Chapter XVIII: One for All and All for One
The cheering subsided quickly when we noticed that rough old Threehorn had broken down completely over the loss of his mate and son. He cried and cried and cried some more, and, surprisingly, didn't mention longnecks once.
"Why? Why me?" he cried. "First Cera, then Agatha, now Nora and Sean, what's left to live for?" He dashed towards the rock wall at full charging speed, apparently wishing to end his own life. He was about to hit it when Tricia cried, "Dad! No!"
Threehorn skidded to a halt, reminded that he still had a daughter, and broke down in tears again.
We decided to leave the two alone, a bit surprised at the rough old threehorn needing his daughter to comfort him.
We stayed for a few days to let the injured dinosaurs' wounds heal and the bereaved dinosaurs' hearts heal. Then we continued. Green food became more plentiful as we drew ever nearer to the Great Valley.
One day a skyreacher longneck announced that she could see the Great Valley. We cheered.
Somebody had the idea of taking an oath of unity, so we did. The herd's fiftysomething remaining members all raised their right hands, or legs, and swore an oath which ended with us all shouting at the top of our voices, "ONE FOR ALL AND ALL FOR ONE!"
But sound can cause things to move, as we soon found out. After we thundered out our final pledge of unity, a boulder fell down, then another and another, until there was a perfect shower of boulders and stones. Somehow nobody was injured, but we were confronted with a wall of rock that prevented us from continuing our journey.
"Just great," I heard Spikethumb mutter.
"So close and yet so far away," echoed a twocrest swimmer.
"WE MUST GET PAST THIS ROCK WALL!" cried Mr. Longneck.