Oooh, you lucky things...here's another chapter, not long after the last one!
A word of warning due to this speedy update though - make sure you've read the previous chapter before you make a start on this one, just to make sure you don't read in the wrong order!
Chapter Eight: Full Scheme AheadChomper and the other six looked in the direction of said snide voice to see who had uttered it. There question was answered when a stocky Sharptooth around their age, perhaps slightly older, sauntered towards them, looking about as calm as he would be discussing the weather. He was stocky and lean, with distinguished chest muscles upon a tarnished raw-red hide, with incredibly stumpy which were even shorter than Chomper’s. It was obvious what he lacked with his arms though were made up by everything else – his short, brutish snout and a head topped with vicious looking horns, not to mention immensely powerful hind-legs which Chomper noticed not even Lini could match up to.
Seizon, a look of distaste on his face immediately sauntered over to the stranger, squaring off the way you would before a fight. Saureen groaned inwardly. This was not going well at all – they couldn’t afford to go around threatening aggressors, certainly not in caves and complex and unnerving as this one.
Seizon and the stranger were eye to eye, staring each other down. The tension in the air was so thick that you could have cut through it with a bone from the longneck skeleton. Chomper chanced a glance at everyone else. They too were on edge, as though they were prepared to strike if the stranger so much as moved a muscle.
“Name?” Seizon barely spoke in more than a whisper, but with the defeaning silence he didn’t need to speak any louder.
“Nott,” the stranger replied. “Yours?”
“Seizon.”
“Well, Seizon, you’re on our turf. This cave is ours. All its advantages and blessings are ours. I suggest you get out.”
It wasn’t a request. Chomper, feeling slightly sick, could see the saliva dripping from Nott’s jaws as he delivered this ësuggestion.’ It was clear he was riled up for a fight.
“And if I don’t?” Seizon countered. Saureen made a soft little moaning sound, grimacing as she watched for an aggressive retaliation from Nott. Nott however, smiled. Nevertheless, it was a rather demonic smile that went perfectly well with the horns atop his head.
“It would be a terrible shame,” he replied, his grin widening suggesting he thought the complete opposite. “But then I would have to dispose of you. Admittedly, your skeleton would go well with the one over there.” He gestured.
Seizon snorted with laughter, the last thing Chomper felt like doing.
“I don’t think you’re in any position to make threats,” he told Nott savagely. “In case you haven’t noticed, you’re outnumbered seven to one.”
Nott was still smiling.
“Well, that’s because you haven’t seen the wonderful massed pack I’ve got living in this dwelling,” he said. A chill swept down Chomper’s spine? Massed pack? He didn’t like the sound of that. Nor, apparently, did Seizon, who had fallen silent at Nott’s words.
Then, surprisingly, Nott turned away.
“I’ll give you ten minutes,” he said. “If you’re not out of our territory after that, we’re coming to get you. That’s a garantuee, Seizon.”
He strode back off into the shadows until he was out of sight.
Seizon turned back to his pack.
“Outside,” he growled. “We need to rethink our strategy. If he insults us, he insults Xal. There’s no way he’s getting away with this.”
*
“I thought you’d be at the meeting.”
Topps looked up as his wife approached.
“Well,” he said smoothly. “My throat hurts. Hollering at everyone can get exhausting once in a while.”
He said nothing else. Tria knew this strategy of old – Topps was always uncomfortable with bringing things up. It would be down to her to cut to the chase.
So she did. “Topsy, I think we need to talk.”
Topps chewed these words over – he was chewing a piece of fern as well, but Tria knew better than to take that as a sign that he wasn’t listening. Her dear husband always tried to avoid any awkwardness by some sort of physical repetition. That piece of fern he was chewing on looked older than Saurus Rock and Tria knew he had no intention of swallowing it. But chewing on it prevented him from looking awkward – well, that’s what he thought anyway…
“Talk?” Topps eventually said, dropping the dry bit of vegetation.
“Yes, Topsy. We can’t solve our current problems through more arguing. Please tell me what’s on your mind.”
Topps sighed.
“OK,” he said. “I’ll try as best I can. It’s like this.” He began to pace around slightly, occasionally gazing off into the distance as he did so.
“Cera’s growing up,” he eventually began. “The Time of Great Growing is nearly upon her – I know full well that the stiffness she’s recently been feeling above her eyes are her brow horns coming through.” He smiled reminiscently. “It seemed Trinity had a sort of recessive trait in her family that made them come through quite late. It was the case for all of my daughters.”
Tria didn’t say anything. She knew they had moved into sensitive territory now, with Topps mentioning his late wife.
“Which includes Rea,” Topps continued. “I’ve mentioned her before, yes?”
Tria nodded. “She’s your eldest daughter, yes? The one who had started her own family before the drought?”
“Yes,” Topps nodded. “She has two children of her own – Dinah and Dana. Ever since arriving at the Great Valley, I have seen her only twice.” He glanced at Tria, his eyes apologetic and sorrowful.
“I’m sorry,” he sighed. “But the last time I saw her…I told her about you. And I haven’t seen her since…”
“Oh!” Tria swallowed, but tried her best to put sympathy in her tone. “Please don’t read too much into that dear! It’s probably just coincidence…”
Topps nodded sadly. “But maybe I’ve just been feeling guilty about that – and how Cera’s all I’ve got left – from the original batch anyway. I don’t know how easily I’ll be able to let her go. And I know I haven’t been the best father to her. I don’t know what she’ll think of me when she grows up. Perhaps she’ll just move on and leave me…” Tears began to leak from his eyes. It was incredible. He had hardly ever shown this side to anyone.
“You’re being paranoid Topsy!” Tria strode towards him and nuzzled him gently.
“Cera wouldn’t do that! She loves you – you’re her father, and you’re all she’s got.”
Topps looked at her reproachfully.
“And what does that make you?” he asked.
Tria smiled. “I’m glad you think I’m a worthy mother for Cera. The truth is Trinity wouldn’t want you and Cera to be alone. Remember, we all knew each other once?”
Topps nodded and sighed reminiscently.
“Ah yes! Those were the days…”
“Yes,” Tria nodded. “And as far as I knew her, she wouldn’t resent you for anything, even if Rea does. She’d be very proud of how you’ve brought her up.”
“You think so?”
“Yes! She’s a very independent young threehorn. You will have to let her go eventually, but you would have to anyway. When the time comes, she will leave us with love and continue to be strong and proud, just like her mother. And you won’t be alone. You’ll have Tricia. And-” She nuzzled him warmly again. “You have me.”
Topps smiled, and the two of them shared a threehorn embrace, which isn’t an actual embrace due to manoeuvrability in large four-legged animals, but as they held their bodies close to each other, it felt exactly how any embrace would.
Mama Flyer landed next to them.
“You’re not going to believe this,” she said. “Some idiot told us where we could find the kids and left us on a wild fast runner chase back to the Great Valley. And now he’s trying to forcibly enter via the Hidden Canyon!”
*
On the subject of wild fast runner chases, the gang were getting nowhere fast in their hunt for Chomper. Spike’s sniffer, as Ducky put it, was all sniffted out, and despite the heavenly treesweet he had had earlier, his stomach’s rumbling was echoing around the place and causing vibrations enough to knock Ducky and Petrie off their perches – their perch of course, being Spike’s back.
Eventually, Cera turned around to look at the hungry lad. But said lad was surprised to see her expression was not annoyed, but thoughtful.
“Here,” she said. She led him over to a stream that had been parallel to them for a while. “Drink that up, and you’ll probably find a few water-greens in their too.” Spike didn’t need any more encouragement. Nor apparentley, did Ducky or Petrie. But as the four of them began to happily munch their way through this feast, Littlefoot and Ruby came over.
“Cera!” Littlefoot exclaimed. “What are you doing? We’ve just had a break!”
“Yeah,” Cera agreed. She bobbed for some more waterweed. “But it was a tougher walk than we expected.”
“But…” Littlefoot looked behind him. The tall form of Kai, oblivious to their pit-stop, continued to stride away.
“Kai’s…”
“Going off without us,” Cera finished the sentence for him. “But like you said, he’d have told the grown-ups if we hadn’t taken him with us. If we give him the slip now, we can continue this at our own pace, without him.” She said the last word rather savagely.
Littlefoot, at a loss for words, turned to Ruby to see what she would say about this. She, to his surprise, was smiling.
“Yeah! Good plan Cera.” She picked up some water-green herself. “Admit it Littlefoot – you didn’t want him with us either.”
Littlefoot sighed, but nodded.
“OK – but we’ve also got to work out how we’re going to find Chomper. I mean, by now he could be anyw-”
A loud roar drowned out the rest of his words.
In terror, the six of them looked up as a large pale blue Sharptooth came stomping towards them. He had obviously been drawn to this stream by the promise of cool water. It was his good fortune, and their bad fortune, that there had been fresh meat here too.
With a combination of strangled gasps and screams, the six young leaf-eaters turned heel and fled. With another feral growl, the Sharptooth began to give chase.
Littlefoot was surprised how fast it could run, and before long it was gaining on them. Frantically, he began looking around for something they could use to get an advantage over their blood-thirsty pursuer.
Then…
“That tree!”
The tree he was referring to was standing alone in this desolate terrain, with a thick trunk and several branches that would be fairly easy to scramble up. But not for the Sharptooth. In Littlefoot’s experience, large sharpteeth were not adept at climbing trees.
They all took his advice and began to clamber up said tree. Some of the branches were thinner that Littlefoot had anticipated, and he felt them bending under his weight, but he continued to climb higher, hoping that the thicker branches higher up would give him a foot-hold of sorts, high enough to be out of the sharptooth’s reach. Ruby, a nimble climber, and already made it to a thick branch of safety, and was now leaning down in an attempt to help Cera clamber up too, Petrie flapping around them, warning them to be careful.
So, large sharpteeth can’t climb trees. But this one clearly hadn’t got the memo. As Littlefoot looked down, he saw the predator grip onto the thick trunk with claws larger than was originally realised and began, slowly but surely, to shin up the tree. Gulping, Littlefoot attempted to climb higher, but with the sharptooth’s weight now pinned to the tree, the whole thing was swaying and creaking. This shuddering was so intense, in fact, that Ducky lost her grip, and began to fall, with a terrified scream, into the sharptooth’s open jaws.
Littlefoot tried to reach her, but Spike got their first. Even in his climbing gait he corkscrewed his entire body around and lunged down, gripping hold of Ducky’s tail with his teeth, yanking her out of harm’s way. The only trouble now was, the position he was in rendered him completely immobile unless he were to fall into the predator’s waiting gob, along with Ducky…
The Sharptooth continued clawing his way towards them and was just in the position to inflict a devastating blow when something hard rammed forcefully against its body. It was flung clean off and away from the tree, landing with a thud and an eruption of dirt about ten metres away. The six young dinosaurs in the tree got a good look at their saviour, and the recognised the spikes at once.
It was Kai.
Despite their previous misgivings about the longneck, they nevertheless cheered as he stood in a battle stance and the Sharptooth got to its feet, prepared to take on this new challenge.
It charged forward, and with an angry grunt, Kai swung his head like a golf club, allowing it to once again smash into the sharptooth’s side. As the carnivore attempted to once again get back to his feet, Kai surged forward and reared up on his hind legs, preparing to bring the front ones smashing down on top of it.
The Sharptooth dodged just in time, and deciding it was not worth the risk for a few juveniles, began to lumber away.
The children cheered and slid down off the tree near Kai.
“That was great Kai!” Littlefoot complimented.
But Kai didn’t answer. He was not done yet.
Without warning and to the shock and astonishment of the children, he charged forward at the sharptooth’s retreating back. The Sharptooth barely had time to turn around and defend itself when Kai swung his mighty tail, adorned with their fearsome spikes, and struck the predator hard across the skin, sending him careering further backwards, the spikes having scraped across his scales, sending droplets of blood splattering across the ground as the creature tumbled.
Slightly sickened, Littlefoot yelled out,
“Kai, leave it, its running away!”
But Kai had gone deaf to any reason. Even as the Sharptooth prepared to flee, he charged at it again, smacking it around with his tail and neck, adding more shining cuts to his collection of injuries.
From his hovering position, Petrie could see that there was strategy in Kai’s attacks – he was chasing the Sharptooth towards a deep ravine nearby. Upon realising this, he gave a gasp of horror.
“This doesn’t look good!” he warned the others. In response, they all charged forward to where the fight was taking place – or, to be more accurate, the beating.
But they soon wished they hadn’t.
With no other place to go, the Sharptooth was teetering on the edge of the ravine, covered in cuts, and with an almighty shove, Kai flung into deep into the chasm.
But it wasn’t just a random fling – Kai had specifically aimed for something within the ravine. Looking down, the gang could see some of the biggest stone teeth they have ever seen jutting out from the bottom, and a split second later, the sharptooth’s limp form had fallen atop the tallest and sharpest one, getting instantly impaled.
The point of the stone tooth jutted out of the predator’s chest as blood ran all over the place. The animal gave a strangled gasp, before his head flopped back, mouth open, eyes blank and staring.
For a few seconds, nobody moved or said anything. Then Littlefoot looked up at Kai.
Kai flexed his shoulders.
“Not a bad shot, I’d say,” he said casually.
Littlefoot heard Cera retch behind him, but it was barely audible compared to the ringing in his ears. Kai had said…what?
“I suggest we get moving,” Kai continued, turning away from the grisly sight. “I also suggest you don’t lag again – lest anymore damned sharpteeth attack you.”
“And lest you kill anymore…” Littlefoot thought weakly. He took another look down at the body of the Sharptooth – it was incredible that he should be feeling sympathy for something that had been trying to eat him moments before. But with a horrible jolt that made him want to retch too, Littlefoot realised that Kai could have just as easily, if not more so, done that to Chomper…
He exchanged a look with his friends. Their expressions all said exactly the same thing he was thinking. This longneck was both insane and dangerous, and the sooner they got rid of him, the better.
*
“Seizon! Forget them!”
“No, Saureen, they’re getting what they asked for.”
The five other Sharptooth stood in a respectful silence as these two ësorted it out.’ Seizon was being as stubborn as a rock and Saureen was almost crying with exasperation.
“What do you even hope to gain?” she demanded. “I for one am not prepared to deal with vicious heavies beating us up if we don’t get off Nott’s turf.”
“He was bluffing,” Seizon snapped back. “I’m sure of it.”
Saureen just gaped at him.
“I don’t think so,” Al replied, speaking up for the first time. “Someone does not have the guts to square up to a whole pack unless they have back-up. Besides, do you really think he killed that longneck on his own?”
Seizon knew he was hit with an unanswerable argument, so he simply changed tack at the speed of light. Chomper had to admire him for how well he did that.
“Do you have no faith in our abilities?” Seizon demanded of them. “Quality always triumphs over quantity.”
“I agree!” Nycha said earnestly. “Our pack works as a team. We’re strong and can’t be brought down by wannabes!”
Is this what she thought? Chomper wasn’t so sure. She constantly went on about how Chomper didn’t fit in the pack. Either she had had a change of heart, wasn’t including him, or, most likely of the three, this was another attempt to get Seizon to return her feelings.
If so, it was in vain. Seizon was still trying to convince Saureen.
“Last time I checked,” Pyron said, shooting a sideways glance at his sister. “Such packs like to weed out the weaker links…”
Nycha shot him a disgusted look. This surprised Chomper – he had the feeling he was being kept out of a loop.
“This arguing is getting us nowhere!” Seizon roared, and everyone fell silent.
“Listen – I know it’s bound to be dangerous, but if we nip this menace in the bud, it’ll mean one less rival group when we begin our revolution. I need to see how big Nott’s group is before I can even think about attacking – see, I am thinking this through.”
Saureen rolled her eyes.
“I, and one or two of you are going to sneak in and spy on Nott and his ëfriends.’ If he was exaggerating, we’re good to go and if he wasn’t…well, we’ll get to that if it comes to it. So, who shall accompany me?”
He gave them a second to mull it over, then…
“Chomper!” Seizon smiled brightly. “No offence meant, but you’re skinnier than the rest of us – sneaking around should be your thing.”
Chomper wanted to protest, but he could only gulp.
“Good lad!” Seizon nodded. “Right anyone else?”
“I’ll go with you,” Pyron said at once, stepping forward.
Seizon nodded. “Right. That should be enough. The rest of you stand guard out here.”
He began to walk back towards the cave entrance. Just then, he felt a drop of water on his snout.
“Ah, sky water!” Lini complained. “We can’t stand guard out in this!”
“Why not?” Seizon looked offended. Then he gave a blissful sigh.
“I love sky water,” he murmured. “The sound and smell of it is great. I don’t know why people hate it so much.”
He turned to Chomper and Pyron.
“It makes things grow,” he explained. “Provides water to drink – it’s a sign that, even in days of turmoil and trial, the world is still continuing.”
These words of wisdom left everyone else slightly non-plussed. Seizon didn’t wait for a response, and simply strode into the cave, Pyron and Chomper following him.
“Sky water…?” Chomper muttered at Pyron.
“Yeah,” Pyron replied, shaking his head. “Never knew he liked it so much. Interesting way of looking at things, isn’t it?”
“Mmm,” Chomper nodded. “What exactly did you mean earlier, when you said to Nycha about weak links?”
Pyron looked uncomfortable.
“Sorry about that…” he said. “I was just letting my emotions get the better of me. The way she’s been treating you is…horrible…”
“Don’t worry,” Chomper shrugged. “I can deal with it.”
Pyron shook his head. “That’s not the point – me and Nycha know what it’s like to be underdogs, and she’s denying it completely. I told you earlier that she blamed leaf-eaters for the deaths of our parents?”
“Yeah?”
“Like I said – denial. Leaf-eaters are not to blame.”
“Then…who are?”
A grim expression passed Pyron’s face.
“They did it subtly,” he muttered. “But I have no doubt that it was the leaders of our own pack.”
Chomper gasped.
“Yep,” Pyron nodded. “Trying to remove the weakest links. Slowly, but surely. And ever since that disastrous episode, Nycha’s trying to prove she’s not weak. I think that’s why she’s so attracted to Seizon – to her, he’s a strong young Sharptooth, who will lead her out of her dark state of mind.” He sighed. “Even so, it’s no excuse to take it out on you. I can tell you’re struggling still – why else do you think I decided to come along to Seizon’s little spy game?”
Chomper looked up, hardly daring to believe it. Pyron smiled.
“Yeah,” he said. “You’re not on your own mate.”
At that statement, Chomper felt a warmth spread through him, and he couldn’t help smiling himself. Maybe this pack wasn’t so bad, if it meant friends could come at him where he wasn’t expecting it.
“I think it’s here,” Seizon hissed.
Chomper started. He had almost forgotten where he was, but now he saw that him, Seizon and Pyron were deep into the cave, and Seizon was peering over the edge of some sort of crevice. It was so dark, it was hard to make out what was below, but he gestured for them to keep low, and so they did so, peering over the edge as well.
What Chomper saw made his heart stop.
Sharpteeth. A whole crowd of adolescent sharpteeth, milling around Nott, who was clearly their leader. And he was talking to them loud and clear.
“There are only seven of them. They shouldn’t be too much to be concerned about, but at the same time, it’s important to keep a close watch on our bounties here. They may have fled, but just in case…”
He turned to the biggest Sharptooth there, a jet-black behemoth who’s rippling muscles spelt doom in Chomper’s eyes to every single one of them, him being larger than any member of their pack.
“Torq, I want you out on external security,” Nott told him. “They’ll have a job getting past you…”
Torq grinned a sinister grin, his white teeth gleaming.
“And Yuti,” Nott continued. “I want you deeper within the complex, protecting our riches.”
The Sharptooth he was addressing was a female with a golden snout housing a powerful-looking jaw and a white coat of feathers adorning her head all the way down to her tail. Unlike Torq, she didn’t immediately look like anything sinister, but as Chomper knew, looks could be deceiving. At Nott’s word, she gave a small bow and began to walk away from the rough-looking gang.
“Uh…I didn’t mean now!” Nott called after, frowning slightly. “We’ve got to wait to see if they make a move.”
“It can’t hurt to make sure now though, surely?” she called back. She had a sly sort of voice, one that was trying to convince itself it was right. She didn’t wait for a response from Nott, and simply slunk off into the shadows.
Seizon leaned back from looking over the edge of the crevice and turned to Chomper and Pyron, grinning, which, considering the size of Nott’s pack (not to mention the size of Torq) was the last thing Chomper felt like doing.
“I knew it!” Seizon hissed in delight. “They have got stuff stocked here – he wasn’t just trying to show off…well, as well as taking this cave from him, we’ll also get ahold of THAT too! It might even be the shiny stones that the Stingy Fast Biter lost here that one time…”
“You actually believe that story?” Chomper asked. But before Seizon could reply, Pyron cut across him.
“No, Seizon,” he said sharply. “I’m sorry – I’ve gone with what you’ve said before, but not this time.” He was genuinely angry. “We’re horribly outnumbered, and did you see the size of that Sharptooth? We’re not risking ourselves here. We need to get out as soon as possible…”
“What’s the hurry?” Seizon asked casually.
“The hurry???” Pyron almost screamed at him. “That girl – Yuti – didn’t go off to check the alleged riches, she obviously smelt that she had unwelcome guests about!”
“That’s right,” a sly voice said behind them. “I’m surprised you decided to come and have a nose around so soon, but it doesn’t matter. We’ll finish this off quicker now.”
*
There was a lot of commotion around the Hidden Canyon. Not only had some stranger decided to waltz in through it, but he had broken down the boulder used to keep sharpteeth out. And now, he was standing there, in the pile of rubble, blinking absent-mindedly at the perplexed and angry crowd milling around him.
He was a longneck, but a very strange one at that – he was quite squat and stocky, and there was a large club at the end of his tail, which he had clearly used to knock down the boulder.
“What do you think you’re playing at?” Topps demanded. “That boulder is needed for keeping sharpteeth out of our Valley!”
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that,” the stranger replied. “Once we’ve integrated ourselves, they’ll be no need for it – we’ll provide the best security and bring an end to that menace once and for all.”
These words sent a slight chill up Tria’s spine, and as she did so she heard a small voice whispering in her ear. It was her common sense, and it was trying to tell her something she would have known at once if she hadn’t been so psyched about making it up with her dear husband. Those words sounded sweet enough, but if you listened to them carefully, they sounded similar to something a former Valley leader had once said…and this longneck had a club at the end of his tail, just like members of a certain brigade…
“Wait a minute…!” she yelled.
The stranger fixed her with a steely glare.
“I don’t have time to wait,” he snapped. “In fact – it’s finally begun…”
Suddenly, more club-tailed longnecks – or Bludgeoners, as Tria knew them to be – where striding towards them at all angles, creating a rough circle around the crowd – and circles don’t get any rougher.
“Huh?” Topps looked around wildly. “How did they get in??”
“Entrances from everywhere!” came a voice. They all turned to see Thicknose running towards them, but he came skidding to a halt when he saw the Bludgeoners.
He looked around wildly, his face contort with horror. He couldn’t believe it – how had he missed all the signs?? It was happening again…
Everyone in the Valley had been anxious to hear of news from where the children where, so when they flyers had returned, they had all gathered near where their courier had led them. This left Bludgeoners free to come out from all sorts of various entrances without being noticed – over the mountains were the Thundering Falls came from, the Secret Caverns, the forest at Saurus Rock…it was a full-scale invasion all right, and how had he not noticed…?
But of course, after the foot soldiers, soon to come would be the…
Thicknose, not even sure what he was planning, turned and ran.
“Stop him!” one of the Bludgeoners bellowed.
“No, leave him,” the leader replied. “There’s nowhere to run, we’re all over the Valley. It’s in our control now. Ulciscor will be here soon. And if he goes out into the Mysterious Beyond, Kai will deal with him. No – this mission has been executed perfectly.”
“What shall we do with this lot then?” the other replied.
“Get them to the Rock Circle, and we shall detain them there as we await further orders.”
*
Ulciscor strolled calmly down towards the watering hole, gazing around with mild interest. It had been long – too long – since he had been here. He also had some people he’d like to see.
And he’d found them.
“Well, hello,” he said.
*
Thicknose run around and full pelt, trying to find who he was looking for. He didn’t know quite how he’d manage to head Ulciscor off, but he knew he must. He was the only one Ulciscor knew.
As he ran towards the watering hole, he saw, with a sickening jolt to his stomach, the sinister iron longneck standing there, tall and imperious, gazing at two individuals who were gazing back at him in mingled horror and astonishment.
Grandma and Grandpa Longneck had unintentionally taken the long route when heading towards the Hidden Canyon to hear news of their grandson, and had come face to face with Ulciscor himself. Thicknose skidded to a halt. Ulciscor turned around to face him, his eyes wide and curious.
“Dorian? Wow – I didn’t expect anyone from the old days to still be here…I take it you’re the only one?”
“Yes,” Thicknose spat back. “Not least because you killed everyone else!”
Grandma Longneck gave a small whimper. This surprised Thicknose – sure, hearing about death wasn’t the greatest thing in the world, but he thought she was tougher than this? Ignoring this in face of the greater peril, he said hurriedly,
“Mr and Mrs Longneck, this is-”
“Ulciscor,” Grandpa Longneck replied, his voice flat. “Yes Dorian, we know.”
“What?” Thicknose looked around wildly. “But he was in the Valley before you-”
“I’m aware of that,” Grandpa Longneck replied shakily. “But you see Dorian, this-”
He gulped.
“This…is our son.”
~0~
Now, I've had to manipulate timelines a bit here, making Grandpa and Grandma older than Thicknose and all that, but anyway...
Talk about a revelation! :blink: Hope you enjoyed, and let me know what you think. In this chapter, things are beginning to...err, begin, and for everyone, things seem to have taken a turn for the worse! I wonder what will happen next? Well, actually, I know...
For those interested, here are some new species - Nott is a
Carnotaurus, Torq is a
Torvosaurus, Yuti is a
Yutyrannus and the unlucky sharptooth who got on the wrong side of Kai (like he has a right side) was a
Deltadromeus.
