[Note, for added dramatic effect, read this chapter while listening to the following:
Triumph or Agony by Rhapsody of FireEnjoy!]
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"Hurry! Get everyone away from the trees!!"
"We must head upwind of the fires! That way!"
"Three-boulder Pass has collapsed!"
"Keep away from the opening!! Sharpteeth could come through any second!"
Threehorn and Grandpa Longneck's commanding voices rang out above the cacophony overthrowing the Valley. Standing either end of the opening in the Great Wall, along with Mr. Clubtail, Thicknose and Hyp's father, they shouted out orders to the panicking dinosaurs around them.
"It's not safe here! Get your families together and move it!" Topsy shouted to a nearby herd of Spiketails. They promptly hurried about, gathering whoever they could find, and heading to higher ground.
"Topsy, we need to go, now!"
Tria galloped to Topsy's side, Tricia perched on her neck, with Cera by her side. She had regained consciousness, but was still injured, and too groggy to walk.
Topsy shook his head "You girls go ahead! I still have to stay here, the other herds need me!"
Tricia looked as if she was going to argue, but she knew there was no use. He was stubborn and unmovable on a good day! Plus, she needed to get Cera somewhere safe to recover.
Nodding, she called a quick "Hold on!" to the two threehorn girls on her back, and took off at a dogtrot in the direction all the other dinosaurs were heading, towards the higher ledges on the Great Wall.
The old threehorn watched his family go, silently begging that they would be safe. He also made a mental note to personally dismember whoever or whatever had attacked Cera.
"I think that's everyone in this area!" Grandpa Longneck called, as he approached Topsy "What now then, old friend?"
But before he could answer, there came a mighty roar from not far away. Savage and feral, it sounded like nothing either of the old dinosaurs had ever heard inside the Great Valley before.
"Sharpteeth?! But how...?"
"I know... you and I have been guarding the opening, and nothing's gotten through... You don't think there could be another opening?!"
Longneck shook his head "Couldn't be. We'd have seen it or heard it by now!"
Any further thought was cut short as the ground began to shake underfoot. A disturbance in the nearby trees caught their attention, and the source of the noise emerged.
Sprinting full pelt out of the trees there emerged a strange dinosaur, the likes of which neither dinosaur had ever seen. Not very large, it appeared to have a similar body to a belly-dragger, but its head was very different, similar in design to a regular sharptooth, with a double-line of spikes going down its back. On its back, a smaller dinosaur was perched, not much bigger than Ducky, but with a much sleeker build, and a sharper face. Definitely a fast-biter of some kind, and a female.
The pair both had a strange sort of black grass covering their bodies, tied around their necks, wrapped around their limbs. The pair skidded to a halt as they breached into the clearing, glancing around furtively. But a second fearsome roar from behind them sent them running through the clearing and back into the trees on the other side.
Littlefoot held on as best he could to Redback's neck. The sinews and muscles pulsed under the sharptooth's skin as he moved, fatigue and injury meaning nothing to him.
As they breached the trees, they found themselves by the opening in the Great Wall. A group of dinosaurs were gathered nearby the opening, apparently keeping guard, but at the speed they were moving, Littlefoot couldn't tell who they were.
Redback paused for a moment and sniffed the air. Through the dust and smoke, the odour of the Blackweeds was unmistakable. Baring his teeth in a snarl, he took off again after Celya and Rheddo.
As the pair hurried past the opening, Littlefoot looked back at the opening and his eyes widened as he spotted among the dinosaurs, his grandfather. He felt his eyes meet Grandpa's, before they passed the opening by, entering the trees again.
The group of older dinosaurs stood rooted to the spot, shocked by what they had just seen. First those two young sharpteeth who had somehow gotten into the Valley, and then that... that monster!
"...The heck was that?!"
"How did those sharpteeth get in here?! You said yourself, we've been guarding the opening!"
"What if there's more of them?!"
Grandpa Longneck, however, took off after them without a word.
"What are you doing, Longneck!" Topsy called after him.
The old longneck looked back as he trotted as fast as he could "Didn't you see? My Littlefoot was on the back of that sharptooth! Something's up with those ones!"
Topsy hurried after his old friend. A sudden thought set him in motion: What if these sharpteeth had something to do with Cera?!
"You three stay here and guard the opening!" He called back to the remaining dinosaurs by the entrance, running faster to catch up to Longneck.
The three remaining dinosaurs watched in puzzlement as Threehorn and Longneck trotted off after the sharptooth. Not one of them noticed the cloud of dust, rising in the distance behind them...
Rheddo skidded to a halt as they exited the grove of trees.
"We gotta lose 'em." Celya shouted at him "That crazy sharptooth looked like he'd lost it!"
"Ya mean more than usual?" Rheddo replied. He lowered his voice as he asked "Ya don't think it's the Redwrath again?"
"Looked like it. You couldn't have seen, but I got a good look at his face... Definitely Redwrath."
Rheddo scurried to the other side of the grove, to gain a little more distance "Huh, haven't heard of that for a while. No chance we'll lose him if he's under the Wrath."
"We gotta finish him for good. Then we can meet up with Tero and enjoy the show from his spot."
"Right, I can see it from here; it should be quick enough to get there" He pointed to a ledge on the Great Wall just on the other side of the trees. "You got a plan then?" Rheddo lowered his head, letting the fast-biter slide off his back.
"How about this," Celya began "You stay here and keep him busy, meanwhile I'll..."
But her words were cut short as a boulder the size of a threehorn's head came sailing through the air, slamming into Celya like a cannonball. She was sent reeling a few feet, until she became sandwiched between the rock and a nearby tree trunk. She slid down the trunk like a broken doll and lay still.
Rheddo turned in horror as he saw Redback stampeding into the grove, a second boulder in hand.
"YOU'RE NEXT!!" Roared the sharptooth as he hurled the rock at Rheddo.
The belly dragger dodged out of the way, catching the rock on the tip of his tail. He shrieked in pain, but fell silent as he saw the expression on Redback's face.
His eyes, once shining and a delicate shade of red, almost pink, had glazed over in a dull, solid crimson. No emotion showed in his eyes save raw, uninhibited rage. His teeth were bared in a permanent snarl, dripping saliva, hungry for battle.
No question about it. The Redwrath has overcome him, Rheddo thought as he prepared to charge.
"Redback!"
Littlefoot staggered into the grove, slightly bruised and battered. Redback's bucking body had become increasingly difficult to hold onto, until finally Littlefoot lost any grip and dropped off. He tumbled along on the ground a few feet and stopped.
But the sharptooth had just kept running. He had not stopped for his friend, he didn't even seem to notice! He just kept following Rheddo and Celya.
As Littlefoot entered the grove, he saw in shock the limp body of Celya, her body broken by the boulder. He was astounded by the size of the rock itself; even for a sharptooth of Redback's size, it would be nearly impossible to throw it that far!
"STAY BACK, LITTLEFOOT!" Growled Redback as he heard the longneck's voice.
"But Redback, we have to keep going... The longer we..."
"I SAID STAY BACK!"
Redback turned his head to face Littlefoot. The expression on his face froze the young dinosaur on the spot. What had come over him? What had happened to his eyes?
Redback squinted through the red mist that clouded his mind and vision. He saw Rheddo, pacing like a cornered animal, poised to strike. Why was he holding his ground here? What was he defending?
He looked beyond the belly-dragger and above the treeline. There he saw him.
Just visible through his clouded vision, the unmistakably skinny, gaunt form of Tero was standing on that ledge, viewing the carnage from the perfect vantage point.
Redback had little time to muse on such a matter though, as Rheddo charged headlong into his stomach, knocking the wind clean out of him.
The pair fell to the ground, claws slashing, teeth gnashing. Rheddo wrapped his thin body around Redback, biting his arm clean through to the bone.
Redback roared in pain and anger, pummeling Rheddo in the head with his free arm.
The fighters broke apart, Rheddo reeling from the barrage of punches. Getting to his feet, he bared a clawed hand, lunging forth at Redback once! Twice!
Redback grabbed the belly-dragger by the neck, kicking out with a clawed foot, scoring three deep gashes into his opponent's leg.
Rheddo screeched again in pain, biting down as hard as he could on Redback's arm again. But no matter what kind of wound he inflicted, it was as if nothing was sinking in! He was shaking off the worst of wounds as if they were nothing!
But his musings were cut short as Redback's massive jaws closed around his head. A sickening crunch was the last thing the belly-dragger heard before darkness fell.
Throwing away the headless body of Rheddo, Redback spat out the severed head and turned, panting, to look at Littlefoot.
The longneck had never seen such a terrifying sight. He had watched fights between dinosaurs before, but nothing as brutal and bloody as this! Most times, the victor would be content with a retreat, or fending off their enemy, but this was a no-holes-barred fight to the death!
"R...Redback...?"
The sharptooth turned on the terrified young longneck, teeth bared, blood dripping from his chops.
"Redback! It's me!! It's Littlefoot!!" He cried, backing away.
Redback stopped. Shaking his head, he rubbed his eyes as if awakening from a long sleep. The red tinge of his eyes retreated back, clearing his vision.
"Uhhh...Oh, Littlefoot...erm..."
"What was that, Redback?!" Littlefoot asked, shocked over the sudden change in his friend "Your eyes went all cloudy and red, you went all crazy..."
"I'm, uh, sorry you had to see that..." Redback said, wringing his hands bashfully "Y'see, whenever I get particularly angry, or get into a fight or somethin'... Well, I kinda change, like you saw. I can barely control what I do, and my vision all goes red... Me and the Brotherhood called it my RedWrath... But it hasn't happened for a long time..."
Littlefoot nodded, becoming very nervous.
"Littlefoot, I have to warn ya. If you ever see me go like that again... do yourself a favour: get behind me and fast."
He nodded again "A-are you okay now, then?"
Redback smiled "Yeah, I'm fine now... Now, if you'll excuse me, I have something I gotta do..."
He breathed deeply and headed in the direction of the Great Wall and the ledge. Littlefoot watched as he went.
"Erm, Redback... What about my friends?"
"Look, Littlefoot..." Redback called back in a serious tone "I know that for you, finding your friends will be top priority. But right now, all I want to do is find Tero and make him suffer."
Littlefoot gulped "But how will I find my friends in all this chaos? They could be anywhere in the Valley!"
"The little sharptooth, the threehorn and the swimmer are all with their families. When I was on that ledge, I saw their parents find them and take them upwind of the fires. They're probably fine.
As for the others, I'll bet Tero's got them up on that ledge with him. Hostages or somethin', you know."
"Well...then I'm going with you!" Littlefoot said, stamping a foot down.
"It'll be dangerous, Littlefoot. You dunno what Tero's like in a pinch..."
But the longneck was adamant "I don't care! If that's where my friends are, I'm going up there to get them!"
A dangerous grin grew on Redback's face "Alright then. Hop on and we'll go up there together."
Littlefoot clambered onto Redback's neck once again, and the pair took off in the direction of the ledge.
Littlefoot looked back and saw that just as they had passed out of the grove, the pursuing adults had entered.
The old pair skidded to a halt as Grandpa Longneck saw the carnage that had occurred.
"Good heavens!" was all he could say, so shocked was he. Mr Threehorn stood by his side, his face visibly pale.
"What d'you suppose happened here?" the threehorn asked.
