Chapter XIV: Council

At noon, the elder dinosaurs of the herd formed a circle round Pterano and his pink longtail companion while the younger dinosaurs brought stones for the voting.

Threehorn bellowed out the charges against Pterano. "First, endangerment of life; second, desertion of herd members in need."

"Most inexcusable conduct!" said Mr. Longneck, and the herd murmured in assent.

"They don't like you, no?" said the longtail.

"You'll see, Rinkus," said Pterano. "It is my destiny to lead this herd. They will certainly rule in my favor."

"I hope you don't lead this herd the way you did that other one, especially with me in it," said Rinkus. "Poor Ramfo, to have his wing torn open by a sickleclaw."

"Keep your beak shut!" said Pterano, hitting Rinkus across the face with his wing.

"Do we have any witnesses?" said Grandma.

I looked around for Vega, but she had disappeared. I was sure Rinkus had seen it all, but I didn't think he liked being slapped like that.

"Who is this?" snorted Threehorn, marching down towards Rinkus. "Where are you from?"

"I'm Ramfo's brother Rinkus. You must be the stupid, impulsive threehorn Pterano told me about, yes?"

To his credit, Threehorn did not lose control this time, only muttering something about "those flyers are all alike."

"How do you plead to the first charge, Pterano?" asked Grandpa.

"Endangerment of life! Fiddlesticks!" snorted Pterano. "It was those sharpteeth who are guilty of endangerment of life."

"As Mr. Clubtail said, you should have scouted for them, or sent somebody to do that. Did you?"

"Yes," said Pterano. Almost at the same time Rinkus said, "No."

I thought I saw that cynic Clubtail smiling a little as Pterano gave Rinkus an extra-heavy wing-slap.

"Negligence!" cried Threehorn.

"It wasn't my fault they were all killed!" cried Pterano. "What was I supposed to do? Break off my wings and give them to the fools?"

"Personally, I think you should have done that," said Clubtail, while Sean Threehorn said, "Why don't you ask Sequoyah?"

"How do you plead to the second charge?" said Grandpa.

"Desertion? Ha! I was going to get help!"

"Yes, help for himself," said Rinkus under his breath, but I heard it and told the herd.

Pterano gave Rinkus a real beating this time.

"Pterano's doing himself no good," whispered Shieldback to me, and Spikethumb nodded his assent.

"Pterano Tallcreston!" said Grandpa, authority in his voice. "That will be enough. Fellow dinosaurs, you may now vote. Is Pterano guilty of endangerment of life or not?"

We voted. The verdict was "not guilty," but only by a very few votes.

"You see?" said Pterano to Rinkus, triumphantly.

"Is Pterano guilty of desertion?"

We voted again. This time, the vote was overwhelmingly "guilty."

Threehorn and the Longnecks, together with some others including me, discussed the matter of his sentence, and finally Threehorn turned towards him and pronounced the verdict.

"Pterano Tallcreston, henceforth you may no longer travel with this herd."

"Fools! You don't know what's good for you," said Pterano as he took off, Rinkus following after him.

A time of crisis had passed, and we made preparations to continue our journey towards the Great Valley.