This story is looking awesome so far. Nice work.
Thank you very much for your kindness, sir.
Chapter IV: Separated with a First DrinkIn which Dusk’s group split, and Littlefoot has a first encounter.
“I wonder, do you think any of them are coming after us?” Ali asked.
“At least, I don’t think they will for a while. Our encounter with that red creature not long after arriving here was sheer luck,” Dusk replied. “They should be busy for a while.”
Flash Back
A giant, winged beast swooped down and clutched Dusk in his talons. Seconds later, he was instead clutching a small branch. He threw it down in anger and confusion and dived for Dusk again, who was on the ground once more. Dusk forced energy through his claw making long, powerful extensions. Just as the dragon was upon him a second time, Dusk thrust his arm up and cut into his belly. He reeled in pain, falling to the ground.
“Just try and eat me! Dragon meat will make you sick.”
“Much as I think you’re bluffing, I’m not going to eat you. Wait, are you familiar with a dwelling place of Rainbow Faces in that direction?” he asked, pointing.
“Yes. My kind and I know them. We agreed to leave each other in peace.”
“Odd. Very odd.”
“Why?”
“I heard them talking about launching an attack on dragons they recently made peace with. ëThey’ll never suspect us until it’s too late,’ was what Rey said.”
“By the blood of our sovereign! They’ll never get away with this. We’ll attack them first. Thank you, stranger, but, why would you tell me this?”
“I was disgusted with Rey’s breach of promise. That’s why I left that area. A double crosser deserves punishment. See to it that you make him pay for his treachery.”
“You bet I will!”
End of Flash Back
“Here we are,” Ceit told them. Before the group flowed a large river, and a high mountain stood nearby. “By the way, I came up with the perfect plan to get you all safely across.”
“Go on,” Dusk encouraged.
“I’ll just use my switching power to move you all.”
“Genius! The power to switch the position of two things is incredibly useful,” Dusk commented.
“Aye,” he replied, flying over to the other side. “First up. Switch!”
Dusk appeared on the opposite side of the river and where he was, a flower was now resting.
“Okay, just wait a bit for my cool down, and I’ll move another.”
After a few moments, Menta came to the other side, then Coaley, then Ali. The young, female Sharptooth saw a small flower with little seeds sticking out and picked it up to admire. Just as Ceit was about to move Agu, she blew the seeds away and watched them scatter in the wind. Unfortunately, some of them blew right up Ceit’s beak. Just as he said, “Switch!” he sneezed.
Agu vanished, but instead of appearing on the side, he was dropped off early- right into the river.
“Ceit, quick, get him!” Dusk shouted.
“My power is still cooling. Almost ready.”
Agu was splashing and sputtering in the water and yelling, “Help!”
Just as Ceit was starting to say “Switch,” Agu went under. Dusk immediately jumped in after him, but stopped in midair when Menta shouted, “Stop!”
Then Ceit shouted, “Switch!” and Dusk was back on the ground.
“Menta, why did you stop me!?” Dusk roared.
“I- I’m sorry, my lord. I just- I just couldn’t risk losing you too.”
“I could have saved him!”
“No, the river is too strong. You’d’ve been swept away as well.”
“You would really leave Agu to drown?”
“I would not leave both of you to drown, no.”
“Ugh, you fool! You’re letting your feelings for me cloud your judgment. Get out of my sight!”
“But-” though a furious glare from his eyes shut her up quickly.
“I am going to follow the river to see if he survived. If I find him dead, his blood is on your hands.”
Menta shivered.
“I’ll accompany you, ma lord,” Ceit told him.
“No, it’s been a long journey. You all rest here; I’m going alone.” And with that, Dusk took off at a quick pace in search of his friend. Menta started to follow when he vanished from sight, but Ceit clutched her arm and shook his head.
********************
“I don’t believe this! I can’t sleep on the floor! My back-”
“-Is just going to have to deal with it. I won.”
“Uh, what’s going on?” Chomper asked them.
“Oh, good old no-faith here was worried that you couldn’t handle those dragons. So now that you did, I get the whole bed to myself!” Reina finished while clutching herself with glee. Ducky and Ruby exchanged glances, shrugging their shoulders in unison.
“I’ll get a time sorcerer to reverse the damage to the castle later,” Rey told Reina.
Sleeping Littlefoot, who had been carried in on Spike’s back, yawned and slowly opened his eyes. “Can’t you guys just- relax and keep it down, huh?”
“Will you just change back already!?” Reina yelled. “Your laziness is getting on my nerves.”
“Oh. Okay. Release.” Littlefoot quickly looked around him. “Uh, what am I doing on Spike’s back?”
“Just forget it,” Cera told him.
“Anyway, good work fending off the Red Dragon Tribe,” Rey told them. “But now, back to our original problem- finding Dusk. Any suggestions? I’m clueless.”
“He just now figured that out?” Reina mumbled.
“Hm?”
“Nothing!”
“May I say something?”
“Sure, Littlefoot, go ahead,” Rey encouraged.
“I’m sorry for not bringing this up sooner, but getting two powers at once gets a little confusing. I’ve been trying to get everything sorted out in my head, and, I finally have. When I transform to become like water, I can see everything that has to do with it.”
“I hear what you are saying, but what are you trying to say?” Ruby asked. “I don’t understand.”
“I can change my viewpoint from anything made of water. Any puddles, for example, I can connect with and see everything around them or anything that has been around them recently. And since plants soak up water, I can use them too like Cera was able to.”
“Remarkable,” Rey said, hand on his chin. “You all can find Dusk easily now.”
“That is very good, it is, it is,” Ducky remarked. Spike nodded in agreement.
“So while we travel, we’ll just have Littlefoot see what water source is near Dusk, describe it you, and you’ll know where to go?” Chomper asked.
“Nope,” Reina replied. The kids all turned to her. “Rey and I are the rulers of this kingdom. We arenët supposed to meddle in the affairs of other worlds, so weëve already been breaking the rules enough It was hard enough convincing the elders that we needed time off to travel with your earlier, and now we must stay to look after our kind.”
“Rulers of your kingdom?” Littlefoot repeated, confused.
Reina sighed. “Leaders of our herd. Does that way make sense you?”
“Yep, yep, yep,” Ducky replied.
“Okay then, who’s gonna come with us then?” Cera asked.
“Do you remember when we stopped near all those Rainbow Face homes?” Reina asked. The kids all nodded. “And do you recall when I said that they’ve all seen a Three Horn before? Well, that’s because we’ve brought a child to this world a while back, one who happens to be a Three Horn.”
“You stole someone’s kid!?” Littlefoot asked in dismay.
“Heës an orphan,” she replied. “You kids aren’t the only ones we’ve had our eyes on. He also displayed keen intellect that impressed us, so we believed he could be of some help with the stone-stealing mess. He was doing a fine job of living on his own. After we brought him here, he did a lot of exploring. While he hasn’t seen the entire world, he has seen a good part of it.”
“Now,” Re continued, “I heard the Three Horn is currently visiting this town. You may want to try the tavern. He likes visiting those. Just be careful though. Having lived here so long, he’s learned to be wary of strangers. Just don’t do anything suspicious, or he may attack you.”
After gulping, the others turned to leave. They walked through the long hallway and into the fresh air.
“Aw, we should have asked them what a ëtavern’ is,” Littlefoot moaned.
“It’s alright. We can just ask one of the Rainbow Faces nearby where it is.”
“Good idea, Chomper,” he replied.
As they reached the rows of houses down below, they were again given the cold shoulder. The adults glared at them suspiciously, and the children stopped playing.
“Does anyone know where the tavern is?” Chomper called out. No one said a word. Chomper looked at his friends and shrugged while sighing. Suddenly, movement caught his eye. A little Rainbow Face walked up to him. Chomper recognized the boy right away. He was the one he gave the ball back to earlier.
“Just keep following this road, sir, then turn left when it goes in two different directions.”
“Thank you,” Chomper replied and gave him a big grin.
The boy blushed and went back to his brother.
“I wonder what this Three Horn will be like,” Littlefoot wondered aloud.
“Me hope he different than Cera,” Petrie said.
“What!?”
“Err, me mean, who want two friends exactly the same? That be boring. Two Petrie’s get old real fas-”
“Petrie?” Littlefoot asked.
“Yes?”
“Just leave it alone before you make it worse.”
“Oh, okay.”
The road split off into two directions so the gang went left. After a bit more walking, the path stopped at a large building. The kids looked at the door curiously, not knowing what to do.
“Hey!” Ruby suddenly said. “I think we have to move this thing like when we entered that big place that Rey and Reina live in. Remember how those guards pushed it? Let’s try that.”
Spike went forward and nudged it with his head and the door swung open with ease. The kids walked in, single file, and looked at their surroundings. There were Rainbow Faces all over, sitting on chairs with tables in front of them. On the tables were several glasses with liquid inside. An old Rainbow Face stood behind a counter and looked at the kids.
“So, they brought more outsiders, eh? Make yourselves at home. Can I interest you in a drink?”
“Sure!” Littlefoot exclaimed. He was parched, and the others were really thirsty too.
“Mead okay?”
“Mead?” Littlefoot asked.
“Mostly water and honey, fermented along with grain mash.”
The kids didn’t know what honey and grain mash were, but hearing the word ëwater’ was good enough for them.
“I take it you’ll be putting it on the old king’s tab?”
“You mean Rey?” Cera questioned.
“My oh my. You guys must really be pally with the king if you call him by his name. Not even Striker does that.”
As he went to pour the drinks, Chomper asked, “Striker? Who’s that?”
“Another outsider the old king brought over.” The kids’ eyes widened.
“Does this Striker have horns like me?” Cera asked.
“Yep.”
“Striker. What an interesting name,” Ruby commented.
“Oh, that isn’t his real name. Folks around here call ëim that because when he fights, he strikes hard, and he strikes fast.”
“You wouldn’t happen to know where he is, would you?” Littlefoot asked.
“He’s sitting in the far corner over yonder. He mostly keeps to himself and doesn’t say much.” He pointed to a young Three Horn sitting in a large chair with his head down. As the kids turned to look, the bartender put seven cups of colored liquid in front of the them.
“Let’s go talk to him,” Cera suggested. “We can explain the whole story to him and ask him to guide us.”
Six of them began walking over to the Three Horn.
“Littlefoot? You coming?” Ducky asked.
“Be right there. I really want to drink a little. I’m just so thirsty.”
“Fine. Let’s go, guys,” Cera ordered. As the children approached Striker, he looked to them with his eyes but didn’t lift his head.
Cera was the first to speak. “Uh, hi.”
“Skip the pleasantries. What do you want with me?”
Cera was temporarily at a loss for words at his bluntness, but quickly recovered. “The world where we’re from is in grave danger.”
“I don’t live there anymore. This better relate to me quickly. I don’t take kindly to my time being wasted.”
“Well, you see- I uh-”
“You have one minute to get my attention or I’m going to ask you to leave me alone.”
Cera’s mouth dropped open.
“Your time has started.”
Cera was again at a loss for words for a bit but soon found her voice.
“An entire world is in danger. You were born there. It’s your homeland.” Then, to everyone’s surprise, she got in his face. “We’ve been going through one nightmare after the other to save our home. Our families won’t be safe unless we succeed. You’ve had a family before. You know what it’s like to love. You lost those dear to you, and I’m sorry, but don’t sit idly by while trouble comes to many, many others. You can’t convince me that you’re as heartless as you come across. Please, help us, Striker.”
The Three Horn said nothing at first, but merely lapped up some more of the liquid in his cup. Finally, he asked, “Do you still have your parents?”
“I have my father and stepmother.”
The boy said nothing as he recalled the terror of when his parents died. He remembered the very moment when his eyes filled with tears and terror and grief struck his heart at the same time. He finally lifted his head and looked into her eyes. He then decided then and there that he didn’t want hers to fill with fluid as his had done long ago. For the first time in a great while, he smiled.
“Nobody has gotten in my face in a long time.”
Cera cringed with regret at having done that.
“Well, if we’re going to be doing anything together, might as well start using my real name, not some nickname created by rumors.”
Cera’s face brightened, and she made a big grin.
“It’s Ace. Nice to meet you.”
“I’m Cera, and thank you.”
Suddenly, Littlefoot stumbled over to them.
“What- what’s taking youz all so looong? Hic!”