Hooray for another action packed chapter and a fitting ending to Act II! I think I might include authors notes at the end of each chapter, just like Serris does. Could make things more interesting.
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Part VII: Convergence
It took them a good part of the day, but when Ruby and Chomper finally reached the top of the enormous bluff they couldn’t help but admire how brilliant the view was. These cliffs lied right next to the Abyss Lake, a body of water so pure and blue Ruby could see all the way to the bottom in some places even from this high up. It was incredible, and as she followed them with her eyes fish of all shapes and sizes darted about on the bottom going about their daily feeding ritual. Perhaps more astounding was the sheer number of wingtails that darted about in the air, occasionally diving in to snatch an unfortunate water-swimmer from the lake. She had believed that, like her kind the wingtails were sparse and spread throughout the Mysterious Beyond but the impressive scene before them hinted otherwise.
“Wow look at them all,” Chomper commented as he reached the top and walked up beside her.
“Oh yes, there’s so many of them there’s too many to count,” added Ruby.
“It’s a good thing they’re too busy eating to bother us.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” came a deep voice from behind them.
Ruby and Chomper turned on the spot to come face to face the two wingtails they were here to confront, the ones that kidnapped Cera. Both of them bore identical smirks, as if they were amused at their ability to surprise the two young ones with but a few words. Ruby was reminded of her siblings, who had a tendency to finish each others sentences. It was funny but it got on her nerves sometimes, especially when they ganged up on her to make her do things, like taking them down to the river for a swim when she was tired. In this case however things were a bit less trivial… it was time to bring these wingtails to justice.
“Give us back our friend or you’ll be sorry!” Ruby demanded while wagging her finger in a scolding motion.
“Yeah, give us back Cera or things are going to get real ugly,” Chomper added as he gritted his teeth.
“Such bravery for ones so small… but you should learn to respect your elders,” commented the lighter one of the brother wingtails.
“It’s so convenient that you chose to come all this way on your own, I was afraid we were going to have to carry you like that wretched threehorn,” added the darker one.
“Oh yeah, well your messing with a sharptooth pal!” Chomper snarled.
Both the wingtails laughed.
“And your going to do what… bite my tail?” the lighter one chuckled.
“I was planning on it, yeah,” Chomper admitted. It was a technique that seemed to work in the past.
Their aura of invincibility slightly broken, both wingtails tucked their tales in out of his sight with looks of worry on their faces. After a moment though, it was gone.
“Enough games hatchlings… you’re going to join your friend in our little hole or else!” the darker one snarled.
“Come and make me fish-breath! Chomper taunted.
Without a sound, the two villainous kidnappers simultaneously pounced into the air towards the small sharptooth. Unlike back in the Land of the Mists, this time they were ready for the attack. Ruby jumped forward and kicked the lighter one in the chest, throwing him off balance. Where they both would have grabbed him like they did with Cera, only the darker one got him in his grip instead. The weight threw him off balance and Chomper took advantage of it, clamping his jaws around the darker wingtail’s tail.
“Rarr, I’ll kill you for that hatchling,” he snarled, and barrelling through the air he repeatedly snapped at Chomper with his toothless jaws, but kept missing.
“Take that you… uh… you meanie!” Ruby added after the vicious kick. She didn’t like to call people names, but in this case she was willing to make an exception. The lighter wingtail caught his breath and jumped into the air, leaving the fast-runner alone on the bluff.
“You do realize how high up we are little one… a single misstep could send you tumbling into the Abyss,” the lighter one stated as he circled above her, smiling at the pun he had just made, “why don’t you just go quietly, and I won’t have to hurt you?”
“We’re not going anywhere until you give us back Cera!” Ruby proclaimed defiantly.
“Ah so Cera is her name is it?” commented the wingtail half heartedly, “Bah what does it matter… since you are refusing to go quietly, you get to find out just how good of a ëcreator’ I actually am.”
He dove at her, but she was pretty fast and sent another swift kick his way. Midair, the wingtail halted and grabbed her outstretched leg. Ruby cried out in surprise. With a single motion he dropped to the ground and pulled her up until she was dangling upside down over the rocky ground.
“See, it’s a little move I invented myself called the kicker-catcher. Pretty elegant isn’t it?” he taunted at Ruby.
“Put me down, or you’ll be sorry!”
“Oh if you insist, I suppose I must.”
The wingtail trudged over to the hole in the rocky wall that was the entrance to the prison like cave where they held the children until they needed them. It was really quite the natural wonder inside, but of course that was for this ignorant fast-runner to find out on her own.
“Chomper, Chomper help me!” Ruby cried.
Chomper was in a bit of a sticky situation on his own. The darker wingtail was clearly the meaner one and he was going through every trick he knew to dislodge the sharptooth from his tail. He rammed it repeatedly into the rock, but still it wouldn’t budge. He hissed in rage.
“Need some assistance, brother?” the lighter one asked as he dropped Ruby down into the hole.
“Gah get him off, get him off!” shouted the darker wingtail as he crashed to the ground. The lighter wingtail rolled his eyes.
“Ah, the things I do for you.”
Using his two fingers the wingtail grabbed Chomper by the corners of his jaw, forcing him to release his bite via a pressure point. The sharptooth snarled and struggled in his painful grip, but before long he too was carried towards the hole that Ruby had been thrown down.
“Enjoy your visit… son of Tyron.”
The wingtail released his grip, and Chomper joined Ruby and Cera in the darkness.
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As soon as he heard the snap, like a crack of lightning, Bron knew he was dead. Strangely, he felt nothing. He thought it would be painful and shocking, but most of all he expected there to be at least something and there was… the feeling of hot breath on his face. Bron opened his eyes slowly, only to come face to face with a maw full of teeth. The sharptooth hadn’t gone for the kill, snapping short of his neck… either that or the sharptooth had missed.
To Bron’s amazement however, Tharon rolled his eyes and leaned backward, before beginning to pace in impatience. All around the fast-biters looked bored as well, with some of them licking their claws and others clacking their teeth in anticipation. What was going on here, why were they sparing him?
“Greetings leaf eater, leader of these herds,” came a voice from the trees above.
The large but injured longneck slowly turned his head around to come face to face with a strange looking flyer he had never seen before. It appeared to be similar to a flying sharptooth, but nowhere near as intimidating to him due to its small size. Without waiting for any sort of answer, Macaw continued with the lines he had repeated many times before, as he had been ordered to by Tyron himself.
“The Tyrant King has consented to spare your life, in recognition of the service you will now perform for him.”
“Wha-what are you talking about…what’s going on, who are you?” Bron stammered, having not comprehended the scope of the situation.
“The King of Sharpteeth demands that, once per seven circle rises, you send a mature member of your herd away from this land, to be consumed as Tyron sees fit,” Macaw continued, ignoring Bron’s questions.
While this exchange was going on, Tharon battled with suppressing his instinct to kill like he always did on all these occasions. His brother had chosen him to lead his Stalkers for a good reason… not because of his ability to fight and kill (which he was both very good at anyway) but for his unique ability to restrain himself when assimilating another territory into Tyron’s domains.
It was a very simple concept really, but also a very brutal one. In order to feed the masses of sharpteeth in his stead, Tyron ordered his specially trained stalkers to hunt the leader of each herd, and separate them from the rest. Once they were alone and at his mercy, the most devious phase of the plan begins. Rather then making the kill right then and there, Tharon and his fast-biters intimidate the leaf-eater into obeying their demands, which were to send one of their own to be ëharvested’ once a week. They all resisted of course, especially the longnecks. Sometimes they would agree with a set of jaws at their throat, only to fail to deliver on the set date and hide amongst their peers from a reprisal… a practise which greatly displeased Tyron and his minions. In return they took out their anger in the most brutal way possible – a method that earned Stalkers their nickname amongst the other sharpteeth as ëchild killers’. Every day that their meal was not delivered, they would hunt down and kill a single child in the valley, leaving the corpse in a clearly visible place. In more extreme cases… well… it’s best not to talk about that. It only happened once, a few seasons ago, but the so called ëScythe Valley’ never disobeyed the King’s will again.
If this worked, and this longneck agreed to Tyron’s terms, then it would complete the fortnight so that if each of his domains sent one of their own to die on a separate day, the sharpteeth would get a free kill every day in some part of Tyron’s domain. The Tyrant King has a reason for everything he does.
“You are suggesting I send another to die in my place,” stated Bron, “but I will never do such a thing, especially not for the likes of you!”
Macaw ruffled his feathers in displeasure. The other sharpteeth, who couldn’t understand leaf-speak, saw the sign and growled with hate.
“What a pity,” lamented the Sharptooth Flier, “then I guess your son is the first to die.”
With a nod of his massive head Tharon set a pack of his fast-biters, six in all, off on their next hunt. They were to kill the longneck child, as they had been trained to do.
“Wait, wait!” Bron stammered. The threat these sharptooth posed was very real and more horrifying then any encounter he had had before with their kind. He didn’t have a choice.
“Oh dear, it looks like you are too late,” commented Macaw with a hint of pity, before getting back to the discussion on hand, “so, now that you are relieved of the burden of parenthood allow me to inform you of your position here. If you refuse, we will kill you and devour your flesh down to the bone. Once your herd picks your replacement, we will corner him too with the same offer until one of you pathetic clumps of meat caves in and obeys our demands. You can’t win longneck.”
The vile comments sunk deep into Bron’s heart. The bird was right, he didn’t have a choice. The herd would need his guidance in the years ahead, and a few sacrifices could be made to preserve this. After all, death through predation was usually much higher in wandering herds… he knew that from experience.
“If I agree, will you spare the rest of the herd?”
Tharon let out a low growl of impatience. This exchange was taking too long and he was hungry. If that wretched flier didn’t finish soon he would devour this helpless longneck and be done with it. His natural instincts could only be suppressed so much, even if it was for Tyron.
“Of course,” responded Macaw with a hint of gluttonous pleasure.
“Alright, I’ll do it then… I’ll obey your demands.”
“Good, then we have no more business here leaf-eater. Be thankful that you are still amongst the living.”
On that note the flyer took off, and noticing the sign the rest of the fast-biters flashed up onto their feet and were off into the woods, on their way out of the forest. So it was until only Tharon remained, the sharptooth breathing hard out of his nostrils. The smell of blood and fear was so strong, it was nearly too much to resist. Bron glanced at him with concern, but continued to attempt to rise to his feet regardless. After a moment Tharon knew if he stayed much longer he would become a slave to his instincts, so he snorted with disrespect and followed his minions into the woods leaving Bron alone.
“Littlefoot…” the longneck whispered as he stood on his feet through the pain.
With a moment of pause, he limped off slowly to rejoin the herd. The agony of his leg was intense, but it was nothing compared to the even greater injury he had suffered – the slashes to his pride.
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Through the chaos and cries of fear from the adult inhabitants of the forest Littlefoot and Sky made their way through the trees on their way to the clearing where the longneck knew his friends were. They found them on the edge of a pool, with Ducky, Petrie, Spike, Ali, and Shorty all talking together on the shore while the rest of the longneck children continued with their game. It amazed Sky how oblivious the children were to what was going on in the rest of the forest, but he supposed it was in their nature. Land-walkers like the ones he had known were quite fearless – until death showed up to claim them in the form of rows and rows of pointed teeth. Such was how things were, for if they were timid and careful creatures sharpteeth would never get a meal.
“Ducky, Spike, Ali, Petrie, we have to go right now!” cried Littlefoot, stopping to catch his breath.
“But why, is it because of the sharpteeth?” Ali asked calmly. She couldn’t see anything to be too afraid about.
“Ali, these are not normal sharpteeth… we have to go or all of you will be in danger,” stated Sky.
The blue wingtail had proven to be their best friend and protector on more then one occasion, so there was no cause to doubt him now. If Sky said they had to go, then they had to go.
“Wait,” interrupted Shorty, “were are you going we’re perfectly fine here. No sharptooth would dare cross us!”
“It’s not just one sharptooth Shorty,” Littlefoot said hastily, “and… I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what? Littlefoot that fight was weeks ago we’re still pals, right?” responded Shorty, this was starting to freak him out.
“It’s not that Shorty… I’m just, sorry,” the young longneck said on a sorrowful note. Shorty would find out why soon enough.
On that note the whole group of them turned tail and left, leaving Shorty on his own up to his knees in the pond water.
“What… I don’t…” stammered Shorty, but he gave up on whatever he was going to say.
…
“Well it would appear that you are useful after all Glide,” commented the most senior of Eybron’s wingtails as the scene below them unfolded.
Glide had predicted that to find Sky all they had to do was find his friends and wait... sure enough, it proved to be true. Within an hour the traitor had revealed himself, landing amongst his friends with a note of urgency. This time, Glide intended to finish what he had started in the Ice Caves and end his life once and for all. With Eybron’s ilk helping him there was no way he could lose this time… sharpteeth or no sharpteeth.
The well conditioned wingtails to his left shot up from the branches, and quickly settled into formation to give chase. Glide didn’t have the patience to join them, and bolted forward on his own with all his strength. He soon pushed ahead; locking Sky within his sights… luckily he hadn’t been noticed yet.
“Flyers,” hollered Petrie, “Mean, mean flyers!”
Opps, thought Glide, spoke too soon.
Ali turned around and spotted the villainous creatures descending upon them, and screamed. This caught everyone’s attention causing them to scatter as Glide tore in towards Sky for the kill.
“Sorry, gotta run!” uttered Sky quickly, before he banked away from the black wingtail’s attack.
Glide ended up driving his feet into the dirt, and hissed with rage. In an instant he was back in the air and on Sky’s tail.
“You won’t get away from me this time… it’s over for you Sky,” Glide breathed as he weaved in and out of the trees, brushing off the scraping of leaves and branches like a black bullet.
For all his titanic strength Glide was slightly heavier then Sky, and it was starting to show… the blue wingtail was pulling away. Desperate to gain air, he pushed himself harder and faster and gained on his quarry. With on final push he was within inches of Sky’s diamond shaped tail… he opened his jaws with anticipation of clamping down and dragging him to the ground.
Suddenly Sky swerved, dodging a thick branch right in front of him. Glide saw it too, but he was going too fast and for a moment he blanked out… and then he hit it. The impact knocked the wind clean out of him, and there was a vicious cracking of ribs. The black wingtail barrelled out of control, crashing into countless hard obstacles before finally coming to a rest on his back.
…
The next thing Glide remembered he felt raindrops on his face, and slowly he opened his eyes. The sky was a dark, volumous black that boiled with turmoil and hate as cloud to cloud lightning arched from various points to his sight. The wingtail was so confused, and in so much pain he didn’t even acknowledge Sky looking down on him, a visage of worry all over his face.
“Glide… are you alright?” asked Sky.
A droplet entered his throat, and the black wingtail viciously coughed. A line of blood ran down his face, signifying internal injury. He certainly wasn’t alright.
“Don’t move, you will only make it worse,” added Sky considerately.
Clearly he bared no ill will towards the wingtail that had hunted him relentlessly for the past half season, and even respected him. Glide wasn’t about to return it. He raised his right wing slowly, causing Sky to jump back.
“The Occular, give it to me,” insisted Glide bitterly in a whisper without even looking at Sky, “give it to me and I’ll help you die quick.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that Glide… it’s gone,” answered Sky.
“Gone?” questioned Glide with surprise, his voice still in a whisper, “where did you hide it?”
“I didn’t hide it away… I gave it to your sister.”
“What!?! Impossible!” shouted Glide, before coughing up more blood in a fit.
If Sky wanted his brother in law to live, he would have to be more careful with his words.
“She was very upset… upset with you.”
Glide turned his head to face Sky who was standing not a meter away.
“Don’t lie to me Sky… my sister would never come to the likes of you for anything,” the black wingtail spat, both literally and figuratively. If he kept up like this, his injuries would surely kill him.
“And besides, why could she possibly be angry with me?” Glide added sarcastically.
“Because you have protected her all these seasons, only to give her away when it suited you,” Sky responded.
Glide wheezed as the truth of the situation set in. Star had come to see Sky… she truely was upset with him. What had he done?
“Then I suppose… it ends here,” Glide managed, as he coughed again this time very deeply.
Sky didn’t have an answer for him.
Luckily he was spared by the arrival of Littlefoot and his friends, followed unpleasantly by Eybron’s wingtails. The brave young longnecks and their friends formed a barrier between Sky and his assailants, giving him momentary protection.
“Hah, I don’t believe this,” spouted one of the younger wingtails, “these land walkers are actually trying to protect Sky, one of us.”
“You won’t hurt Sky, you won’t, you won’t,” stated Ducky defiantly.
“Yeah, Sky’s our friend and if you want him you gotta go through us first!” shouted Ali with daring, consumed with loyalty for her friend.
The senior wingtail of the group was unaffected, but his younger companions were having none of this.
“Sky is a criminal who has betrayed his race and stolen our past, if you hatchlings won’t back off then you will share his fate of death!” hissed one of them.
“Yeah,” added another one, who had been just about to say the same thing.
“Alright then,” spoke the senior with authority, “…kill them.”
There was a terrible screech as a fast-biter leapt from behind them and pounced on one of the wingtails, driving him to the ground. The others were so shocked by the sudden attack that soon another Stalker was amongst them, snapping at their flesh with her teeth. The three survivors took to the air and engaged the snarling fast-biters, filling the air with the sounds of hissing and screeching. In the confusion, the warring evil factions totally forgot about who the true prey was… Sky and his friends.
Sky looked around for a way out, a better path they could use to get away. He soon spotted it, a nearby log that bound together the two bluffs that passed over the thinnest point of the Mudflow. Recently the Black Mountain had begun to steam and bellow with the earth’s rage, and had melted the hard water on its peak. The water flowed down over the minor lava chutes and filled the river system with dirt and searing hot magma, forming a phenomenon the dinosaurs called the Mudflow. There were only two safe ways across, and this was one of them.
“The crossing, go now Littlefoot!” demanded Sky as the fight raged on. Another wingtail was dragged down out of the sky by the vicious sharpteeth.
“But what about you?” the longneck asked as he obeyed Sky and brought the others with him.
“I will follow,” replied Sky disheartedly
As powerful as Eybron’s wingtails were, they were obviously outmatched. With two of them dead or dying, there was no choice but to flee. In a whisk of air, the two of them still alive circled once, hissing their anger, before taking wing back to the east. The senior of them passed a spiteful glare down at Sky, assuring him that there would be a reckoning between the two of them. Once Barrau returned with news of this to Eybron, there would be retribution… he knew it.
…
The fast-biters, six in total, were ravenous and bloodthirsty, and without pause took to surround Sky and Glide to solidify their advantage.
“Sky… tell Star I’m sorry,” lamented Glide.
One of the fast-biters stepped forward, sniffing the air. There was something familiar here, someone he recognized. Redgar levelled his evil yellow eyes with Sky, narrowing his eyelids with concentration. Yes, he did know someone here. Now he remembered.
Sky opened his mouth and hissed loudly, crouching into a combat stance next to Glide. Despite the hate that filled the heart of his brother, he was willing to die for him.
It didn’t happen however, as with a low growl Redgar commanded his pack to back off. They had no enemies here. Surprisingly, the six fast-biters simply walked away, leaving the two wingtails alone at the edge of the forest. They took care to grab their fresh kills, and were soon gone into the woods. All of them but one.
Redgar sent a collection of sounds at Sky that Littlefoot listened to with amazement, but didn’t understand. Sky returned with another angry hiss, and Redgar snorted back with indignity before following the rest of his pack. With the threat gone, Sky relaxed a bit, and took one last look down at Glide.
“A bid you a safe journey, wherever you may be going,” the blue wingtail stated, before taking to the air to rejoin his friends.
Glide wasn’t going to let him get away with that.
“This isn’t over Sky, someday, someplace I’m going to find you and make you pay for all this!”
Sky circled above once, but couldn’t find anything else to say. If Glide was to live through this ordeal, it would certainly be due to his own steel. Perhaps, for now, it was best to let him be the subject of the black wingtail’s hate.
With a look of slight amusement at the thought, Sky flapped his wings and continued after Littlefoot, Ali, Petrie, Ducky, and Spike into the mysterious lands beyond, and whatever else awaited them in the north.
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<End of Act II>
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