Chapter V: Pterano

We had at last succeeded at crossing the Burning Sand, and it was early morning. I had risen before most of the others, and made my way to the front of the herd to find Threehorn and the Longnecks talking with a magnificent-looking tallcrest flyer.

"I wish to join this herd," said the flyer.

"Then these are the rules," said Grandpa, and he proceeded to outline the laws that had earlier been shouted out by Threehorn.

The flyer apparently didn't like the laws, for I saw his eyes narrow and his expression melt into a slight frown, but he only said, "Understood."

"Name please?" asked Grandma.

"Pterano Tallcreston," said the flyer. "My sister is, I believe, a member of this herd. She flew out and told me about it last night. Also how she was separated from my poor dear nephew Petrie. I used to live near here, searching for (here his eyes shifted) pretty little rocks."

In years after I would find out more about Pterano and his "pretty little rocks." But that is told of in another place.

At any rate, not long after he joined the herd, Pterano, with his magnetic personality, began to draw some of the Herd's younger members. Spikefrills, clubtails, hollowhorns, crestbacks, threehorns...for some reason they believed him when he said that he was by far a better leader than Threehorn or even the Longnecks. They were ready to do anything he said, and some never did anything without consulting him first. Of course this made Pterano's already big ego even larger.

I told my friends Shieldback and Spikethumb about Pterano, and both, after they saw him, said that they thought him quite dangerous.

One night at the council, after the usual reports and complaints, a quite unusual one was registered.

A female hollowhorn cried out that her mate had been killed by a skyreacher longneck, and that she wanted justice.

"How do you know that it was Sequoyah?" asked Grandma, for that was the accused longneck's name.

"How do I know?" cried out the hollowhorn. "Because I saw it happen. My mate was in a good spot at the watering hole, and what does Sequoyah do but come up behind him and hit him with his tail. My poor husband goes flying through the air, hits a sharp rock in the middle of the water, and disappears into it never to come out again. All the time the murderer is standing next to me drinking as if nothing happened!"

"Were there any witnesses?" asked Grandpa.

Several dinosaurs came forward. One of them was that clubtail who had spoken out on the night the herd was formed. Each gave a matching account.

"Now we must decide what punishment to give him," said Threehorn.

"Punishment?" said Pterano. "Why, there is only one punishment for murder. It is death!"

Then, before the stunned eyes of the Herd, Pterano flew straight toward Sequoyah and drove his beak through the long neck.

Most of the herd was silent, horrified as Sequoyah gurgled, groaned and expired, but Pterano's followers cheered, calling him "the Avenger," and the hollowhorn cheered with them.

"How dare he!" began Threehorn, and started towards Pterano to see if the flyer could get his beak into his neck.

"Now, now, Mr. Threehorn," said Grandpa. "Sequoyah committed a terrible crime, and Pterano was right, death should be the only punishment for murder. Still, Pterano, you should have waited for the sentence before you volunteered as executioner."

The bloody-beaked flyer said nothing, only stood there still and haughty.

Shieldback and Spikethumb expressed their disgust to me. "Who knows what he'll do in the future?" they said.