CHAPTER 9
THE RITUAL BEGINS
When they arrived at the foot of the smoking mountain, they saw that Chief Berserker and his two aides were already standing there waiting.
Chief Berserker crossed his arms and glared at them. "You're late! I expected you here at exactly DAWN!"
"Apologies, my leader, it took awhile to get Roary out of bed."
"Humpf! Well, young Roarkul, the sooner we get this ritual under way, the sooner it will be completed. My aides will bring us whatever we need during the fast, which is mainly water. Come!" He gestured for Roary to follow as he made his way towards the nearby steaming cave.
The ritual required that both the young soon-to-be male and his mentor spend three days in a hot cave at the foot of a smoking mountain while they fast. Chief Berserker had chosen a mountain where there was no danger of eruption for those three days. The last thing anybody wanted was for the young initiate and his mentor to be killed in a surprise eruption from the smoking mountain.
"Good luck, son!" Chomper encouraged as he smiled and patted his son on the shoulder.
"You can do it, sweetie! I KNOW you can!" V'Leck encouraged as she hugged Roary.
"Thanks, mom... dad... See you in three days!" Roary said as he waved to them before disappearing inside the cave in which Chief Berserker had entered.
Chomper and V'Leck smiled and waved as Roary left. Then they both walked back towards The Great Valley arm in arm. While it was not required for the parents of the young sharptooth to stay and wait, the two male aides had to stand by to attend to whatever the mentor and his young initiate needed.
Meanwhile, back in The Great Valley, M'Lik was spending the day with Ali, Little Foot and their two kids. Both Alicia and Little Foot Jr finally warmed up to M'Lik, and were happily playing at her feet. There was still a bit of a language barrier between them, but Little Foot was able to grasp a few words of the sharptooth language over the seasons to get a good, general idea of what M'Lik was trying to say. The other sharptooth Councilors and dignitaries had decided to go hunting and exploring in The Mysterious Beyond for the day.
When Chomper and V'Leck returned that afternoon, everything was more pleasant for all of them, as Chomper was there to provide full translation. It was here that, through Chomper, Little Foot learned that the sharptooth word "PEETALK" meant "A piece of slime" or "A lower form of life". Therefore, M'Lik saw the other female sharptooth from Chief Berserker's past as "a lower form of life" based on the lies she'd been trying to spread about her illegitimate daughter's paternal lineage. Little Foot guessed that she deserved to be called that, based on what she was boasting all this time. He laughed at this.
For the rest of the afternoon, though, M'Lik was bonding with V'Leck as they were talking to each other in rapid sharptooth. Ali and Little Foot guessed that they were probably talking about stuff ordinary females talk about: Family, who's mated to who, and general female gossip. Ali would've loved to join in on the conversation, but she didn't know enough sharptooth to be able to follow. Occasionally, Chomper would burst out laughing; thus indicating that they must've said something he thought was funny. Ali and Little Foot, however, felt awkward and clueless.
In the meantime, Rhett and Vernonk had returned from their trip out into The Wandering Lands. Rhett told his herd the news that although there was still some hard water on the ground and in the mountains surrounding the lands they intended to go to next, that they should be able to leave soon. Many of the longnecks took great comfort in that news, for they were starting to feel uncomfortable being in close proximity with the visiting sharptooth. Rhett reassured them that the sharptooth will be gone soon, and everything will be back to normal in The Great Valley. I hope, he thought to himself.
The ever watchful Vernonk, however, kept glaring at the trio of sharptooth sitting and talking with Little Foot and Ali. Chomper would occasionally notice him looking at them. He felt uncomfortable with the fact that Vernonk never took his eyes off of him, or his mate, or M'Lik.
"Vernonk's watching us again." he whispered to Little Foot.
Little Foot glanced towards Vernonk briefly and sighed. "Just ignore him, Chomper! He's just a crazy male longneck who's too set in his old ways."
"I can ignore him as much as I want to; but if he decides to take action, I won't be able to ignore him THEN."
"Well, if that happens, you know where to find me." Little Foot smiled.
"Right." Chomper smiled back.