud into the night sky. At around the same time, he felt Saureen’s hand tighten and tense around his own. Both of them had detected something.

Or someone. And Chomper knew perfectly well who they both knew. Only one individual would generate such intense and yet polarized emotion in both of them – in Saureen’s case fear, in Seizon excitement. Chomper swallowed hard as a shiver of foreboding ran the length of his spine. Hoping to avoid too much panic when the moment finally came, he turned around and whispered furiously to his leaf-eater friends.

“He’s coming!”

“What?”

“He’s…”

But Chomper broke off when he heard the branches above him creak as they were brushed aside and a colossal form emerged from the Fanged Forest. Maybe Chomper had gotten used to the presence of Seizon, a bladeback his own size, but this one seemed even more unnaturally large than any he had ever seen. The crystalline and scaly blue skin that covered his body was a darker shade than Seizon’s cyan, but the glittering contempt and malice that penetrated so fiercely in his amber eyes spookily resembled Seizon’s own mannerisms, made even more impressive when you considered that they were unrelated. A tall, menacing skin sail of a deep, blood-red rose along his back all the way to his titanic, muscular tail, which swayed slightly behind him. So this was Xal. After weeks of hearing him spoken about, he had finally laid eyes upon him. And to be fair to Seizon, Chomper noted, he could easily imagine this individual commanding respect.

The Piercer’s standing in front of the group of prisoners stood respectfully aside to give Xal a clear view, whilst Seizon edged closer to Xal’s side, his eyes shining in admiration and pride. For a few seconds, Xal surveyed his captives, his eyes lingering on Chomper longer than any of the others. However, then his face broke into a smile, one that lit up his eyes as well, so they were shining just like his stepson’s. It wasn’t a friendly smile, but neither was it one filled completely with malice. It was more a smile to oneself, and narrow display of sharp white teeth, an expression of cunning, craftiness and plotting. Chomper felt himself give an involuntary shudder, and gripped onto Saureen’s hand harder. He could feel the others draw around him too – he could feel their skin trembling against his. They were clearly more frightened of Xal than he was, but the thought that they were still drawing near him for a sense of community spirit and close comfort, rather than pushing him out to face this dangerous individual was a very reassuring one, and shone a small light of hope into Chomper’s darkened thoughts.

Xal now turned his attention to Seizon.

“Excellent work Seizon. I knew you had it in you. This will prove Gigas wrong, I’m sure…”

“Thank you…!” Seizon spoke in a way Chomper had never heard him do so before. It was revere and adoration of a sensational capacity. Chomper didn’t think he had ever seen such idolatry, and the thought made him frown slightly. Xal was a dangerous enemy, and if the worst came to the worst, he would have to been killed – what would that do to Seizon? Chomper didn’t know if he could bear to see that…
“So…” Xal now fixed his eyes upon Chomper, snapping him out of his thoughts at once. “This is ëThe Ambassador…’ the extraordinary Sharptooth who has made seamless friendships with flatteeth due to being hatched by some.” His eyes briefly flickered over to the leaf-eaters standing alongside him.

“Let them go…” Right, what was he saying now? Chomper had just found his voice, slightly higher and more pathetic than he was used to, being openly defiant to this titanic Sharptooth. What was he thinking??

But Xal simply chuckled.

“I could, I suppose,” he said. “However, I’m sure they will come in extremely useful in getting you to do what we want.”

“How do you work that out?” Saureen demanded. Her voice was far stronger than Chomper’s had been, but then again, Chomper reminded himself, she did know Xal fairly well.

“It’s simple,” Xal replied, now fixing her with a menacing stare. “I know he would never do anything to put his friends at risk. With them at my complete mercy, he will find he has no choice but to co-operate.”

Chomper gulped and he felt his own knees weaken. Xal was absolutely right of course – he could not let Littlefoot and the others be harmed over this…he would have to help Xal all the way, or else…

“Well, Saureen,” Xal now spoke, cutting across Chomper’s thoughts once more. “How is your father?”

A flash of anger mixed with tears suddenly blossomed in Saureen’s jade eyes, he bared her fangs but still did not move forward, squeezing Chomper’s hand so hard it felt like she cut off the blood supply.

“Oh, he’s great!” she snapped, ignoring how her rational mind was trying to beat down this reckless courage. “He’s still alive, at least, not like my grandmother and now Lini…!”

“Lini is perfectly fine.” It was not Xal who spoke this time, but Seizon. He was looking at Saureen with an expression of genuine concern, but this didn’t stop Saureen in her tracks.

“You can shut up and all!” she snarled at him, receiving a very hurt look in return, which she ignored. “Can’t you see Seizon??? He’s got you wrapped around his little finger, doing everything for him, just because he knows you can and will! He’s not got anything for you, he’s just using you as a stooge and-”

“You’re wrong!!” Seizon snarled back, his own anger coming into fruition now. “Xal has something for every sharptooth, if you’d only understand-”

“Enough.”

At Xal’s command, Seizon fell instantly silent. Xal had been watching this argument with minimal expression, and now said simply to Saureen,

“How extraordinarily like your grandmother you seem to be Saureen…it was for this very defiance that she had to be removed…”

An expression of deepest loathing now possessed Saureen’s face as tears continued to cascade freely down it. But she didn’t give another retort. Dropping Chomper’s hand, she turned at the first attempt of comfort – Ruby was beginning to put her arm around her. Responding at once, she wrapped her arms around the fast-runner in a fierce embrace. Xal, meanwhile, was gazing back into the forest, looking around at…something.

“But…she’s going to live…right?” Seizon was now asking, looking from Saureen and back to Xal, all anger seemingly forgotten. “I mean…she doesn’t really know what she’s saying…”

“Yes,” Xal agreed absent-mindedly. “I see no reason why she shouldn’t be spared…but hold up, I think we have company.”

He was right – at that moment, two more enormous shapes emerged from the forest, depositing themselves either side of Xal. Seizon, looking disgruntled, moved out of the way. The captives’ eyes widened when they noticed the two henchmen presenting themselves. One was Redclaw, and despite having been forewarned that he was now working with Xal, it didn’t stop Chomper feeling a stab of horror when he saw this monster. The other was a green plated slashclaw Sharptooth, who Chomper felt he vaguely recognised…

“Hold on!” he yelled. “I know you…you’re the one who attacked me and my parents on the island!”

The slashclaw grinned.

“Gigas…” he hissed. “How pleasant to see you again…though I would have thought you would have known I was here? The traitor Ferox surely told everyone?”

That was true, Chomper suddenly realised. Why had nobody told him about this? But he dismissed these thoughts and turned to his leaf-eater companions, seeing if they showed any sign of recognition. They seemed to, but now Ali was nudging Littlefoot and Cera, and gesturing frantically to a large green bellydragger slowly ambling towards them, with a white sharpbeak on its head. Apparently, there was some more recognition going on there.

“Hm, apparentley not…” Gigas appeared to answer his own question. “Either way, I knew we had to move fast…it’s why I took back that brat Lini…”

Chomper’s head snapped around.

“You know her??”

“Oh yes, we go way back,” Gigas replied, his smile now becoming even more demonic. “And how she did wrong us…it felt good to make her pay, even if I had to stop short of ending her life.”

Chomper just stared at him for a few seconds in open-mouthed revulsion and horror, before shifting his gaze to Redclaw, who was grinning in a similar fashion, then shifting it to Xal, who looked completely indifferent, until finally letting his gaze fall onto Seizon.

“How can you stand here Seizon???” Chomper demanded of him. “Standing amongst these murderers and savages? How can you stand amongst Lini’s kidnapper, who’s attacked me before? How can you stand with the one who’s brought so much misery to the Sharptooth and flattooth families of this area so many times?? And please tell me how you can stand with the one who has allied himself with these individuals????”

Seizon sighed and gazed at him.

“Xal will control and reform these two,” he told him. “And when that happens, we will all be at peace…”

“DO YOU EVEN BELIEVE THAT???” Chomper roared, positively beside himself. “OR ARE YOU JUST REPEATING WHAT HE’S SAYING????”

Xal coldly fixed his gaze on his two right-hand men.

“I’m growing tired of this insolence,” he told them. “We need to shut Chomper up. Take out two of the leaf-eaters, ONLY one each, mind, and then we’ll see what he has to say.”

With a great sense of delight, Gigas and Redclaw began to approach them. Chomper’s expression changed at once.

“No!!” he cried in panic. “No, please…I’ll…I’ll…”

His voice had no profound effect whatsoever on the two sharpteeth, but one did, which suddenly called out completely unexpectedly.

“So Xal…how much do you yourself care for Seizon???”

Gigas and Redclaw froze in their tracks and gazed, along with everyone else at Shorty, who had just exclaimed the utterance in Sharptooth. Even Xal, who seemed relatively stoic, was now also staring in shock. His jaw twitched slightly.

“I do care…for him…” he murmured, not sounding particularly sincere.

“Right…” Shorty nodded, his heart pounding furiously fast. OK, it had been reckless, but he had to think of something fast.

“Extraordinary…” Xal murmured. “These leaf-eaters may prove more useful than I first anticipated…OK, change of plan. Spare the flatteeth – Ichy and Dil, take them to the holding caves and guard them well until we can decide what should be done.”

Gigas and Redclaw, looking thoroughly disappointed, nevertheless withdrew, as Dil lumbered forward.

“Chomper and Saureen,” Xal then said, fixing his glittering eyes upon the two young sharpteeth. “You can go with Seizon to join Lini…with several Piercer guards of course…”

It could have been a lot worse. Chomper felt like praising Shorty for managing to save them like that, but even as the others were led away and some Piercers moved in on him and Saureen, he still panicked – they were trapped as prisoners of war, and whilst Xal debated on what to do with them, with Seizon playing as his loyal pawn, what could they do?

“She’ll be glad to see you, y’know…” Seizon muttered as he led the way deeper into the forest. Chomper merely gave him a disgusted look and glanced back at Xal, who was staring up into the night sky, no doubt lost in thought once more.

~0~

Well, there it is! Yes, everything's been happening - Opal's memory returning, her sending an important message to an elusive individual (though no doubt you've probably guessed who) and well...here is Xal! And Shorty is drawing parallels between himself and Seizon, and well...Lini...! Yeah, anyway, please tell me what you think, I can't confirm when the next chapter will come, but hopefully there won't be as long a wait this time.

Littlefoot: Seriously...WHERE CAN I GET MYSELF ONE OF THOSE??  

"I'm afraid your new-fangled disease has caused this tooth to rot and grow to extreme lengths. Do not worry though - I shall have it out momentarily."

OK, because the latest VV chapter has been taking so long (I promise it's coming, but I've got exams coming up, and of course, they take priority), here's another VV related poll! Time for you to decide which of my vile creations is the worst of the all. Which of the above five characters makes your skin crawl the most? Who do you think is the most unpleasant, the most evil? I know exactly whom I consider to be the more and less evil from that selection, but let's see what you think!