Chapter 53

The next morning the five cadets set out again. Today would be the day they would leave the canyon lands behind and start climbing into the Forbidden Mountains. They took care to keep to the path that they'd been instructed to stay on.

By late morning, they'd entered the heavily wooded foothills of the eastern side of the mountains. They came across a lone struthiomimus who watched them in interest. Fira paused and spoke to the creature. "Breathe deep."

The rest of the cadets pressed on. By now they were well used to Fira's friendliness with every creature they encountered. Tristan, however, recognized this as an opportunity for a break. He plopped down onto a fallen log and promptly pulled the pack from his shoulders and set it by his feet. He fought the urge to massage his weak arm, for fear Mathias might notice. It seemed that ever since they'd began this journey the guy watched him like a sharp eyed pteranadon, eager to rag him about being a soft 'city boy,' or the 'weak link' of the cadets.

Taddeo and Jamin both noticed that Tristan had stopped and that Fira was still cooing softly to the struthiomimus. They hesitated and Mathias looked back and shook his head. "Oh, come on." He grumbled. "Not again."

"Fira," Taddeo said cautiously, not wanting to brush the girl the wrong way. "You're kind of holding us up."

"Again." Jamin muttered under his breath.

Then they all looked toward Tristan. "What are you doing?" Mathias said.

Tristan shrugged. "Just waiting. You all know as well as I do that Fira isn't going anywhere until she's finished making friends with the creature."

Fira turned toward the guys who were several yards ahead on the path. "Hey, guess what?" She called excitedly.

"What." Mathias said in a bored tone.

"Her name is Lotus—"

"Oh how nice." Taddeo said quickly. "Now we should really keep moving—"

"And she wants to come with us." Fira added, cheerfully.

"Wait, what?" Taddeo said.

"What makes you think that?" Jamin asked, an incredulous look on his face.

Mathias sighed.

Tristan hid a smile behind his hand, pretending to yawn. Fira had been trying to convince every saurian that crossed their path to join them on their journey, but she was always turned down. Their destination was just too high and cold for their liking. None of the guys ever thought that she would actually succeed on convincing one to actually join them.

"Because, Jamin," Fira said with a toss of her head, causing her brown ponytail to bounce, "she told me herself."

"And you didn't misinterpret?" Jamin asked.

"Nope."

Jamin gave the struthie a scrutinizing look. "You, my friend, are in for a surprise. We are both going to freeze." Jamin had been the least enthusiastic about the journey. He'd known the heat of the desert for his entire life and the very idea of tromping through deep snow drifts and crossing icy streams sounded nearly unbearable.

Lotus arched her long neck proudly. She couldn't understand all his words, but she understood that he doubted her.

"There are ways for adventuresome saurians to visit the colder regions of Dinotopia." Fira said indignantly. "When Lotus needs it, I'll tie my extra clothes onto her and when we reach the first village, I'll make sure she gets bundled even better. She indicated that she's always wanted to see the upper part of the mountains."

The guys just exchanged looks and shook their heads.

"Alright, Lotus." Mathias said, stepping back down the path to meet the creature. "You're welcome to come with us for as long as you like, but keep in mind that you'll have to pull your own weight, and fend for yourself for food, seeing as none of us have brought extra with us."

Lotus snorted. She could understand more of their words than they realized. It was just hard for her to articulate the human language. She pranced up to the tall boy, swishing her gray green tail much like a cat. Using her sharp toed feet, she proceeded to rub out a spot on the side of the path, creating a fresh patch of dirt in which she then pranced out a short message.

"I may pull your weight before journey is done."

The cadets all looked at each other after reading the message before bursting into laughter.

Taddeo slapped Mathias on the shoulder. "Looks like this struthie has enough spunk to put up with all of us. Who knows, she might be a great help on this journey."

Mathias smiled sheepishly. "Okay, okay. I won't argue any further, but if we're going to get anywhere, we'd better get a move on instead of standing around killing daylight."

Fira winked at Lotus and beckoned for her to follow, then she sidled up to Mathias. "Now that she's coming along, I don't feel so outnumbered by all you big brutes." She teased.

Mathias looked down at her. "You know every one of us 'big brutes' are quite willing to protect you on this journey." He cocked his head to one side and flashed his winning smile.

Fira rolled her eyes. "Aw, come on. You know I'm perfectly capable of protecting myself. Hmmff. As if I need protected from anything anyway." She grumbled.

Mathias reached for her hand, but she swatted him away and pushed to the head of the path, beckoning for Lotus to follow her.

Tristan noticed a slight frown creasing Taddeo's brow as he watched Mathias's gestures toward the girl and that reminded him of what he'd slipped up and told Fira. He chewed on his lower lip as he followed the others, contemplating on whether he should let Taddeo know what he'd said or not. He finally decided against it. Besides, if Tadd really wanted a chance against Mathias, he needed to stop being so shy.

As the young people traveled deeper into the mountains and ever upward, they discovered that so far the Forbidden Mountains weren't nearly as dark and mysterious as some of the Canyon City dwellers had let on. So far it seemed bright and cheery, with multi colored flowering bushes, ferny patches, luscious green ground creepers, moss covered stones and wood, a smattering of oak trees, and delightful groves of aspen trees whose pale bark seemed to amplify the sunshine streaming in from above. There were several different varieties of evergreens which put a spicy scent into the air, one that Tristan was not familiar with, and as a result, he kept breathing in deeply every time they passed closely to one. Somehow the scent made him feel relaxed. Tension that he hadn't realized he was carrying around until then, seemed to lift, making his shoulders and neck feel looser, and his mind clearer. Taddeo teased him, calling him a 'tree sniffer,' and Fira poked a handful of the poky needles down the back of his shirt when she passed him once.

"It smells nice, but it's prickly against your skin." She taunted.

"Fira, why?" Tristan grumbled, wiggling his shoulders, trying to get the little needles to work their way out of his clothes.

"Cuz you're fun to tease." The girl said. "You always have this great, negative response which is just what a teaser is looking for." She watched him for a moment as he struggled against the needles tickling against his skin. "I had no idea you could dance." She added, laughing.

Much to Tristan's chagrin, Lotus stepped up beside him, shifting her feet around and jerking her back and arms, clearly imitating him.

The rest of the cadets paused, watching Tristan and the mimicking struthiomimus for a moment, before they all joined Fira in her contagious laughter.

Tristan finally managed to wiggle most of the poky evergreen needles out of his shirt. "Tonight every one of you are going to find a pile of these in your bed rolls." He threatened. "You'll spend the whole night trying to pick them out of your blankets while I sleep like a baby."

"And if that's what you call dancing," he added as he marched up the path past the amused cadets, "You've seen nothing. I could probably jig circles around every one of you and make you so dizzy you couldn't walk straight for an hour."

This comment sent Taddeo into a fit of renewed laughter. "Whew! I believe you, that is, if your dancing skills are generated by your temper."

"And, I'll bet Lotus here could give you a run for your money." Jamin added, watching as the dinosaur scampered past Tristan, kicking up her feet high and arching her neck, still having fun teasing Tristan in her own way.

Through all the long months of training, Tristan had never shared the fact with the other cadets that his mother had made him take dancing lessons back at Sauropolis when he was younger, calling it part of a well rounded education. He'd loathed it at first, but found the steps and moves easy to catch on to and his teacher had called it talent. Tiana, his sister, was good too and their mother came up with the idea that they could both go into shows and performance. Tiana had taken to the idea with enthusiasm, but Tristan had turned it down, begging to pursue sports instead. Dancing never fit into his picture of what was necessary for developing great skybax rider skills. What he didn't know was that it had actually helped. He was sure on his feet, had quick reflexes, and excellent balance, all of which helped him to catch on quickly in Rider training. But he'd always shied away from letting the other cadets know of those skills. He knew that it would only bring up more teasing about his 'city boy' weakness. Besides, somehow out in the rugged canyons, dancing just didn't seem to fit, even if it was a peppy jig or a spicy freestyle. Now suddenly, caught up in all the teasing, Tristan just wanted to out show them all somehow.

"I dare you to try." Mathias challenged. "I think you're all bluff anyway. I've seen you trip and stumble around in the canyons way to often to believe you could concoct any real dance."

Tristan's patience, which never amounted to much, naturally ran out quickly. "I'll just have to prove you wrong then." He said. "But right now, we're traveling, and there is no music to dance to. Maybe once we reach one of the villages I'll find a chance. And mark my words, you wouldn't even know how to even begin figuring out the steps I can do."

Mathias shifted uncomfortably. His rival sounded a little too confident about his skills to not be able to make a fool out of himself in trying. "Naw. No need for that. I believe you. You can spare us all the boredom of having to watch a show by 'Tristan and company.'" Mathias snorted at his own sarcasm. "Boring because Tristan has no company." He explained.

"And you won't either if you keep coming up with comments like that." Taddeo said, trying to keep a jovial tone in his words to deter the two from clashing again. He poked Mathias with the end of his hiking staff. "Why don't you move on up to the front of the path where you usually like to be, and keep your comments to yourself?"

"Sure." Mathias grumbled, and pushed past the others. As he moved past Tristan, Lotus stepped up close and waved a clawed hand into the airspace between Mathias and Tristan. She gave and exaggerated shudder and jerked her hand back as if she'd been burned.

Her funny antics helped dissipate the tension that was building in the air and Tristan was secretly relieved that the saurian had wanted to come with them.