“We follow Littlefoot until we reach the river we're looking for,” Pangaea replied to Miles as he followed the longneck. “After that, we just follow the water.”
--------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, in the Mysterious Beyond…
Red Claw had been silent for a long time, staring off into space with eyes that could not see. Screech didn’t know what was going through his leader’s head, but he strongly suspected that the big sharptooth was devising yet another outrageous, twisted scheme for revenge; this time not just directed at a single Great Valley inhabitant, but every single one who had borne witness to his failed attack last night. Screech couldn’t wrap it around his head how Red Claw could even know which individual dinosaurs those were. Even with his unparalleled sniffer, he couldn’t possibly have counted and kept track of every single leafeater in the chaotic battle, could he? Then again, it was becoming clearly evident that Red Claw’s sanity was beginning to lose traction. Screech had no idea what his leader would order them to do next, and the anticipation was grating on his nerves.
Screech felt a twinge of both relief and dread when Red Claw finally spoke. “
Boys,” he thundered, “
I have a new task for you. I know what our next course of action will be.”
Here it comes, Screech thought,
By the sky circles, I hope it’s something reasonable.“
We are going back into the Great Valley.”
GOF admins would disapprove of Screech’s next thoughts being translated into Leafeater, but if he had spoken them aloud, they would have sounded something like “gralfakragglenargngurshrik!”
Red Claw went on, oblivious to Screech’s internal outburst. “
This time, however, we will attack with far more stealth and strategy.” He brought his head down to Screech and Thud’s level and grinned wryly. “
Actually, what I should have said was that you will be going back into the valley.”
If Red Claw hadn’t been blind already, the look Screech was giving him just might have burned out his eye sockets. As it was, Red Claw continued talking in blissful ignorance.
“
This time, however, you will not attack anything. In fact, you will not even let yourselves be seen. Your job will be to determine the locations of each of our enemies’ nests. You will return to me and report your findings, and at our next opportunity, we will sneak into the valley again and slaughter those leafeaters as they sleep. By the next morning, my revenge will be complete, and all remaining leafeaters will know and fear me.”
As angry as he was at Red Claw, Screech couldn’t help but shudder at his words. Red Claw was talking like…he didn’t know what, but not like a sharptooth. Screech knew he was vengeful, but going so far as to call leafeaters enemies? To a sharptooth, the word ëenemy’ implied a creature that actively threatened your existence; almost always another sharptooth. Leafeaters were prey; no sharptooth would call a leafeater an enemy, or even a rival. Moreover, while almost any sharptooth would certainly take an opportunity to kill another dinosaur it considered its enemy, no sensible sharptooth would go out of its way just for the sake of killing. Sharpteeth killed for food, and in defense of themselves, their territories, and their families. There were even some sharpteeth who, when bored or angry, would take out their frustrations on some small, weak creature foolish or careless enough to cross their path at the time. But Red Claw’s plan involved leaving his home, risking his life and his packmates’, to kill dozens of leafeaters who he happened to hold a grudge against. As much as Screech enjoyed terrorizing other dinosaurs, this just seemed wrong to him. If Red Claw planned to kill all those leafeaters in one night, he would have no time to eat the corpses. Surely he would be driven out of the valley come morning, and all that meat would be left to rot away. It wasn’t just dangerous and irrational, it was wasteful.
“
Red Claw,” Screech began, “
I don’t think this is a good ideaó”
“
DO AS I SAY!!! UNLESS YOU WANT TO SUBSTITUTE FOR THOSE LEAFEATERS!!!”
Screech reeled from the volume of the huge sharptooth’s voice. “
All right, all right! We’ll do it!” he said. (Had anyone asked him later, Screech would have denied that his voice came out as a whimper right then.)
“
Good,” Red Claw said, his tone completely calm once more. “
The two of you may return here when you need food, but not before you acquire information on the sleeping places of the valley dwellers.”
“
Fine,” Screech said, rolling his eyes. Red Claw wasn’t just becoming less rational, he noticed; his temper was becoming less stable, his mood swinging from calm to enraged in the blink of an eye.
“
Just one question,” he said. “
Which leafeaters do you want us to find?”
Red Claw’s expression darkened once more. ”
Start with the families of the six youngsters who have been tormenting us these past few cold times,” he growled. “
Again, do not kill them yet. And do not allow your presence to become known.”
“
Got it, got it.” Though Screech felt uneasy about Red Claw’s plan, his instinct for self-preservation was stronger than any moral issues he might have had with his orders.
Sighing, Screech gulped down one last lump of meat from the leafeater carcass in front of him, and turned to leave. “
Come on, Thud,” he grunted, “
Let’s find ourselves a way into the Great Valley.”
(
OOC: Okay, FlipperBoidSkua, you're free to take Thud now.
)
