What did I tell you, eh???
Chapter Six: In Pursuit of PowerAs the morning air danced with the twitter of birds and occasionally ripped up by the screech of a pterosaur, the other life-forms in the relative calm, sluggish dawn began to stir.
A small, furry mammal emerged gingerly from under a large rock where it had been resting the night before. It sniffed hopefully around, hoping to catch a whiff of some food in the wind.
As it exposed itself fully to the daylight, it didn’t get time to realise it would be the last mistake it ever made.
A huge sickle-shaped claw stamped down hard upon the hapless creature, snapping its spine in an eyeblink. The corpse was then tossed clean into the air before vanishing down the gullet of a certain blue striped fastbiter.
“Reckless as ever…” Screech murmured to himself, a satisfied smile playing on his lips. “The day they learn is the day Redclaw makes peace with hatchlings.”
Thud gave a derisive snort.
Screech glanced sideways at his brother.
“What?” he protested. “I’m just saying…”
“We’re leaving that behind us,” Thud insisted. “Redclaw’s still comatose, and hopefully for life. Though it makes me shudder to think what’ll happen if he ever comes back I discovers we’ve abandoned him…”
“That won’t be a problem,” Screech assured. “We’ve got support from many others now.”
“If you say so,” Thud sighed. “But I’m still not sure Zyro trusts us…”
“Of course he doesn’t!” Screech replied, as if the whole thing were almost laughable. “We were associated with Redclaw, and before then, Xal! But this little task we’re doing for him now will assure him that we ARE trustworthy and are determined to make amends with our fellow sharpteeth.”
Thud nodded, and didn’t make any further objections.
“Well,” he said. “It seems that Seizon’s re-grouping was a success after all, despite our best efforts…but according to our undercover agent, that Valley-bred little biter isn’t finding it all too well…”
“Yes, indeed…” Screech nodded. “I wonder if he’ll try and go running back to his friends?”
“You know Seizon would prevent that,” Thud countered. “And besides, who’s he got to go running back to?”
Screech stared at him.
“What are you talking about?” he demanded, his whole expression changing. “Those little upstarts we keep chasing around?”
“I saw them leaving the Valley with Ulciscor’s right-hand man, earlier…” Thud sighed.
“You mean the spiked longneck?” Screech demanded, his eyes suddenly fearful.
“Yes,” Thud nodded.
“But if he was back in the Great Valley…” Screech began.
“Then it won’t be long until the rest are back too,” Thud finished for him. “Yes…including the Bludgeon Brigade and Ulciscor himself…”
Screech gulped.
“Why are they suddenly mobilising now?” he asked, his voice quivering.
Thud shrugged.
“Could just be that now Ulciscor has managed to regroup with his forces, or perhaps they’re being intimidated by Xal’s own mobilisations. Possibly both. But what’s important to bear in mind is that Zyro’s forces – including us – can no longer stay at Threehorn Peak. It’s too close to the Valley. We’ll have to go somewhere else…”
“Where?”
“I don’t know…” Thud began to pace. “Just somewhere away from the Valley.”
“What about Seizon and the little biter?” Screech asked. “Surely we need to ensure that they don’t get to Xal-”
“It’s too late for that,” Thud interrupted. “Zyro will not put his comrades in immediate danger, unlike Xal…” he shook his head. “Rest assured, the Fanged Forest is quite a distance from the Valley, so they will not be in danger from Ulciscor either.” He smiled slightly.
“Besides,” he continued. “I’m confident our undercover agent will prove reliable when we’re not around.”
*
Talk about mass hysteria.
Yesterday, only one youngster was missing. Today, there were six more, and the Great Valley’s populace were panicking yet again. As the individuals screamed the names of all of those who were missing, Grandpa Longneck eventually asserted his authority and called an emergency council meeting.
“Everyone please calm down,” he addressed the population. “Now, from what I can see, it’s highly likely that the young ones have gone after Chomper themselves, whose whereabouts and reason for disappearance remain a mystery.”
“Where’s the proof they’ve gone after him??” shrieked a paranoid far-walker hadrosaur, losing his head completely. “I tell you, this Valley is-”
“The proof?” Topsy snapped at him. “Why, because he’s their friend, that’s the proof! So, you’re saying you wouldn’t go after a friend and companion if he were to go missing?”
The hadrosaur’s anger flared.
“Are you calling me a coward, sir??!!”
“Yes, he is,” came a snide voice from behind him. Tria had joined the group.
“He tends to look down on others like that…”
Everyone suddenly grew uncomfortable. The last thing they needed at this point was for another round of verbal abuse from the pair of them. Strangely enough, it was the paranoid hadrosaur that came to their rescue.
“Listen, I don’t care about your domestic upheaval!” he yelled, creating an angry mutter from the council. This remark hurt their sense of unity.
“You’re a disgrace to the name of herd leader!” Kosh bellowed at him.
“I don’t care!” the hadrosaur bellowed back. “I’m not a coward – I brought my herd here because I thought it would be best for them. But it turns out, with all these missing kids, this Valley is haunted! I bet it’s the ghost of the Sharptooth who’s teeth still hang around Saurus Rock, or perhaps the Hidden Runner…”
“Rubbish.”
A new firm voice had entered the bickering. Many of the dinosaurs turned to see Thicknose stride into the debate.
“I’ve seen the Hidden Runner myself,” he said. “And he’s got even less backbone than you. But this insult hurling is childish, unnecessary and pointless. What we need to do is conduct a search party to find the children, who most likely are now in the Mysterious Beyond.”
Grandpa Longneck nodded.
“Yes – they probably won’t have gotten far, and the quickest way to catch up with them would be on the wing.”
“I agree,” piped up Petrie’s mother. “I’ll reform my search team, and we can go and have a look for them. If we don’t get any conclusive results, we’ll need a much more suitable search party.”
So saying, she took off. It seemed that the decision had already been made. Calm was restored to the Great Valley, but Thicknose couldn’t help but shake the feeling that a certain far-walker was missing also…
*
Chomper sighed with content as he lay back. Pyron wasn’t wrong – this way of catching fish was indeed highly professional.
“What did I tell you, eh?” Pyron said loudly, looking equally content. sighed with content as he lay back. Pyron wasn’t wrong – this way of catching fish was indeed highly professional.
“What did I tell you, eh?” Pyron said loudly, looking equally content. “You get better flavour that way!”
“Hmm…its certainly better than leafeater…” Chomper muttered.
Pyron’s smile slipped slightly.
“You didn’t have to bring that up you know…” he sighed. “You could just embrace this new style of eating…” he gestured to the small stream they had just been swimming in in order to catch fish. Now, Al was wading around in it, attempting to do the same thing they had just been doing.
“Perhaps you could give me a few lessons, Pyron?” he suggested lightly. It was the first time Chomper had heard him speak, and his voice reflected his personality – calm and mellow.
Pyron laughed.
“I should never give up trade secrets you know!” he said jovially.
“Well, secret is certainly going to be the word for it,” Al agreed. “Considering your feathers will get soaking wet with this hunting method.”
“And try to imagine me swimming in this,” Chomper chipped in. “With arms this size?”
“You’ve got a very good point,” Al replied pensively, slowly submerging himself until only his eyes and the top of his head were visible. Then, without warning, he cannoned his body upward sending a tidal wave of water onto the bank. Chomper, who was in the immediate range of fire, leapt aside and laughed.
“If that’s the best you can do, I’ve got nothing to worry about!” he teased. But he could say nothing more as he suddenly felt someone’s hand slap playfully into his backside, sending him jerking forward and tumbling with a splash into the water. The rest of his torments became gurgles.
“Well, you do with me around!” Lini smirked impishly, who had been the one to send Chomper into his wet predicament.
“You like to be predictable, don’t you?” Pyron sighed, flicking some water in her direction.
“How’s this for a prediction?” Saureen yelled, coming out of nowhere and cannon-balling into the water. “I declare a water war!”
And so it began, the ironically named water war between the five young sharpteeth that was actually quite a harmonious activity. For Chomper at least, the fact that the dinosaurs he was playing with were predators who had killed rountinely the previous day meant nothing. This dark hangover vanished. For all the difference it could have made, he could have been back in the Great Valley as he splashed water laughingly over the others.
Watching this frisky little game with a smile on his face was Seizon, who was sitting just outside the cave they had camped in last night. Finally, Chomper was beginning to get accustomed to life in this pack. And why shouldn’t he? Raised by leaf-eaters or not, he was still a Sharptooth, one of them, and should be treated as such.
Then, his companion who had been sleeping on top of him last night came to join him.
“Hi,” Nycha greeted him shyly.
“Morning,” Seizon smiled back at her. He inclined his head towards the water where the rest of the pack were. “Why don’t you join them?”
Nycha scowled.
“Don’t really like those wild gatherings,” she sighed. “And I don’t trust him.”
Seizon didn’t need to ask who she meant.
“Why?” he asked, not looking at her.
“Because he’s part of them. I don’t know how he managed to get ingrained so deeply into flattooth culture, but the fact that he is makes him our enemy.”
“Now, that’s where you’re wrong, Nycha,” Seizon replied. “It’s his familiarity with flattoothed dinosaurs that makes him the key to our victory.”
Nycha sighed again.
“You’re a wonderful leader, you know Seizon,” she said, a compliment which was merely absorbed into Seizon’s inflated ego. “But I don’t understand why you always act like we’re in a war…”
“You’re the one talking about enemies,” Seizon reminded her. “And this is more than just a war – it’s a revolution! Chomper here, given time, will help us.”
“And what makes you think he won’t help the leaf eaters?” Nycha snapped back.
“Because,” Seizon replied coldly. “I actually trust Chomper. Sure, he’s weedy and a little weird, but his heart is in the right place. And your paranoia of leaf eaters…what makes you think they are responsible for the deaths of your parents?”
Nycha didn’t reply.
“And even if they were, surely the true criminals in the act are the pack members who then tried to kill you? Flatteeth are stupid animals, its true, but the true villains are sharpteeth like Redclaw who…”
“You don’t know anything about it!” Nycha hissed at him.
“Oh yes? Pyron told me his side of the story, which I think sounds more likely,” Seizon replied firmly, standing up and walking over to the water, leaving Nycha standing in still shock.
“Alright everyone!” Seizon shouted at the struggling five still in the water. They all turned to look at him. The happy beam of sunshine that had be bouncing around in Chomper’s brain up until now dimmed a little, as he remembered that it was Seizon who had wanted him to do this in the first place.
“Well, I’m glad you’re all enjoying yourselves. Already we are a brilliant cohesive unit.” He smiled at them all, reminding Chomper strangely of the way Grandpa Longneck would smile at him, Littlefoot and the otherwise. The twinge of homesickness returned.
“But we can’t stay here any longer. Our mission is to get back to the Fanged Forest – all evidence suggests that the spiked longneck has left that area to come after us. And I’m pleased to say we’ve most likely given him the slip.”
Saureen exhaled in relief.
“And so now, we need to press on. It’s going to take quite a while, but hopefully once we get going, it won’t seem as long. And at the end of it, you shall meet Xal.” He smiled. “I know that only Saureen and I have ever had that privilege. But you are all brilliant – like a family to me-”
Chomper looked up, hardly daring to believe it.
“And so, you deserve a place in this new world also!” Seizon concluding, grinning that broad, if slightly mad, grin of his.
Lini applauded.
“She loves anything anyone says,” Pyron whispered to Chomper, who smirked in spite of himself.
“So what?” Lini demanded, who had overheard.
“Uh, question,” Al queried. “How far exactly is the Fanged Forest from the Great Valley?”
“It took us a month to get to the Great Valley,” Seizon replied. “We’re going to be taking a more direct route back this time, so it hopefully won’t take as long. Still several days walk, though, and we’ll be stopping to eat et cetera.”
Al looked slightly crestfallen. Chomper guessed he didn’t enjoy walking too much, which he thought was strange, considering this Sharptooth was a nomad. He however, was unsettled by the distance for another reason. If his friends had sent out a search party, being as far away from them as the Forest was meant it may take, to be put short, a little while…
Saureen obviously knew what he was thinking, because she placed her hand on his shoulder and whispered in his ear.
“Don’t worry – I think Xal’s plan means we’ll be coming back here soon…I know it’s not ideal, but it’s better than nothing…”
Chomper could only nod in agreement.
“Well, no point in slacking,” Seizon said briskly. “Let’s move out!”
And so, the pack of seven young sharpteeth began their long journey East. They didn’t say much as they walked, they were just following the leader, namely Seizon. As they exited the canyon they had taken refuge in, Chomper felt horribly exposed. He was expecting anything to come out and grab in, as, he knew, anything could. Seizon didn’t seem worried by this though. He, it seemed, was never worried by anything. Soon enough, Chomper’s legs began to ache, and he didn’t even notice Nycha sidle up to him and hiss in his ear.
“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re planning!”
“Huh?” he had no idea what she was on about.
“You know – you’re in league with flatteeth. I don’t know what Seizon was thinking bringing you along, but I know you’re planning to kill us all.”
Chomper felt like collapsing with exasperation. How many times had he generated mistrust because he was a Sharptooth? And now, in an ironic twist of fate, he was generating mistrust for being not Sharptooth enough. Hmm…
“You should never have come here sapsucker!” Nycha snarled angrily in his ear. “You don’t belong here and you should leave us now!”
At these words, Chomper’s blood boiled. Here it was again, the irony making him angry. Did she not even think for a single minute that he regretted and despised getting pulled into this group a thousand times more than she did?
In a moment of blind fury, Chomper whirled around and attempted a physical retaliation. He barged into her with his jaws opened wide, only for Nycha to counter with a kick in the face that sent him crashing to the ground. The taste of his own blood in his mouth only spurred his adrenalin rush and he leapt to his feet to continue brawling, his look of deep dislike only matched by the sheer loathing in hers when Seizon skidded between them and held the fiery fastbiter back, whereas Pyron took hold of Chomper’s arm and pulled him away.
“I’m not having any bad blood in my pack,” Seizon snapped at them. “If you can’t get along then just keep away from each other.”
“He started it!” Nycha growled.
Chomper almost charged at her again, but Pyron held him back.
“But you can’t honestly say you weren’t provoking him, sis,” Pyron reprimanded her.
Nycha didn’t reply. As they continued walking, Pyron fell back to behind the group slightly, pulling Chomper gently with him.
“Please don’t take anything she says seriously,” Pyron advised. “She’s just very jumpy about newcomers, even more so about leaf-eaters and those associated with them…” he sighed. “She hates them with a most deep-set passion.”
“Why’s that?” Chomper asked, though he wasn’t really interested, he was too busy focusing on keeping his temper under control.
“Well,” Pyron said uncertainly, “It’s just…well, she thinks they killed our parents and lost us our home.”
Chomper, suddenly listening, turned to him in shock.
“What…?”
“I’ll tell you about it some other time,” Pyron assured. “Right now, we’ve got to focus on making sure you and Nycha don’t kill each other.”
“Not much chance of that,” Chomper sighed. “She’s far stronger than I am…”
Pyron laughed.
“True! She could take on anyone – but that’s not what we need. I’m attempting to hold this whole group together. Seizon may claim to do that too, but he’s too busy, well – being Seizon.” He smiled.
“And I really think you can make that work,” he told Chomper. “Holding us together, I mean.”
“How so?” Chomper asked gloomily. “Nycha just wanted my guts for-”
“You’ll turn her around soon enough,” Pyron assured. “Besides – you’ve managed to convince leaf-eaters you’re trustworthy – now you’re just working the other way round!”
Chomper sighed, but nodded and continued walking.
As they continued, Seizon led them to a small woodland, with a few tall trees dotted around, and towering ferns which Spike would be ecstatic over. If only this were the Fanged Forest, Chomper thought dispiritedly. He had had enough of walking already.
Suddenly, Seizon’s nose twitched, as a slight but sustained scent wafted towards him.
“Oh…” he murmured. He then gestured to the six sharpteeth following him. “Wait a moment…”
As they stood watching him intently, Seizon crept forward a few paces before stopping and gazing at something they couldn’t see with wide-eyed horror.
“Get down!” he hissed, waving his hand frantically, and they all immediately ducked. The tall ferns gave them ideal coverage, and as the seven of them hid, Seizon gritted his teeth in frustration.
“Take a look,” he muttered. The other six peered over the top of the ferns and saw exactly what Seizon was referring to.
A huge, grey twoclaw Sharptooth was a short distance from them, standing at an angle so that he (hopefully) couldn’t see them. He was eating gluttonously from a small longneck carcass, but what made this individual so frightening was the obviousness of certain colours – one of his eyes was yellow, but the other was red. The Sharptooth owed that colour to a scar running the length of his face all the way down to his claw, which was red as well…
“Redclaw…” Chomper gasped, his insides vanishing.
“I thought Thud said he was in a coma,” Saureen breathed.
“You didn’t seriously believe him though, did you?” Seizon growled. “They were attempting to deceive us – they’re probably still working with him too…”
“We surely would have smelt them around here though, if that were the case,” Al interrupted. “Besides, you met them just as you were leaving the Valley – why would they be at such a distance from him?”
“There could be a whole host of reasons,” Seizon shot back. “Perhaps he stationed them there to feed us lies and hem us in.”
“He doesn’t look too interested in anything besides that carcass though,” Al pointed out. “And if they were planning to hem us in, why would Screech and Thud try to stop you from taking Chomper out of the Valley?”
Seizon considered.
“It could be a double bluff,” he suggested.
“Seems a bit unlikely,” Saureen reasoned. “Come on Seizon – Redclaw may have simply just woken up from his coma.”
Seizon turned to face them.
“All right – I suppose it doesn’t really matter. The fact still remains, though, that Redclaw is around, meaning that we’re going to have to take a detour. This’ll be uncharted territory, I’m afraid, and will be a longer walk.”
“Uncharted territory and a longer walk??” Lini protested. “That doesn’t sound particularly ideal…”
“Well, if you think it would be better walking in the direct path of that monster,” Seizon gestured to Redclaw, “then be my guest.”
Nobody raised any further objections.
*
As the Bright Circle got higher in the sky, the heat of the day and the exhaustion of walking for so long was getting to Littlefoot. Sweat trickled down his forehead as he struggled onward. Occasionally he glanced back at the gigantic form of Kai. Said longneck didn’t seem exhausted at all, but with his head high up into the sky, it was difficult to be sure.
They arrived at a small clump of trees, and Littlefoot thought that at last they could finally get some shade, when Kai said,
“Alright, short break to eat and rest.”
His tone of voice was strange – almost as though he were a herd leader, giving them direct orders. But Littlefoot was too relieved to dissect this any further. Besides, Spike didn’t need telling twice, and immediately bolted down a clump of ferns.
Kai began to eat too, stripping mouthfuls of leaves off the tree in a steady rhythm. Littlefoot was also helping himself to a few treestars, when he was approached by Cera and Ruby, both of whom looked apprehensive.
“Littlefoot, a word please,” Cera said, inclining her head. And so, Littlefoot let them lead him away to an area a little distance from the rest.
“OK, basically,” Cera explained. “It’s your friend Kai…”
Ruby nodded. “If you’ve noticed what we’ve noticed, then you would have noticed that he’s rude, arrogant, demanding, and…well…there’s just something really strange about this stranger.”
“Yes,” Cera agreed. “I mean, be honest – how many far-walkers come to the Valley alone?”
“Doc?” Littlefoot suggested.
“Yeah, but unlike Doc, there’s nothing heroic about him!” Cera scowled, gesturing angrily at Kai, who was still eating stolidly.
Littlefoot sighed.
“Yeah guys, I know what you mean. But if we hadn’t taken him along, we would have told the grown-ups. Besides, look at his spikes! If we run into any sharpteeth, like Redclaw, he’ll be able to fend them off easily!”
Cera and Ruby nodded, but still looked troubled. Kai, however, who had heard every word of the conversation suddenly spoke up.
“This green food is brilliant,” he said. “It honestly is. Shame your friend isn’t here – I’m sure he would enjoy it.”
Ducky opened her mouth to tell him that Chomper didn’t eat green food, but Petrie immediately zipped down from the tree branch he was resting on and held her beak shut. There was no need to let Kai know any more than he needed to, and so he just laughed nervously.
“Yeah…heh, heh…that’s too bad…”
But it was such an odd question, at such an odd time, and Littlefoot couldn’t help wondering, following the chilling look Kai then gave them all, whether he knew more than he was letting on.
*
The dark eyes misted over as its owner caught sight of what was once his home. The Great Valley…such a beautiful place. And it hadn’t just been his home.
It had been his domain.
Ulciscor strutted over to a small oasis near the mountainous walls to see his contact – a nervous looking onehorn, who kept on swallowing and swivelling his head with the tic that was slowly taking over his body. Ulciscor would have much rather used one of his loyal Bludgeoners, but having one of them as a spy in the Great Valley would have attracted too much attention from those who had been around in his day. Ulciscor wasn’t even sure there were any left, but it was better safe than sorry.
“What news?” Ulciscor asked coldly when he reached the onehorn.
“News…?” the onehorn swallowed. “Well, umm…”
Because of his slowness to reply, Ulciscor struck him hard with his tail. The onehorn yelled in pain as a thin, shining wound appeared on his skin.
“I do not have all day!” Ulciscor snarled. “Tell me what I want to know, or this’ll be the end of the line for you.”
The onehorn swallowed again, before saying,
“It would appear that the Sharptooth has already left the Valley.”
Ulciscor gave another snarl of anger, and the onehorn cowered.
“Xal’s work I suppose…I presume Kai has gone in pursuit?”
“Yes sir – he’s keeping a close watch on a bunch of kids who were friendly with it.”
“Excellent. Well, is that all?”
“Umm…” the onehorn looked even more nervous now. “Well…no sir…”
“Well then? Spit it out!”
“It would seem sir,” the onehorn explained. “That one of the kids in that group was a spiketail who had no parents in the Great Valley, so was adopted by a family of swimmers.”
Ulciscor wrinkled his nose in disgust. “Actual integration of inferior dinosaurs? How the Great Valley has changed since I was there…but is that all you wanted to tell me?”
“No!” the onehorn replied. He looked absolutely terrified, but was determined that Ulciscor understand. “I had my suspicions sir, and so I did a bit of research – meeting with various leaf-eaters and what not, and it turns out…” he gulped once more before saying: “It turns out that this spiketail is a direct descendant from Omendric’s line! He’s the son of Ronan and Opal!”
A shocked silence greeted these words. Ulciscor’s eyes became wide and horror-struck. He gazed up at the sky for a while, taking in what his servant had just told him, thinking fast, before saying slowly,
“If the residents of the Valley hear about this, they’ll want him as undisputed leader, whereas that is
my job.” He now looked furious.
“Well, if he was found without any parents, it’s likely Ronan and Opal are dead. That’ll make things easier. But in any case, we need to mobilize quickly. I must send word to Kai to dispose of the spiketail brat as quickly as possible.”
“But I don’t know where they are!” the onehorn protested.
Ulciscor glared at him.
“I wasn’t talking about you,” he snapped, his long tail snaking around the onehorn’s neck. “You’ve served your purpose.”
A resounding snap of a neck cut harshly through the still air, and the old onehorn fell to the ground, never to move again.
~0~
And omigosh there you have it!!! Talk about a revelation! Unless you expected it already. So, Spike is heir apparent to the Great Valley, eh? That'll throw up some dispute with Ulciscor, WHO WE NOW SEE OUTSIDE OF A FLASHBACK FOR THE FIRST TIME!!! :blink: What's he up to? And what's going on with Screech and Thud, Redclaw, Seizon, Chomper and the rest of the pack? Will Nycha succeed in killing Chomper? What do you think of her personality, as well as everyone else's? These questions will be answered soon...I hope...
Anyway, give me your thoughts, and thanks for reading!!
