Part VII: The Lush Valley
The horizon was covered with a gritty haze as the great circle made its way back up the sky for another new day. The Abyss Lake was slightly disturbed by the tufts of wind that picked up at random intervals, bringing into the land an unpleasant chill. The red clouds of the morning were spread out ponderously, if not to intrude on each others space, and all around not even one of the lesser flyers that inhabited the Feral Forest had begun to sing. It was quiet and it was tranquil, and the scene suited Cinceel just fine.
The greyish female wingtail – so recently appointed the leader of the council of elders – sat and brooded silently, glaring at the crimson half-sun like it was just another enemy rising up to meet her. Although the decision to grant Eybron was unpopular amongst the other elders she had done it for a good reason. With such a powerful foe now prowling the shadows it was necessary to have a strong figurehead the other wingtails could rally behind. As much as she had disliked him Tenebron had been an excellent leader, and the same qualities were now visible in his only son… but that didn’t mean there were no questions to be answered either. It was to be seen whether the white wingtail would rise to the occasion or take advantage of his position to dispense more indiscriminate justice. Either way though, Cinceel was absolutely sure of one thing – Eybron would channel his anger and hate into destroying Sharpteeth, one way or another.
“My lady,” breathed the royal guard urgently as he suddenly burst through the leaves and onto one of the branches in Cinceel’s family tree.
The green wingtail’s usual passive demeanour had been broken, and that in itself was cause for alarm.
“What is it?” replied Cinceel with annoyance.
“Eybron…” managed the guard between breaths, “…took half the males…in the night… left the forest…”
“What!?!” shouted the elder in shock, causing the feathers on the back of her neck to stand up.
“He intruded upon the Tree of Relics,” continued the guard after a few moments of composing himself, “their master is dead… and the Cordian has been stolen.”
Cinceel couldn’t believe this. The Tree of Relics was where all the various works of the Creators were kept, some many generations old. Wingtails were by nature gatherers and keepers of shiny or precious objects, and the fact that they had an entire tree devoted to the best of them was a point of pride for their race. Why would Eybron – of the highest standing – perform such an act of murder and thievery?
“So he has abandoned us…” Cinceel stated direly.
“It would appear so my lady.”
The greyish wingtail brought a hand up to her head, and rubbed it. This was absolutely terrible… once the rest of the forest heard about this she would be in deep trouble. As if the wingtails weren’t divided enough on the issue of war with the sharpteeth, now there was a good chance she would lose her position on the council.
“There is something else,” continued the guard, “from what the witnesses saw, he had the Occular with him as well.”
The greyish wingtail turned to him in surprise.
“That is impossible,” she shouted, “Sky has it in his possession… he is the thief we have been hunting down!”
“Perhaps,” replied the guard sadly, “…you were mistaken.”
Cinceel sighed in admission, and waved the guard away.
“Wake the rest of the elders,” she said with a tinge of weariness, “let them know of this… betrayal.”
The guard hesitated instead of speeding to obey, a move that caught the elder wingtail’s attention.
“You have something else for me?” she questioned.
“There is a wingtail outside that wishes to speak with you… he says it is important.”
“Very well,” replied Cinceel uncaringly, “send him in.”
There was a soft sound of parting leaves behind her, and a swift click as feet dug into the outer bark of the branch.
“There is no need for that… I happen to be already here.”
The grey elder turned around sharply, coming face to face with a familiar navy blue wingtail.
“Aizon,” she stated with mild surprise.
“Grand Creator, master of sound, sight, and glass at your service,” Aizon said with a bow, tilting his head in respect.
“So,” began Cinceel distastefully, “here to rub the decision about Eybron in my face? Maybe trying to convince me I would have been better off taking you instead? You certainly are punctual about your distain.”
“Actually, I desire no such thing Lady Cinceel,” corrected Aizon as he absently cleaned off his glasses on one of his wings.
“Then why is it that you seclude yourself away from wingtail society, only to arrive when I have better things to do then waste my time talking to you?” the elder prodded as she crossed her arms.
Aizon cleared his throat, ignoring the insult.
“I come because I have a solution to your current predicament… a collection of realistic and fortitudous actions that would greatly benefit your position amongst your peers and would later elevate you in the eyes of the historical keepers… such as myself.”
Cinceel took a few moments to figure out exactly what the Grand Creator had said, before narrowing her eyes in suspicion.
“What is this ësolution’ you speak of?” she asked.
“Great things will begin to happen soon Lady Cinceel,” continued Aizon ignoring her question, “I do not know whether they will be advantageous or dire but I can express that you and the rest of the elders must be there to see them through.”
Aizon replaced the corrective lenses on his eyes, blinking twice to adjust his eyes to the new clarity of vision.
“… For all of us.”
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Unlike the massive cliffs that beheld Verdant Valley now many kilometres behind them, the Lush Valley was more subtle. It started as sporadic collections of vegetation and trees, which gradually thickened until it covered the earth like an immense blanket of green food just waiting to be eaten. It became obvious that they had arrived not when the plants grew thicker, but when seemingly out of nowhere the inhabitants began to appear. Flyers flew above, talking and laughing as they went about their daily business, while longnecks, spiketails, threehorns, and all manner of dinosaurs they were used to seeing back home went about their daily business regardless of the newcomers in their midst.
It was clear to Littlefoot that this place was used to farwalkers, as none of these inhabitants paid them the slightest bit of heed. Swirling around in the air above Sky had to dodge a few reckless youngsters who were involved in a game similar to tag. They simply apologised to him and carried on.
Eventually, the group stopped in a small unoccupied grouping of trees on the edge of a watering hole. As Littlefoot, Ali, Spike, Ducky, and Petrie all drank their fill from the comforting pool Sky picked a convenient roost overhead and furrowed his wings before addressing the young dinosaurs.
“We have come a long way my friends,” he stated proudly, “but far longer then I would have anticipated or liked.”
Littlefoot noticed that the blue wingtail did not use the term ëchildren’ for them anymore. Indeed, they had grown quite a bit since the start of the journey and changes in their appearance had begun to become known. Ducky for instance, had gained on Spike quite a bit in size and no longer rode on his back anymore. Spike too, had vertical sails beginning to sprout from his back and upper tail, though he didn’t seem to notice. Both him and Ali too had gotten bigger, and now had almost a foot in height over Sky. At the start of the journey, the wingtail had been taller then both of them.
“But we’re still behind you all the way,” remarked Ali with certainty.
Littlefoot and Petrie nodded enthusiastically in agreement.
“You are a good way knower…you are,” added Ducky with a smile.
Sky smiled warmly at the praise, and glanced over their heads to make a quick sweep of the valley with his eyes.
“Remember that you must stick together. I have not met with the leader of this herd, so we have no idea how welcome we are. It is possible that we may not be well received.”
Although all the young dinosaurs agreed with the assessment, it wasn’t really necessary to say. The group of them had become so dependant on one another that it was second nature to keep each other’s company for both safety and for trust. The world this far from the Great Valley had not proven to be such a nice place, so it made sense.
“Hey Sky,” mentioned Littlefoot as the wingtail made ready to depart, “…there’s something I want to talk to you about.”
The longneck looked a bit guilty, like there was something on his mind he wanted to get out.
“What is it?” asked the blue wingtail with concern.
“Well…” began Littlefoot, scraping the ground with one of his feet, “I’d just like to apologize for what happened back there on the fire grounds. It wasn’t right for me to be angry at you when it wasn’t your fault… and I–”
Sky silenced the longneck by tapping an extended finger on his lips.
“Let us not speak of it anymore,” the wingtail answered, “forgive…and forget.”
“Yeah,” added Littlefoot, “forgive and forget.”
…
A minute or so after the conversation, the wingtail was gone.
It had occurred to Littlefoot that going to the leader of every herd and valley they visited wasn’t exactly needed, but the more he thought about it the more he realized what Sky was up to… the blue wingtail was making friends everywhere they stopped. It made sense, since it seemed like the whole world was against them at this point. A massive group of Sharpteeth was following them taking over vallies as they saw fit, pushing around Sky like they were toying with trapped prey and wingtail assassins seemed to be coming after them at every turn. With a slight stab of sadness, the longneck remembered how his father had protected Sky when the other wingtails had came calling.
A small nudge from Ali informed him that he was getting behind, as Ducky, Petrie and Spike were already pretty far ahead.
“Come on,” she said excitedly, “we have a whole valley to explore.”
“Yeah,” replied Littlefoot half-heartedly as he looked around behind him in the way that Sky had gone.
Ali noticed.
“Don’t worry,” the female longneck said positively, “he won’t run away on us this time… not after all we have been through together.”
“It’s not that Ali,” sighed Littlefoot, “it’s just that this place reminds me of the Forgotten Forest… and my dad.”
The two longnecks walked along the edges of the large watering hole, which was so big that it was at least twice the size of anything in the Great Valley. Across the surface a group of young longnecks barely out of their eggs splashed loudly as they played under the close eye of their grazing parents nearby.
“I never really knew my dad,” commented Ali unusually.
“Really?” asked Littlefoot with a pang of eagerness, “what happened to him?”
“He and my mom didn’t get along very well,” answered Ali sadly, “right after I hatched he left and found a mate in a different herd.”
“Oh.”
“So you don’t need to be so sad about it,” the female longneck continued, “you were pretty lucky that you had so much time with your dad.”
“But it wasn’t nearly long enough,” mumbled Littlefoot in a bit of a whisper.
Ali smiled weakly, trying to think of a way to bring out the best of the situation.
“If it helps… maybe you could help me find something for Sky for his Star Day?”
Littlefoot gasped. He had totally forgotten about that. In the weighty events that had occurred since they first made the promise, the whole matter had been unfairly swept aside. If anything, it was a great opportunity to make things up with Sky for how he acted.
“Okay… that sounds like fun,” agreed the longneck as he nodded.
Ali pandered down to the shoreline and begun turning up rocks, pushing them aside as if she was looking for something. Littlefoot joined in, not sure what she was doing but wanting to be apart of it.
“So, what are we looking for Ali?” he questioned.
“Shiny things,” answered Ali, before adding with a bit of uncertainty, “wingtails like them right?”
Littlefoot rolled his eyes, making sure she had her back to him so she wouldn’t see it.
“I think it needs to be something a little more then that… Sky could just come down and look for them on his own.”
“Well then if you’re so smart, what could we get him?” replied Ali with a tinge of annoyance.
Littlefoot thought about it for a moment, looking all across the lake-like watering hole as he did. The group of longnecks on the other side seemed to have had their fill, and were leaving to head back into the grassland beyond. His eyes settled on a pair of hatchlings that splashed playfully in the shallows. Funny, it wasn’t long ago that he would have jumped in there with them and played too. One of the mothers was heading towards the two babies, saying something that sounded like scolding. There was something familiar about her…
“I think we can get him a… Dara!”
“Dara?” questioned Ali in confusion, “what’s that?”
“No not that Ali,” corrected Littlefoot, “I just remembered where I knew that longneck over there from… it’s Dara.”
Ali looked over at the longneck mother with an expression of mild surprise.
“Who’s she?”
“Come on,” insisted Littlefoot as he beckoned with his head, “…let’s go meet her.”
He promptly took off down the shoreline, leaving Ali to catch up.
“Wait for me!” she shouted, and after a moment shaking the mud off her feet she followed her friend down the grassy banks.
…
“Careful down there little lady,” insisted Dara as she kept an eye on her young daughter playing in the water, “Don’t go wanderin too far off in the water beyond where I can see ya.”
The hatchling barely paid her mother any attention, as she was enjoying playing with the other longneck too much. He splashed her as she tried to turn back to answer her mom, so she had to return the favour. Seeing this, Dara stepped in between the children and the water as a precaution. One couldn’t be too careful with their only child.
“Hey Dara,” called out Littlefoot as he got closer, “…Dara!”
The female longneck turned and squinted as he came into view.
“Well I’ll be,” Dara said, “if it isn’t little Littlefoot. My you were such a youngin when I saw you last.”
Littlefoot beamed at the recognition, while Ali still looked a little bit awkward about the whole situation. She still had no idea who this was.
“Ah kids these days,” continued Dara, “they go growing up so fast… it’s great to see ya Littlefoot.”
“You too Dara,” replied Littlefoot.
“I know it’s been a while since Doc and I were passing through the Great Valley and all… but we gotta little side tracked.”
Littlefoot reasoned that it must have been the hatchling that was holding them up.
“Yeah,” answered the young longneck before turning to Ali, “Dara is our friend from a long time ago. We saved her from the sinking sand.”
“Oh how cute,” interrupted Dara with a smile as she lowered her head down to their level, “you went and found yourself a lady friend too.”
Littlefoot couldn’t stop himself from blushing, and he turned away so Ali wouldn’t see it. She did anyway, and didn’t look the slightest bit uncomfortable.
“Nice to meet you Dara,” said Ali sincerely.
“You too little lady.”
“Hey Dara, is Doc around?” asked Littlefoot in a bid to change the subject, “We haven’t seen him in a while.
Dara spared a quick glance to make sure her daughter was still okay, and then peered out towards the nearby forest.
“Last I saw he was over there getting some shut eye,” stated Dara, before adding, “probably good on him for ya to wake him up too.”
“Okay,” nodded Littlefoot with a smile, “see ya later.”
In a moment the longneck was already on his way towards the forest with good speed.
“Bye,” Ali added quickly as she followed.
“Take care of yourselves,” called Dara with caring as they moved out of earshot.
The fact that Doc and Dara were here… especially Doc… suddenly awoke a sense of duty in Littlefoot that hadn’t been there for a long time. If there was one other longneck adult that he knew could set things right apart from his Grandparents and his dad, it was Doc. After all… he was the Lone Dinosaur! Once he found out what Tyron and his sharpteeth kin were doing he would sort them out faster then a whip of the tail. Littlefoot was sure of it, and the thought carried him into the Lush Valley’s sweet smelling forest as Ali trailed behind.
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Star hadn’t bothered to try and sleep. She knew what was coming, even before Eybron entered their family tree unannounced to spirit her away. She knew the white wingtail too well… he was prompt and brutal with all of his actions. With all the power he had now, she had expected him to keep her close by all means. The carefully planned menace of the whole affair was what scared her more then anything else. Eybron would get what he wanted, and if it meant killing to get it then so be it.
“Ah,” remarked Eybron with a grin she could only partially see in the moonlight, “all ready to go I see? You are learning.”
“I have nothing to learn from you Eybron,” Star stated venomously, “but how to deceive and murder and wing others in the back!”
“Still angry about my little visit to your class are we? Well I do admit I might have been a little bit…”
The wingtail twirled his finger around a flailing leaf, before crushing it in his palm.
“…out of line.”
An apology. Was this his new technique for trying to get in her head? Trying to make her believe that now the world was practically in his hands, he was a nice wingtail? Unlikely.
The white wingtail extended his hand gently and methodically, something that didn’t suit him well.
“I think it’s time we put this whole affair behind us Star. We are grown adults, unfit for these childish little games.”
Eybron stopped for a moment to gauge her expression, which only changed slightly away from the defiant snub she wore whenever they talked. She continued to look at his hand, like it was dripping with poison.
“I’ll tell you what,” he continued, “…entertain me. Treat me with some respect and perhaps I will ignore your staining, hurtful remarks in the name of a new start.”
“Why should I?” asked Star with distrust.
“Because if you do, I can ignore your uncle’s naked aggression against me and even the resentful acts of your brother. I’m sure it’s in your best interest to ensure that your family members remain… happy and healthy.”
It was a veiled threat – something Star was pretty used to by now. Still, the more she thought about it the better the deal sounded. She could fake cooperation and compliance so that Fliela and Sturgeon aren’t bothered, and Glide – wherever he is – could remain off Eybron’s list of enemies. Not only that but even if she refused, it would only make this whole affair worse since she was going to be dragged along with him anyway.
“Alright,” agreed Star, and she clasped his hand, “Maybe there is some good in you.”
The white wingtail smiled slightly, almost invisibly as she touched his hand.
“Good.”
On that note he turned around and spread his wings, causing the two wingtail guards next to him to do the same. They fell in behind Star like watchers ensuring her obedience to their lord. Eybron called over his shoulder at her.
“Follow.”
“Wait just a minute,” interrupted Star.
Eybron turned to look at her with an expression of annoyance.
“If we are going to make this work Eybron, then I have a demand of you as well.”
The white wingtail thought about it for a moment, before gesturing her to continue.
“I think I deserve a bit of respect and dignity here… specifically not to have your ëfriends’ push me around like I’m your prisoner. I want some freedom and trust.”
Eybron looked mildly surprised, like he had expected her to come silently. After a moment he dawned an expression that might be compared to a proud parent watching their hatchling fly for the first time.
“As you wish my dear. Edwin, I want you to accompany her and ensure her safety and her cooperation… but Star is to be allowed to go where she wishes while in my prescience.”
The green wingtail bowed slightly.
“Yes Lord Eybron.”
The white wingtail turned back to Star.
“If that is all… you will follow.”
On Eybron’s wishes, the group of four wingtails departed. Before the night is over, the white wingtail would commit acts that Star would never think a wingtail could do to another. He tore apart families as he gathered his private army of sorts. He stole from the Tree of Relics and killed the Master when he screeched for help. Within two hours, they had vacated the Feral Forest leaving a trail of suffering in their wake. For Star, she vowed that one way or another, Eybron would pay for all the things that he had done. Some day, and some place… she would make her move. For now however, there was nothing she could do but watch, wait, and cry silently for those who couldn’t cry anymore.
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