Chapter 25: Return to the Meadow

It was an overcast morning in the Mysterious Beyond. Cool grey clouds drifted overhead as the dinosaurs below went about their daily routine.

Over by the main lake, Grandpa Longneck, Grandma Longneck, Blue-Scale, Mr. Thicknose and Mr. Threehorn had just finished arbitrating several disputes.

"This is absolutely ridiculous! We've never had to arbitrate so many arguments. Ever since we've been here, we've arbitrated about ten." Mr. Threehorn shouted.

"I agree. "Grandma Longneck added. "Even when the Thundering Falls dried up there weren't this many disputes."

Grandpa Longneck shook his head. "I was afraid of this. With such conflicts occurring it is only a matter of time before fights break out."

As he spoke Ptyrax landed on his head. "Mr. Longneck, a fight seems to be starting in the feeding grounds."

Grandpa Longneck swore under his breath. Every looked at him in shock; it was the first time anyone had heard him swear.

"Ptyrax! Get Deimos's patrol as well as Hyp and his patrol!" Grandma Longneck ordered.

Ptyrax leapt into the air and flew as fast as he could to the airfield. There, the Great Valley Air Corps were on standby, with most of the members simply lounging around. Several guards were also relaxing, including Deimos.

"Patrols of Deimos and Hyp! Move out the Feeding Grounds!" Ptyrax bellowed.

Pterano sighed. "I knew this would happen." He muttered.

Ptyrax looked at him. "Knew what sir?"

"That a large scale fight would eventually break out." Pterano then sighed. "It's dinosaur nature; take away food or water and fights will break out. I have a feeling that those Claw Valley bastards who poisoned our lake weren't trying to kill us; they were trying to get us to kill each other."

Ptyrax's jaws dropped. "I…" He was unable to get out another word before Hyp's voice caught his attention.

"Hey, Ptyrax! You gonna talk or are you gonna help?" Hyp asked.

Ptyrax turned around and noticed that all the aforementioned patrol members were armed and prepared to move out. The group numbered to about fifteen dinosaurs.

"Let's move out!" Ptyrax shouted.

The dinosaurs, most of them armed with staves and sticks but a few spears were used as well, headed towards the feeding grounds with Ptyrax in the lead.

"Why do I have a feeling that I dealt with something like this already?" Nod asked.

"That's because last night we barely averted a massive brawl by the main lake." Hyp replied. He was armed with a quarterstaff.

Ms. Swimmer had her trademark dual sticks out and she had a dark expression on her face. "I don't know what is causing this but the poisoned lake may be stressing everyone out. I can only hope that Littlefoot's expedition arrives home soon, the last thing we need is another all out war."

The group had arrived at the Feeding Grounds. The sounds of shouting and various profanities could be heard.

"Too late." Deimos commented, gesturing with his staff.

Ms. Swimmer, Hyp, Nod, Mutt, Shorty, Deimos, Ptyrax and the group of assorted dinosaurs who were also patrol members stared in astonished horror.

"Oh damn." Ptyrax said, staring at the unfolding spectacle.

In front of their eyes was a full scale melee. Many dinosaurs, mostly Fast-Runners and Runners were fighting. Even worse, most of the combatants appeared to be armed.

Hyp was the first to snap out of the trance. "Okay, move in and try and restore order!"

Deimos cleared his throat. "Please cease your fighting immediately! This is an order! We will use force!" he shouted in Sharptooth. To leaf-eater ears it sounded like a series of deafening roars but many of them knew enough Sharptooth to understand his message.

One of the combatants, a black Runner armed with a heavy stick, turned to Deimos. "Tell the other side to give us back our stash of tree sweets!" he shouted.

"Will do." Deimos replied.

The black Runner nodded only to turn around and swing his stick into a nearby Fast-Runner's jaw, breaking it with a sickening crunch.

At the same time the Fast-Runner's jaw was being broken, Deimos was speaking to Ms. Swimmer.

"Ms. Swimmer, we'll need to find the other side and try negotiations before someone dies." Deimos said.

Ms. Swimmer nodded and together, they carefully waded through the mob. Luckily, the combatants seemed more focused on attacking each other, although Ms. Swimmer and Deimos had to parry some attacks from the dinosaurs as they tried to find the other dinosaurs.

"This is too chaotic!" Ms. Swimmer shouted, "I can't tell who's who!"

Deimos sighed. "Great, let's back off and rethink."

Deimos and Ms. Swimmer forced their way back out of the mob.

"So did you manage to do anything?" Shorty asked.

Deimos shook his head. "I was afraid it would come down to this… We're going to have to use force." He then turned to Ptyrax. "Ptyrax, alert Mr. Longneck about this brawl and tell him of our decision to use force. Also tell him that fifteen of us isn't enough; there's at least forty fighters."

Ptyrax then flew back as fast as possible to the main lake. He landed on Grandpa Longneck's head. "Mr. Longneck, I have terrible news, the impending fight I told you about earlier has become a full scale brawl. Deimos has made the decision to forcibly stop the fight. Unfortunately, he will need extra dinosaurs."

Grandpa Longneck sighed. "All right. He can have his extra dinosaurs. Ptyrax, fly to the airfield and get all available land-walkers there. Do not take away border and sleeping area patrols."

"Deimos has asked permission to recruit Rime."

Grandpa Longneck nodded. "Deimos may recruit Rime, but he is to be paired with another one of our dinosaurs. And this time he may use a weapon but only a stick or a staff."

Ptyrax nodded and flew off. As he flew towards the airfield, the leaders began to talk amongst themselves.

"Mr. Longneck, is it wise we trust a mostly unknown sickleclaw with a weapon?" Mr. Thicknose asked.

Grandpa Longneck nodded. "I trust Deimos's declaration that Rime has no skills in weapons use. Besides, his claws and teeth can do more damage. With a stick, he's holding it so he can't use his hand claws. And remember that he will be entering right in the middle of a huge fight; if he tries to eat someone, chances are that combatants will put aside their fight for a moment to stop him."

Mr. Thicknose nodded. "I agree. Immediate threats will take precedence over more 'trivial' matters such as food."

Mr. Threehorn snorted and spoke: "I have to agree with your reasoning, Mr. Longneck. Much as I don't want to admit it." He then suddenly grinned, something that was rarely seen. "Besides, if he helps break up the fight, good. If he gets beaten to death by the fighters, so what? It's not like anyone here's going to miss him."

Ptyrax landed by the airfield. "Deimos needs more volunteers."

Five other dinosaurs, all of them Fast-Runners who were lounging on the grass, grabbed their sticks and stood up.

"Where's Rime?" Ptyrax asked.

"Over by the feeding grounds." One of the Fast-Runners replied.

"Great! He's probably already joined up with Deimos."

Over by the feeding grounds, the gathered dinosaurs had already waded into the group and were attempting to disperse them.

"Is this a common thing?" Rime grunted, ducking a swipe from a stick.

Deimos shook his head and tripped one of the Fast-Runners with his staff. "No."

Ms. Swimmer caught a Runner's stick between her dual sticks. She then quickly disarmed him and caught him a chokehold. She then dragged him out to the edges of the battle where, Hyp, Mutt and Ptyrax bound him with vines. There were a few other dinosaurs who had been subdued sitting near them. The three spear wielding Swimmers guarded them.

Shorty body slammed an armed Runner, sending his stone knife flying. Before he could rise, an allied Swimmer grabbed him in a chokehold and dragged him off for processing.

Rime grabbed a Runner's stick as it was swung at his head. The Runner tried to pull the stick back but Rime quickly punched his opponent in the stomach winding her and forcing her to drop the stick, which he then snatched up. A blow to the back of his head knocked him down and he barely avoided getting stepped on. He quickly got back to his feet, only to receive a stick to the head. He shook it off and proceeded to try and subdue one of the combatants, only to fail when he grabbed a Runner and another Runner clubbed him over the head. Rime fell and a Fast-Runner struck him in the back. Soon, the group around him began beating him with fists, feet and sticks. Rime desperately tried to fend off the blows with his stick and his hands but there were simply too many attackers.

Deimos, who disarmed a Fast-Runner, saw the beating and he quickly grabbed Rime and dragged him by the tail through the mob. Even as Deimos was dragging Rime through the mob, they continued beating him. Even Deimos received several blows to the head and body but he simply ignored the blows.

As soon as Deimos made it to the edge, two Fast-Runner reinforcements arrived and waded into the melee. Deimos then placed the now unconscious and bloodied Rime near the prisoners.

"What happened to him?" Mutt asked.

"He's been beaten badly." Deimos replied

Ms. Swimmer then reemerged from the melee dragging a battered Runner, who she handed off Hyp and Mutt for processing. She then waded back into the melee.

A bit farther from the melee, a fast-biter, deep blue with iridescent purple splashes at the edge of his feathers, grinned deviously as he watched the Great Valley dinosaurs batter each other. He was crouched behind a log, inside the log was a pile of tree sweets that he had pilfered.

Out in the Mysterious Beyond, Littlefoot and his expedition group were resting at a small oasis. The area surrounding them was harsh and rocky though the oasis was verdant and lush with plant life.

Strut was lying down near the lake. His vine pack harness had not been removed.

Ali and Littlefoot were simply resting near the lake as Cera, Raptix, Strut and Coatal were.

Strut took a gulp of water from the small lake. "Well, I'm kind of hungry."

Coatal flew into the air and headed into the small grove. In a few moments, he flew back clutching a branch laden with small red berries. He then dropped the branch near Strut who started picking off the berries and shoving them into his mouth. "I guess we should eat before continuing."

"We should." Littlefoot said. His stomach let loose a deep growl as he spoke.

"I agree." Ali added. She chuckled slightly at the growling of Littlefoot's stomach.

Spike nodded in agreement.

"Well, I guess we form a foraging party?" Cera asked.

Littlefoot nodded.

Raptix went over to the lake and waited for fish to approach. A large lizard darted by him but he grabbed before it could evade him and he quickly devoured it. A fish swam by and he quickly snatched it and tossed it on the shore.

The leaf-eaters, save for Spike entered the grove. The grove was rather small but it was just large enough to fit all the dinosaurs comfortably. The trees were somewhat shorter than the two Longnecks, though they towered over everyone else.

Coatal was plucking berry branches from a tall tree while Strut was picking almond like nuts from a shrub. Littlefoot and Ali were snapping off branches laden with succulent leaves and dropping them on the ground.

After a several minutes, they had harvested enough food for everyone.

Strut was dragging a leaf sled filled with the nuts and the fallen branches and Coatal was barely able to fly thanks to all the berry branches he was carrying. They then deposited their food near the small lake, where Raptix greeted them with a small pile of fish as well as a decapitated lizard in a small pool of blood.

"Good hunting, I see?" Raptix said, looking at what Coatal and Strut were carrying.

Ali chuckled. "We're not hunting. We're foraging."

"Sorry, my Leaf-Eater, though good is not perfect." Raptix replied.

"Well, your Leaf-Eater is better than my Sharptooth." Ali replied/

Spike looked at the decapitated lizard and closed his eyes and began to shiver.

Littlefoot looked at Spike. "Raptix, could you move that headless crawler? Spike doesn't like it." Littlefood asked.

"Sorry." Raptix replied, picking up the lizard and eating it.

Spike shivered even harder as the scent of blood and the sound of Raptix crunching the lizard's bones reached his ears.

"Raptix! Stop scaring Spike!" Cera shouted.

"Cera! Be nice to Raptix! He needs to eat like we do!" Littlefoot scolded.

Raptix swallowed his mouthful of lizard and he went up to Spike and tried to console him but the scent of blood on Raptix's feathers made him even more nervous.

Littlefoot went over to Spike and gently nuzzled him. "Raptix, please leave us alone." He whispered.

Raptix nodded and went away from the two.

After a few moments, Spike opened his eyes and affectionately licked Littlefoot.

"Well, let's eat!" Strut said.

Cera ate some of the nuts that Strut had harvested only to spit them back out. "How do you eat these things!? They're like eating a rock!" She then helped herself to one of the fallen branches.

Strut said nothing but searched around for a large cylindrical rock and a flat rock. He soon found what he was looking for inside the cool waters of the lake.

He placed the dripping wet rocks near the pile of nuts and tossed a handful of the nuts onto the rock. He then carefully rolled the cylindrical rock over the nuts, cracking the shells into small pieces. He then continued grinding the nuts until the glossy white kernels could be seen amid the tan dust of the shells. He grabbed a kernel and tossed it into his mouth. "Mm. They're just right."

Cera looked at the grindstone and the white kernels that remained. She tentatively ate one of the kernels. "Hey, these are good! What are these?"

"It's rockseed." Strut replied.

"How did you know how to prepare them?" Cera asked.

"I've lived in the Mysterious Beyond for many cold times. I always had to find my own

food as I never liked Ozzie's food."

"Mind if I try these seeds?" Coatal asked, as he took a handful of the processed seeds.

"Erm…sure." Strut replied, trying to hide his anger.

Coatal put one of the seeds, chewed it a bit and promptly spat it out. "Gross." He then continued eating the berries and leaves.

Opposite Cera and Strut, Spike was gorging himself on the berries and leaves.

"You know Ali, there's one thing that really scares me." Littlefoot said, between bites of the leaves.

"What?" Ali replied, swallowing her mouthful of berries.

"It's just that this war's been going on for so long… I mean the Night Circle has changed its shape at least twice since Styracus came into our valley. What if this war lasts so long that our kids end up having to fight in it?"

Ali blushed slightly. "So, you're in love with me? Is that why you bought up your kids?"

"Erm, yes… I mean no! I mean…. Damn." Littlefoot stammered out.

Ali grinned. "It's okay. But don't worry; this war will be long over when we have our kids."

They then exchanged a brief kiss before they continued eating their meal. By this time it was just a little past noon and the intense sun beat down on the rocky plains.

Over in the Great Valley, Theta and Hasta lead their group, or what was left of it through the Great Rock Pass.

They then arrived in front of Styracus and Red-Eye.

"So I take it you failed?" Red-Eye asked, looking over the battered members of the expedition.

"Well what does it look like!?" Theta shouted.

"Calm down." Styracus said. "We have crafted backup plan in the unlikely event you failed." He then turned to Red-Eye. "Red-Eye."

Red-Eye cleared his throat. "Well, I have sent several fast-biters to sabotage anything in the Great Valley they could: food, supplies, herbs, weapons and even eggs."

"What's the purpose?" Hasta asked.

"Simple. If we do it right, we can make the Great Valley dinosaurs blame each other for the sabotage. And if we're lucky, we can get them to fight each other."

Saber grinned. "Simple, but ingenious! A pity I don't get to see the dinosaurs kill each other."

"Forget watching, I actually want to kill some of them!" Theta shouted.

"Now, now Theta, you'll get your chance. I'm assigning you, Hasta, Slasher and Saber to a hunting party when the Night Circle falls. Kill all you want then. Our sharpteeth could use the food." Red-Eye said.

Over in Mr. Bigmouth's grove, Hellebore and Aconite were preparing some herbal medications.

"Hellebore, are you done with the blackwood scrapings yet?" Aconite asked. He was monitoring a calabash filled with a thick orange liquid that he was boiling using a heated stone.

Hellebore turned around and in the process accidentally knocked a calabash full of bloodroot slices into the fire. The fire immediately gave off irritating smoke that caused their eyes to water.

"You idiot! I needed those!" Aconite shouted.

"Look, I'll prepare the next batch of bloodroot." Hellebore said.

"The calabash was also lost!"

"I'll make a new one!"

Aconite coughed. "Let's get out of here! The smoke's really bothering me."

Hellebore nodded and the two bolted out of the grove. Slasher happened to notice them and he chuckled to himself. "Hmm. They must have made a bad batch of herbs."

Back at the meadow, Deimos and his group had managed to disperse the entire mob of dinosaurs. The feeding grounds were spattered with blood. Teeth as well as various weapons lay on the ground. Mr. Clubtail, Mr. Threehorn, Chomper's parents and Bron had taken the fighters away to be interrogated. A few bodies on the fighters lay on the ground.

"This is completely ridiculous!" Hyp said, dragging a Runner with his head completely caved in to a small edge of the feeding grounds.

"I never want to see a fight like this again." Ms. Swimmer said. She was dragging two dead Runners, both had been stabbed so severely that their intestines were dragging on the ground.

"Eww." Mutt said, shuddering at the sight of the two eviscerated Runners. He was dragging a dead Fast-Runner who had this throat slashed.

A Swimmer dragging a carcass of a Runner riddled with stab wounds rolled her eyes at Mutt's squeamishness.

Several hours later, when it was around dusk, the group had finished cleaning up the feeding grounds. The weapons were piled up in preparation to be burned and the bodies were stacked up.

"Ptyrax, tell Blue-Scale that we have some bodies to dispose of." Shorty said.

Ptyrax nodded and flew towards the main lake. There he landed on Blue-Scale's head.

"We have cleaned the battleground. There have been several deaths and we need the bodies disposed of." Ptyrax said. He then leapt off Blue-Scale's head onto a nearby tree. He turned his head and he noticed Bron and the others interrogating the fighters by torchlight.

Blue-Scale nodded and headed over to the feeding grounds where Deimos, Chomper's parents and Rime were already eating the dead.

Some of the plant eaters turned away but most didn't seem to pay attention. After all, most had killed other dinosaurs during the Battle of the Great Valley.

Deimos had finished eating a Runner carcass. Hyp scooped up the bones and placed them by the stack of weapons. He arranged the sticks so they surrounded the bones. Mutt and the two Swimmers followed his lead.

"Hyp, what are you doing?" Deimos asked.

"Making sure that the bones will burn."

Blue-Scale had arrived and also began eating. He tore a Fast-Runner's carcass in two and began eating it.

After a few minutes, the carcasses had been devoured and the bones had been placed in the impromptu pyre.

"Well, now to start a fire." Deimos said.

"Bright torches anyone?" Hyp replied.

"I'll get a few from Mr. Bigmouth. And I'll see if he's been slacking off." Ms. Swimmer said.

"Get some herbs too!" Shorty shouted. He had a large bruise forming on his side from where a Fast-Runner had clubbed him.

"I never thought we'd get attacked by our own dinosaurs!" Hyp said. His left eye was starting to swell from a punch to the eye he had received in the brawl. His nose was also caked with dried blood.

Ms. Swimmer had now arrived at Mr. Bigmouth's grove. She looked around and noticed that a campfire was blazing away at the stone fire pit. Several deadly looking stone tipped lances rested against the trees and several calabashes of what she assumed were dart poisons or herbal medications were sitting on a flat rock. Mr. Bigmouth himself was sitting in front of another flat rock. Aside from the crackling of the fire, the only other sound that was heard was the rhythmic, almost musical sound of Mr. Bigmouth hammering out a stone weapon from a simple rock

"Mr. Bigmouth." Ms. Swimmer said.

Mr. Bigmouth, who was in the process of using a heavy stick to carefully knock the flakes off a stone spearhead, giving it its deadly edge, accidentally struck the spearhead in the wrong spot and shattered it.

"Damn it!" he cursed. He carefully brushed the sharp rock fragments to the side.

"Mr. Bigmouth." Ms. Swimmer repeated with a note of irritation in her voice.

Mr. Bigmouth then turned around. "Ah, yes. What can I do for you?"

"Well, first I need several bright torches, one lit and the rest unlit. I also need some herbs, just the basic painkilling herb mix and the clear herb juice."

Mr. Bigmouth pointed to a multitude of tree branches stuck in the ground. The end that was visible was wrapped in several vines. An oily sheen on the vines was just visible by the firelight. "Help yourself." He said.

"Thank you. But another thing, I need to see if you've been keeping up with your manufacturing." Ms. Swimmer said.

"Go right ahead." Mr. Bigmouth replied.

Ms. Swimmer nodded and started looking at all calabashes and rocks around the area. She did a double take as she noticed a calabash that was empty only two nights ago was filled to the brim with spearheads.

"Mr. Bigmouth, how did you fill an entire calabash with spearheads in only two nights?" Ms. Swimmer asked in astonishment.

Mr. Bigmouth chuckled. "I didn't make them. I found them just outside my grove in a river. But that's not all I found; I also found what amounts to several nights work of stone weapons."

"How'd they get there?"

Mr. Bigmouth shrugged. "I don't know and I'm trying to find out. I'm starting to think it's a dinosaur who's doing this."

"I hope you find out." Ms. Swimmer then headed to the area where the bright torches were kept. She tucked several of them under her arm and ignited another one, which she held in her left hand, using Mr. Bigmouth's campfire.

She then left the grove, the intense light from the torch fading as she headed towards the feeding grounds.

When she had arrived back at the feeding grounds, night had fallen and the moon was starting to rise. She then stuck the lit torch into the ground and handed the torches to everyone else.

Hyp lit his torch off the one in the ground and he walked past the dinosaurs, who were standing in a straight line, lighting their torches in turn. He then went up to the makeshift pyre.

Ms. Swimmer picked up the torch from the ground and stood in front of the improvised pyre as well. She took a deep breath. "May this horrific mistake in judgment never occur again. May peace continue to reign among the Great Valleyians." She said solemly. She then thrust her torch into the pyre. Hyp did the same. At the same time, Deimos, Mutt and the two Swimmers present threw their torches onto the pyre. The torches left a burning trail of red and orange sparks as they arced through the air and landed on the top of the pyre. Soon the pyre burst into flames.

The dinosaurs became silent as the flames consumed the pyre and the bones of the dead. After many minutes, the roaring flames of the pyre had died down into somewhat smaller fire.

"Erm, not to be disrespectful but I'm curious as to why we went through all that trouble." Deimos asked. He then made a face of embarrassment. "To be honest, I didn't have damn clue to what I was doing when I threw that torch."

"It's a modified version of our customs. Normally, when a dinosaur dies, we move the body to one of the Great Wall outcroppings that face the Mysterious Beyond. After we say words of thanks and respect, the closest surviving family pushes the body off the outcropping." Hyp said. He then grinned and clapped Deimos on the back. "And you did fine!"

Deimos nodded. "Since there are no cliffs here, you burn the bodies instead?"

Hyp shook his head. "Just the bones. After battles, we let you, Blue-Scale and Raptix eat the body to the bones. We then take the bones and place them inside a fire."

"Ah, so it's a way of showing respect. I understand now."

Hyp nodded. "It's okay, we can all learn from each other. I'm still learning some words in Sharptooth and you're still learning about our customs."

Suddenly, Ptyrax and Pterano landed by the pyre. "Everyone! Littlefoot's expedition is back!"

Deimos beamed. "I knew it!"

"Let's go and greet them!" Hyp shouted.

The group then headed to the front of the meadow. The pyre was still burning as they headed towards the front of the meadow.

The group arrived to quite a sight: most of the Great Valley dinosaurs had formed a line, between which Littlefoot and his group walked through. Many two-footers were present as well, most if not all of them were holding bright torches, lighting up the group. Several flyers of the Great Valley Air Corps preformed flybys as well. Several of the dinosaurs were cheering as well.

However, one dinosaur was notably absent from the celebration: Mr. Bigmouth.