Chapter 24: Forgiveness

"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." - Mahatma Gandhi

After approximately ten minutes of movement, Specter laid eyes on his targets. A small herd of medium-sized leaf-eaters with five adults and five juveniles, 50 meters away from him and unaware of his presence as of yet. The adults were around 250cm tall and 7m long each, making Specter actually bigger than them, and their children more or less half their respective parents' sizes, so around as big as the average, subadult Utahraptor, at least in height.

Hmm... Very distinctive snout... Those are Altirhinuses. That's good... Only two real claws... They're not dangerous to me unless I screw up hard and have all of them against me. I should ambush them, then separate one of the adults and kill it. An adult Alti weighs around 100 kilos more than I do, so I won't be able to carry it that easily... but I should be able to call out for her later so that she knows I've got something to eat. Alright then... Now I just need to wait a bit...

Having analyzed the situation, he would proceed with the usual conduct now. Observe, single out the weakest or most vulnerable target, wait for an opening, ambush, give chase if necessary, and kill. A line of thinking he has never needed any real training for. That was The Law of the Jungle, natural to every living being which had the remote desire to hunt, including humans. Though Specter figured that it certainly helped that he always possessed an interest in hunting and had once planned to go on a real hunt when he was still a human. However, as it was most often the case, the devil was in the tiniest of details here, and especially Littlefoot has taught him pretty much everything he ever needed to know. Had it not been for his first raptor friend's training and extensive explanations, even on his very first day in this time, he would likely have left more than one of his targets suffering terribly, or he would've simply been fatally injured long since.

But that also included the advice to search for smaller and younger prey, should he ever hunt alone for some reason. An advice which Specter has accepted and embraced since over a month already. So he knew very well that it would've been easier to kill one of the juveniles, but also that they wouldn't provide as much meat, so he ruled them out as his targets solely because of this. Even though he could smell another child somewhere around, a sixth one which also belonged to the same herd, he was determined to risk going after an adult in this case, as he would have liked to have some spare meat for the next morning so that he and Alba would be able to cover more ground on full stomachs.

A riskier hunt now, no hunt at all tomorrow. This was Specter's motivation and something he has often taken part in already, for example whenever he helped in taking down Sauropods. It was no secret that carnivores generally liked building up a healthy supply of food, even Littlefoot's pack who were all extremely respectful when it came to killing and usually only hunted when necessary.

And so he laid down on his haunches next to a big boulder, hiding in its shadow, waiting for the right moment. The leaf-eaters were busy with eating the few plants on the ground, conversing about unimportant things to Specter, thus he figured that they were very relaxed and feeling safe. Which made it likely that one of them would soon head off to find more food. He used the time to analyze them a bit more, but found nothing of additional significance. All of them were healthy and showed no signs of blatant injuries, which made him simultaneously happy and annoyed.

Fifteen minutes later, the right moment finally seemed to have come. A male had apparently spotted some more sources of food and wasted no time leaving its herd to get to them.

Alright... Just a little bit more... 15 to 20 meters away from the others should do to split them if I'm fast enough... Hmm... He's quite a bit older than the rest, alone, no children, no mate. Maybe just a random member who joined recently... a distant friend at best, considering how he didn't talk much or was never asked anything... I don't think they'll risk their lives for him... And I guess... the children can keep their parents as well if I take him out... Yeah, you'll be it... You'll have to die for us...

His target had reached the desired position by now, testing out the new food it has found. Specter kept observing the leaf-eater for a while more until he was certain that it would be completely distracted. Then he took a few deep breaths and prepared himself for a quick sprint, his heartbeat already accelerating. He slowly rose to his full height, readying his legs and claws...

"Sharptooth! Run!"

...when suddenly, this new voice echoed through the lands from somewhere. A voice that belonged neither to the Altirhinuses nor to anyone he knew, and it carried a rather strange tone, almost as if this creature didn't want to save the small herd at all. There was no fear, anger or surprise in that voice, reactions which any leaf-eater he has ever met always showed to some extent. If anything, this voice carried indifference.

But Specter had no time to think this through. Because as that happened, as this yell cut the peaceful silence apart, his target flinched in shock and ran back to the herd, all the other leaf-eaters in panic by now and frantically looking around.

Shit! Who the fuck was that?!

Specter nervously checked his surroundings, too, but snapped out of it within a single second. His cover was blown now, his foolproof plan ruined. Now he simply had to hope for the best, for a little mistake from those leaf-eaters in a direct confrontation. First, however, he had to act, show himself to them. And he had to do it fast.

Which he did. He dashed towards the herd, reaching them in less than four seconds. But the leaf-eaters had quickly spotted him and formed a line, keeping the children in cover. He made himself as big as he managed to, puffed out his feathers, extended his forelimbs and growled angrily at them, flashing all of his sharp teeth while trying to stare down every single one, hoping that at some point, one Altirhinus would snap and break formation so that he could safely pounce. Since this was not part of his original plan anymore, he also didn't care anymore if it would be a parent he would take down.

However, the leaf-eaters didn't give in to that display, yet neither attacked nor ran. Though they were all pretty much shaking with fear at his sight, a Utahraptor that stood taller than the casual Hadrosaur, none of them intended to let him get an attack in without punishing him for it severely. They may have had only two actual 'thumb' claws on the insides of their forelimbs, but that would be enough to rip his throat open if he wasn't extremely careful, this much Specter knew.

They're not running... They're afraid... but still refusing to retreat... They're already protecting their children... So why won't they back off? Is it because...?

He discontinued his thoughts for a moment, deciding to listen to their words. As he did so, he stalled them by doing faint attacks. Which worked out with extreme effectiveness. Every step he took forwards was answered with a step backwards from each leaf-eater, every step to the left with steps to the right. They mirrored his every move to shield their precious offspring, not realizing that they were all playing him in his cards. Because he had complete control over their movement, thus maintaining his superiority and confidence, once more commanding the pace of the engagement.

"We must go! Now!" One of the leaf-eater males exclaimed, the oldest one, Specter's original target.

"No! Never! Not without...!" A female, by far the most scared and desperate one, tried to answer.

"Don't be foolish! He is already dead!" Another female angrily shot back.

"No, he is not! He's back there, around those big rocks, I know that! We just need to fend off this damn fastbiter!"

"There is no time!" The oldest male, easily identifiable as the herd's leader by now, considering his dominant tone, almost shouted in fury. "I order you to...!"

Ah... of course! Specter thought to himself, obviously understanding the adults' behavior now. His expression darkened further but he saw no other option in this situation. Plan A had failed, plan B had failed. Now it was time for plan C. It would always be an emergency plan to him, but this didn't change the fact that it also always remained a plan in the first place.

Screech!

His piercing shriek cut their argument short and made all of the leaf-eaters take multiple steps back, but then their eyes filled with surprise as he himself suddenly moved backwards. And this time, they didn't move forwards anymore.

"Look! It's... It's working! That dumb sharptooth knows he can't take on all of us! Just... hold the line! Don't let him get past!"

Specter took one more step backwards, then another one, and then he turned sideways and threw a ghastly mix of a contorted face and devilish grin at the adults. Right before he spun around completely and sprinted off towards the biggest rocks in his field of vision.

"Why is he...?"

"Now is our chance! Run!"

"No! NO! How...?! He knows!"

"What?! But...?!"

"Damn it! What tells you he is alone?! Fastbiters never hunt alone, not even such a big one! We have five other children to protect! Now go! Move!"

"NO! NO...!"

"I SAID MOVE!"

Specter couldn't see the expressions of overwhelming shock in the leaf-eaters' eyes anymore, neither how they had to get that one female moving by force as she resisted with all her strength and screamed with all her might. He was only focused on his new target. He saw nothing wrong in this act anymore, especially not considering that this outcome was the fault of whoever had dared to warn the small herd. The only thing which seriously annoyed him now was that it would be a way smaller meal, given that he would naturally share it with Alba. But he refused to search for other prey at this point. He has started this hunt, and now he would finish it successfully. This meal would be halfway filling, too, and at least he would be able to carry the smaller kill to his companion, he quickly thought to himself.

Specter arrived at the huge rock formation within five seconds. He threw one quick glance behind himself to make sure the adults were no threat anymore, which they were indeed not, before beginning to stalk, sniffing the evening air and narrowing down the prominent scent while scanning his surroundings. Judging by the tracks on the ground, the juvenile had apparently played around between those rocks while searching for roots and other food until the sharptooth warning was uttered. But this leaf-eater seemed pretty smart, as its tracks didn't give Specter any evidence of its hideout. Even the fresh ones led into multiple directions.

Huh... Crafty... You would've probably made a capable leader... You already know how to confuse visual-reliant predators, even in such a situation... Might've worked with Troodons... But I'm a Utahraptor... and a damn big one at that. You forgot about my nose... So... I know very well you're around here... Just come out... You're running away from the inevitable... Your parents and friends have abandoned you... You won't make it now... Other predators might eat you alive... at least I will make it quick and be thankful for it...

Though he made sure to keep his thoughts hidden inside his mind, he couldn't help but wonder if speaking them aloud would be useful. Maybe he would startle or shock the prey with them and finally lure it out. He decided against it, however. And not only because he would've thought of himself as a borderline crazy asshole, were he to act like this all of a sudden. Whenever he was about to take a life, he reminded himself that he would never make fun of, overly scare or mock his targets. As a hunter on a hunt, he would always keep his discipline. He would get the job done, have his meal, and only then show his joy.

No exceptions... No jokes, no taunts. Alright... hm... Only ten more... Left side... This shouldn't be...

Screech!

Yet again, this strange, high-pitched voice from not even three minutes ago interrupted his thoughts. It definitely belonged to something small and able to speak leaf-eater, yet also to something that was able to vocalize such shrieks, so Specter only grew more confused and annoyed by it, and increasingly angrier.

For fuck's sake! What is that?! A Velociraptor? Deinonychus? Maybe a small pack? Are they trying to scare the youngling away from me to have him for themselves? No... Impossible... It's still the same one... And whatever it is, it spoke leaf-eater...

But he had little time to think any further as the juvenile Altirhinus suddenly emerged from its cover, a large pile of rocks next to a massive boulder to his left, coincidentally also roughly from where this shriek had originated, and sprinted away.

There you are!

Specter exploded into a sprint of his own and chased after the leaf-eater, following it eastwards.

The juvenile was not slow, still way slower than he was, though, but always used the many rocks and obstacles to keep its distance to him. Specter had to watch his feet, head and flanks at the same time so that he wouldn't fall over and injure himself, as the area was littered with boulders and rocks. And yet, by now, he kept his calm again. His prey ran in a straight line, and Specter already noticed that the obstacles lessened. Which meant that they were about to reach open ground where he could use his raw speed again. Consequently, it was only a matter of time until he would be able to catch up to his target and end this, only a matter of time before he was finally allowed to eat something.

That time should come after only ten more seconds of sprinting. Clear ground, no hindrances. This caused Specter to abruptly stop his movement, and something inside of him wanted him to flash a satisfied grin. But again, he forced himself to stay serious.

The juvenile had stopped, too, and with it its desperate screams for help and support. The leaf-eater stood close to a ledge and turned around to face him with a horrified look in its eyes. Specter didn't know how deep the fall from there would be, but, considering the youngling didn't take its chances, it must've been deep enough to break more than just a few bones.

Nowhere to run now... Time to end this... fast and painless...

Carefully but extremely determinedly, Specter moved in on his prey. He looked the youngling straight in its eyes, and the emotions of fear and horror were only the most easily discernible ones for him to see. Were he forced to analyze that now, he would've also seen shame, regret, confusion and sadness. All of those looks, all of those emotions, would soon merge together into the lifeless stare of death, though. Standing less than three meters away from his target, he prepared his legs and readied his killing claws. One quick pounce and it would be all over.

Moments before commanding his muscles to act, he couldn't help but wonder why the leaf-eater suddenly seemed like as if it was looking at something behind him. He never noticed the shadow from above diving down on him with incredible speed.

Slice!

An unbearable outburst of pain on his face as a talon ripped up the right side of his head. Then, darkness on his right eye.

Thud!

The sound of him hitting the ground, twitching in agony, was accompanied by that of a lighter impact and the scream of the leaf-eater as it fell down the ledge. Following that, the faintest of sounds, of crunching bones and fading life, from down there as the Altirhinus hit solid earth. And then silence, if only for another short moment.

"My eye! My... fucking eye! Shit! Fuck!"

Specter rolled around on the ground in his severe pain, unable to control himself. Only when he almost fell down the ledge, too, he tried to command his body to hold still. His body obeyed him, so he rolled away from the dangerous cliff and on his back. He tried to open his right eye as he stared up at the beautiful evening sky with his left, such a disgustingly mocking sight for him to see, but it didn't work. The complete right side of his head felt numb, and considerable amounts of blood ran down his neck, staining the soil around him. He put his hand on the injured side, pulled it back and now stared at his bloody forelimb.

And it was at that moment, when the immediate shock wore off for a second, that it hit him. It was at that moment when he actually thought about jumping off that ledge himself. Without one of his eyes, he would lose the will to live. These have always been his own, internal words, even as a human. He had so often pondered this scenario and how he would react in such a case, but now that it was in effect it felt like as if he was about to sign his own death sentence.

Slowly, still shaking with horror, he rolled over on his feet and groggily stood up, closing in on the cliff. When he arrived at the edge, he looked down. Horrified to the core, yet unsurprised, he was unable to measure the distance to the ground down there with his remaining eye. No matter how hard he tried, he didn't know if a fall would be twenty, thirty, forty or even fifty meters deep. The only thing he could make out was the dense foliage on lower ground, hidden beneath which the crushed leaf-eater youngling must've lain. Or, to put it in other words, out of his immediate reach.

But little did something so basic like food matter to him now. Whatever creature it was that had sliced his eye out, it was gone without leaving a trace and even stole his prey. And it has rendered him a useless fuzzball again. Just when he had finally gotten used to everything and built up his confidence, experienced true, free happiness as a Utahraptor, this happened. It completely shattered him from the inside, tearing him apart over and over. Maybe it was even more. Maybe it even killed him that his greatest fear has become reality.

And to add to all that, footsteps of a sprinting raptor were closing in on him. Which he was indifferent about as well. At this point, he felt nothing, smelled nothing but his own blood and cared about nothing anymore. Was this fastbiter friend or foe? He didn't care. Was this fastbiter which was 20 meters away by now, judging by the sounds, about to kill him in his injured state? Neither did he care about that. Maybe he was even looking forward to it.

"Specter! Is that... your blood?!" The Utahraptor exclaimed under her heavy panting, coming to an abrupt stop right behind him. "What happened?! Are you alright?"

It was Alba, and Specter honestly feared that he would scream in her face or even go as far as attack her if he were to open his mouth to answer her question, even though she was not able to see the disfigured side of his head as he stared into the distance and away from her. So instead, he turned around and simply presented his face. Alba gasped heavily once she saw the injury, and seeing the look that followed from her only destroyed Specter even further. It was a look which communicated that he must've looked like a lost cause, someone who would be best to just lie down and die.

"I... I... screwed up..." Specter explained his situation with an emotionless, clipped voice. "Someone... alerted the herd of leaf-eaters... I had picked out... I chased a juvenile to here and then... something just... My eye... My... damn eye... I can't..."

"Let me have a look." Alba suddenly interrupted, very controlled.

Though her command sounded more like a careful request, and it felt like as if an asking 'please' was about to follow soon after if he wouldn't react, Specter obeyed and laid down on his haunches so that Alba could comfortably reach his head. Very gently, she grabbed and held onto his snout and neck with her forelimbs and licked over the cut once. It would've set the new standards for the most intense pain Specter has ever felt, were he not feeling numb and depressed right now as he asked himself what she could possibly achieve with her actions other than getting a taste of his blood. Maybe a sign of comfort? Even so, it didn't work.

After a few more moments, Alba let go of his head and went over to his front, forcing him to look at her.

"You're fine." She spoke dryly, internally with overwhelming relief, though. "Whatever it was, it missed your eye. You just can't open it because you have blood everywhere and a nasty swelling, but it should go by once you've cleaned it with some water."

Complete silence again. Specter only stared at her, his emotions once more twisted and in pieces. That observation from Alba felt like a few hefty slaps to the face, left, right, left and right again. A wake-up call like none other before. Something that usually had a positive, calming impact on him. But then he couldn't control himself anymore. He couldn't hold back anymore. He suddenly jumped up and lunged at her.

"Gasp... Hey... Not... so... gak... hard..."

He was hugging her so tightly that he lifted her off her feet and almost choked her in his embrace while nuzzling her at the same time. He realized, of course, that she was in an extremely uncomfortable position and thus intended to put a stop to that. Especially because his arms made him aware that lifting a 600 kilogram Utahraptor wasn't really all that healthy for his muscles. So, Specter let go of her and returned to his standard posture, immensely relieved and jubilant. However, he quickly wanted to mention that he had completely failed in acquiring food.

When he saw that Alba had caught her breath again, he spoke up.

"The prey... It fell down that ledge... I don't think we can get down there so easily, but the adults might not be too far away... We should..."

"Not in your state, you idiot." Alba butted in, dead serious, before he could finish his sentence. "I found a place to stay for the night, with some water. You need to clean that wound, a meal is not worth risking an infection this close to your eye."

"But...!" Specter immediately started to protest before looking away for a second, frowning heavily, and softening up his voice. "Yeah... Yeah, you're right, of course..." He then admitted, cursing himself that he had messed this up so badly. "Ok... take point then."

Alba offered a confirming nod, and the two fastbiters began their trip with their usual, moderate pace to the place she had found. Specter used the time to test out if he could open his right eye now, but it still didn't work. It still felt like as if he had a knife sticking in his eyehole. It was just another occasion where he wished that this time offered at least some grade of technology like a mirror, so that he could take a look at himself and the injury. Not that he didn't trust Alba's words, but making sure of it himself would give him real certainty. Although, he figured that he would probably be able to use the water Alba had mentioned, given the right lighting. And now that he thought of her, he looked over to his left flank where she was moving.

Surprisingly, she seemed anything but happy, thoughtful but sad, with her eyes planted on the ground in front of her.

Did I actually... hurt you with that hug? Or... is it still because I've sent you to do the 'less dangerous' stuff? Specter thought about her current behavior and stance. He decided to wait until later before confronting her with that.

The twenty minutes it had taken the two to reach their destination seemed more like twenty years to Specter. The numbness on his face had already disappeared and was replaced by stinging pain. The wound was not leaking too much blood anymore, instead starting to itch massively by now. He would kill to make it stop already, he thought to himself figuratively.

And so he was pretty disappointed when he finally laid eye on the place Alba had found, because it was nothing more than a small cave with no water anywhere in sight. He barely fit into it, almost hitting his head on the entrance's ceiling, but then he was overwhelmed with surprise as he followed her a bit deeper inside and found a nice pool of clean water. Crystal clear water, so clear that he could actually see to the bottom.

Huh... So it was actually a good idea to let you do this... Females and their thinking... at least compared to myself... I would never have even checked the insides of this small cave...

He wasted no time moving over there, lowering his head and then fully submerging it in the pool. Bubbles emerged on the surface as he vocalized all his pain, anger and annoyance underwater, which Alba picked up from her position and shifted uneasily, already thinking about what she would soon say now.

After Specter raised his head out of the water and shook himself dry, he tried to open his right eye yet again. This time it worked and he was able to see with that side, if only quite blurry as he was unable to open it to the fullest. That was more than enough, however, and so he was filled with extreme relief for another time. And having ultimately concluded that, he wanted to discuss with Alba what to do next. They definitely still needed to hunt. He had heard from Littlefoot what would happen once a sharptooth didn't get anything to eat for several days, which he has been aware of even before that but hearing it from an actual Utahraptor was something else entirely, so he absolutely wanted to avoid this.

But before he could even raise his voice, Alba quickly walked over to him and spoke up.

"Specter, I... I'm so sorry... Even now, I wasn't fast enough... I... can't believe I..."

"It's not your..." Specter immediately tried to respond, without even thinking about it.

However, Alba wouldn't let him continue any further.

"No, let me speak!" She said assertively, making Specter go silent. "I never apologized to you openly... After how I've treated you... how I've almost killed you... All this time... I only cared about myself... I never cared about your own story... You have lost so much more than I have... Even though I cannot understand most things you've told me, even though you said yourself that it would be better for everyone... I just know that this must hurt you... And yet, you never bothered... You were always so nice and kind to me, to everyone... You always listened... when no one else ever did... You always moved on and never looked back... So... I just... I just want to say that I'm sorry... for misjudging you so badly... for everything... Can you... ever forgive me?"

Frankly, Specter was pretty dumbstruck by this. Though it didn't surprise him that Alba, at some point, would've spoken about her past actions, it definitely surprised him that she decided to do it now and even seemed to feel guilty for his injury, for which she really wasn't to blame in the slightest. And yes, he had to admit, deep down inside of him he had felt the desire to hear her confess and apologize. But he has never been one to overly resent others for hiding their feelings as he himself was pretty shy when it came to that, after all, so he softened up his look, completely forgetting all the anger he felt about himself before, and moved a step closer to her.

"Of course I can. I already have." He answered calmly, which made Alba's eyes gleam with happiness and surprise, but then his voice turned extremely earnest. "But... that's not entirely correct, what you said... No, it doesn't hurt me... not much, at least... but I did look back... I still do... It's too hard not to... Even though I'm glad there will be no more wars and everything now, even though I like this world right here very much... I miss all the nice things I had in my old life... But please don't think I had it hard, compared to yourself... I had it easier than anyone, easier than you and easier than Seeker and all the other sharpteeth of his pack... I never saw any one of my friends or family die with my own eyes. My father was old, my pet dog was quite old, and both of them were ill... I always knew they were going to die in the next few years... and I was afraid of the day when that would happen... And I also knew that humanity would perish at some point, probably together with this whole earth... Maybe I would have even lived to see it, the most gruesome end of an era, surpassing what was once supposed to be the end of the dinosaurs... Now I will never witness this anymore. I am witnessing death in a different way now... I'm a hunter. I've killed too many to cry, too many had to die so that I could live... More so, I have almost only good memories of my friends, my family, my whole past, and that is why I'm happy. You, however... You have experienced something way worse. You saw your parents die before your eyes, your own brother betraying you... Those memories will always be there... sometimes even overshadowing the good ones. I don't know how that must feel... I can only imagine it... In this case, it's not about numbers, Alba. This is why I have forgiven you as soon as I heard about what you've been through."

Alba just stood there, stunned and unable to vocally respond to this insane level of acceptance and forgiveness. Instead, she walked up to Specter with borderline tearful eyes and buried her head in his chest.

"Thank you..." She muttered shakily.

"There, there..." Specter returned with a soft smile while patting her lightly on the back. "It's alright... Come on, don't do that to me now. I hate seeing my friends cry..."

The two fastbiters stayed how they were for another while, until Alba retracted her head, blinked a few times and went back to wearing a neutral face, which then turned extremely determined as she made up her mind about what to do next.

"Ok..." Specter started once he felt like the time was ripe for this. "Are you feeling ready for another go? I'm pretty sure there are plenty of leaf-eaters..."

"No." Alba interrupted firmly. "Not this time. It's my turn to make something up to you. At least this once... You look after your wound in the meantime."

Even though Specter was surprised yet again, and he had to force himself to the maximum not to object her plans, he responded instantly.

"You don't have to... but fine. Good hunting. And... be safe."

An honest smile escaped Alba's mouth before she turned around and left the cave, sniffing the air and sprinting off into the approaching darkness. Specter's own smile was more that of a defeated rather than a happy raptor, as he really would've preferred to offer her his support, but he figured that this was the first step in showing her that they were friends with even rights and opinions. Though it would still take him some time to get used to this, personally entrusting females with highly dangerous tasks, this level of gender equality was something he was more than fine with. Something he has always been aware of and fine with when it came to his new species, actually, and something he also very much liked. It was just that it still felt so wrong to him, having lived a human life for over 20 years, over 20 years in which he would never have asked a female to do something like this when he was somehow able to do it himself.

In the end, however, he figured that he could care about Alba while fully trusting in her abilities simultaneously. Especially since his recent injury made him pretty much useless for now, anyway.

Of course you'll be safe. You've survived too much not to be... Well then... I guess now I will experience what it's like to be a male lion. Sleep all day and let the girls do everything for me... Just why do I feel like a dick, doing it?

Still smiling, now at his own thoughts, he shook his head and went over to the source of water to clean his wound some more.

Now... what happened to you here?

It had taken Alba merely half the time Specter and herself spent getting to their shelter to return to the place where he was injured almost critically. She has already found a few suitable sources of food on her way, but first, she definitely wanted to search around this area here. Though Specter did not tell her what kind of dinosaur it was which had attacked him, since he obviously didn't know it himself, she just couldn't help but feel the burning desire to find out. She had more than enough time on her hands, and there was one thing she was sure of.

She would never let such a cowardly attack like this go unpunished. Someone had hurt her friend. And she had not been there to help him. In a way, she even counted this as an insult towards herself, one of the highest order.

I will find out who and what you are... I will find you... and let him judge... It's the least I can do now...

So, Alba started with analyzing the faint footprints on the dry ground, and she was immediately finished with that. There were those from Specter, very easy to make out when one considered his size, and those from the leaf-eater juvenile he had chased. That was it. No matter for how long she stared at the earth in her search for another presence, no one else had recently been here.

Instead, she went a few steps closer to the ledge and looked down at the remains of Specter's blood.

So, you chased the leaf-eater to here... You cornered it... just about to kill... Then something attacked you... and then the leaf-eater fell... Hmm...

Then she went to the ledge itself and looked down, unable to find anything as the ground below was covered with dense leafage.

But that's deep enough... A fall would definitely be deadly to a juvenile... Hmm... No other footprints... So... it was a flyer. It dived down on you, almost scratched your eye out... and then threw your target down to eat it... Very smart... but why would a flyer do that? Sharptooth flyers are almost always big enough to kill on their own... and most of them can be noisy... I know about your senses, so why didn't you hear or smell it coming? Besides, they often eat fish... Maybe it was one of those really small sharptooth flyers, a very hungry one... But even so, why would it have attacked you? It risked a lot, doing that... It risked too much, actually...

Never has she felt so unsatisfied, so useless and blind to the obvious. There must've been something she had missed so far. It just felt like she had. Many times has she seen various flyers doing their hunting over the course of her life, and not once had one of them used a tactic like this. A flyer's body was always very fragile, especially the extremely vulnerable wings, which was why they either scavenged or hunted small prey like hatchlings, fish or ground fuzzies. Sure, there were those flyers that could grow even taller than an adult two-footer, but Alba was dead certain that Specter would never have ignored, not smelled or not seen such a humongous dinosaur in his immediate vicinity.

Just a small, greedy, aggressive flyer then... Still... that wound on your face... It doesn't fit to such a small flyer's claws...

Alba sighed audibly, forcing herself to stop pondering this now. The aggressor was probably long since gone, anyway. At least Specter got away with both his eyes intact, she deduced, and this was more than enough to lift her mood. Now she would lift Specter's mood by bringing him some tasty food, making up at least part of everything he has done for her already.

But then, just as she was about to raise her head and turn around, she finally noticed some movement out of the corner of her eye.

What is...? Alba thought curiously as she lowered herself to the ground and reached after an object, stuck below the ledge, of which only the very tip was visible. When she retracted her forelimb, she opened her hand and looked down at it in surprise.

It was a feather, a small and very colorful one, mostly red but also shimmering with orange, blue and black colors.

A... 'feather'. It's fresh... the scent is still on it... Hmm... Smells... unfamiliar... Not from a fastbiter... And flyers don't have them, either... Does it belong to whoever attacked you? It would make sense... If the leaf-eater fell down here... and the thief after it... maybe it lost this here. But that still means it can fly... I should just take this to you then, later. Maybe you will recognize that scent? Or at least know what this belongs to...

This time, she concluded her thoughts for good. She grasped the single feather tightly in her claws and went off, back towards where she knew some leaf-eaters would be.

When Alba finally reached her planned destination, it was just before nightfall. The Bright Circle had once more disappeared behind the massive mountains, and the Night Circle was about to rise. And this meant that she would not be spotted as easily, at least compared to what usually happened whenever she had tried to hunt at daytime.

Ok... Threehorn family... Just a little bit more...

She stopped her movement only when she had eyesight on her targets. The family consisted of two adult threehorns, male and female, and their juvenile offspring, also a female. Obviously, Alba chose to take out the child, as it was just a bit smaller than herself and would never stand a good chance on its own. She would have to separate it from the parents, but was an easy enough job to do when one was as fast as her.

However, seeing her prey like this, a happy, young family with only one child, brought up all the disgusting memories from her past, from her first hunt.

She really does look a lot like...

But Alba shook her head, dismissing those upcoming concerns and fears. She has gathered way enough experience over the past years to never let such a mistake happen again. By now, in contrary to back then, she knew exactly where and when to strike most kinds of huntable prey to first immobilize and then kill them in one blow. And as much as she hated thinking about it now, it had been Shade to teach her most of this.

Even so, she was able to dismiss that, too. Though Shade's brutal betrayal would probably nag at her until she met him again, should she ever meet him once more, that was, she would also not let any remaining feelings for her brother get in her way. Not when she was in the midst of a hunt. And especially not when there was a new fastbiter at her side. A fastbiter whose ways and background would likely forever remain mysterious to her, yet it was maybe just because of this why Specter seemed so trustworthy. His actions certainly made it feel right for her to trust him with her life.

Anyhow, Alba focused on her prey again. She stood around three longneck-lengths away from the family, meaning that she would have to close the distance some more to be able to ambush them successfully.

As close as possible... One and a half should do... She figured, lowered herself to the ground and carefully closed in on the threehorns, as noiselessly as always.

However, just as she was about to reach her desired position, the juvenile threehorn suddenly turned around and looked seemingly right at her. Alba quickly dropped to the ground behind the rather small bits of foliage which were barely able to partially hide her very noticeable body, making herself as small as she managed to. The threehorn continued to stare at her position, but then it strangely turned back around and to the adult male.

And it was right at this moment that Alba noticed Specter already had an impact on her behavior. Because what she would have done, had she never met him, was stand up to lessen the distance again. She didn't do it now, though, and that had a good reason. Her ears were just about picking up those strange, meaningless leaf-eater sounds. Those sounds that sounded like utterings of stupid creatures, unable to coordinate themselves. At least Alba, until quite recently, had always thought this, had always been taught this by Shade and her parents alike.

He... He was right... They're... speaking... Yes, they must be... They're really speaking... to each other... just like us... She must have seen me, and now she's warning her father... But...

The very last, tiny little bit of doubt disappeared from her mind as soon as the massive, male threehorn turned around to look at her current position, too. Luckily for her, the male quickly shook its head, huffed audibly, turned around to the smaller female and grunted at it in annoyance before returning to its usual behavior of feasting on its food. The juvenile answered to this by angrily grunting back something different, then walking away from the adults with its head held high.

Alba was pretty taken aback by this display, now seeing everything she had thought to know about leaf-eaters in new light.

Threehorns and their pride... So typical... But this here... this right here... It's so obvious... How did I never notice?

She decided to be thankful for having always been obedient to her parents and brother, having never felt such a dangerous thing as pride, but also angry with herself for never questioning their seemingly blinkered teachings. And, of course, she decided to extensively thank Specter for simply gifting her this knowledge. All of this later, however. Now was the time to exploit this situation, this threehorn family's pride. After all, it would cost one of them their precious life.

And so Alba carefully stood up once more, her eyes set on her prey. The threehorn, in its display of anger and stubbornness that its father did not take the careful warning seriously, had actually separated itself from its parents, now using its horns to ram over some smaller rocks more than a whole longneck-length away from the adults. Alba figured that it really couldn't get any easier now, as she would be able to jump straight to the part where she could chase the target. It was a simple enough plan, yet she was used to thinking everything through multiple times so that nothing could go wrong. For example, she also took into account that she was still holding the single feather in her claws, rendering her unable to use one of her forelimbs. Still, she knew it would be alright, so if anything, she only had to dismiss upcoming memories of Shade again.

But just as Alba concluded calculating the perfect route for a full-speed sprint followed by a successful ambush, chase and kill, she realized that she had not calculated what someone like Specter would've described as extended 'environmental variables'.

"Help! Someone! Please...!"

Those distant shrieks for support, coming from what Alba found must've most definitely been a small fastbiter, at least until the voice turned into meaningless clutter which sounded an awful lot like leaf-eater, made the young threehorn aware of itself and it moved back to its parents rather quickly. The adults, too, noticed this change, and so the entire threehorn family as a whole swiftly left the scene before Alba could even do as much as take her first step of the planned sprint. The only thing she could do now was watch her prey disappear.

She growled angrily for just a moment, but then she swung her head around to look into the direction from where those screams had come from. Not thinking any further, she sprinted off towards them, not knowing if it was to silence them in her anger or to really offer support. Maybe two small fastbiters were battling something out, unintentionally ruining her hunt in the end, in which case she would really have to control herself to not rip them apart for this. Or maybe it was just a random sharptooth, chased by a bigger leaf-eater, in which case she would quite gladly step in to have something to hunt after all.

Whatever it would be, she had a feeling that it was somehow important to check out the reason for this noise, though she never realized that this 'somehow' was the faint scent coming from her forelimb.

All right... yeah... again, I'm terribly sorry for the long delay and that I wasn't able to keep my word. However, there will be actually another chapter, which I will hopefully be posting tonight, 'tonight' being in CEST. And in that chapter's afterword, I will then finally explain a bit as to why this has taken me so long.

In the meantime, I hope you've enjoyed this one, and as always:

Take care, and have a nice day!