Chapter VI: The Killer Revealed

"Make that one mile," grunted Threehorn as he charged forward, forming a barrier between the sharptooth--a twoclaw--and the children. Thicknose joined him. "Run, young ones!"

"We'll go get help," said Littlefoot. "Cera, you go to Mr. Clubtail. Spike, you carry Petrie to his nest. Ducky and I will go to our nests."

Cera did not think too highly of "greedy old" Mr. Clubtail, but she had to admit he was quite a fighter. So she set off.

Ducky's nest was the nearest to Cera's, and in no time her mother had arrived with two heavy branches, of course telling Ducky to stay at the nest. Her father was rarely nearby, because he was a seeker after knowledge and wandered the Beyond or the farther reaches of the Valley for days at the time.

Neither the sharptooth nor his opponents had made a move yet. Both had merely made threatening noises, and neither was backing down. The sharptooth had not really wished to reveal his whereabouts, but having just eaten a good meal of spikefrill he was sleepy, and his judgment was a little clouded. If he could just hold these herbivores off long enough to disappear, or kill them all so that they would tell no tales, that would be good enough. When it comes to hunting, twoclaws are careful. They measure profit against risk, and if the profit is not higher than the risk by a wide margin, why bother?

Spike had somehow managed to communicate to Petrie's mother about the sharptooth, and she too soon arrived. The sharptooth was outnumbered, but had worked out a strategy.

Cera and Littlefoot faced greater obstacles. Nobody knew exactly where Clubtail's nest was. They only knew it was somewhere deep in the Sheltering Grass. Clubtail did not like being disturbed. He had found a secret path into the Grass, where he slept, emerging only during the day to feed elsewhere. It'll take me forever to find that smelly old treestar stealer! thought Cera.

Cera had grown and could now cross the Sinking Sand on her own. She found her way into the tall grass. Now to find Clubtail.

Littlefoot faced no such trouble on the way to his nest. "Grandpa! Grandma! Sharptooth! It's at Cera's nest!"

"You saw the sharptooth?" asked Grandpa. "That's good. Er, no, that's bad. No, that's good and bad."

"Never mind, dear," said Grandma. "We have to go help."

The sharptooth backed off while the others slowly advanced. Then the sharptooth broke off a tree branch and hurled it at Ducky's mom. She was knocked out cold, and the hunter charged past them. Petrie's mom had flown down to attend to the swimmer, who was her best friend, and just barely missed being stepped on, while Thicknose received a slash down his side. The sharptooth had originally planned to keep running after breaking through the blockade, but once the smell of Thicknose's blood reached his nose, instinct took over and he turned and started towards the flat-teeth again.

Littlefoot wanted to go with his grandparents, but they had, not unexpectedly, told him to stay at the nest. He was trying to take a nap, and was unaware that a pair of egg-stealers were sneaking up on him. Five young flat-teeth might defeat one struthiomimus, but one young flat-tooth, even a longneck, against two egg-stealers? Not likely.

Great. Just great. I can't see anything in this, thought Cera. Ah, here's my own trail. I've been walking in a circle. Where's Clubtail? Why'd Littlefoot send ME to find Clubtail? The next time we play Sharptooth Attack, I'll get him back for this twice over.

Littlefoot woke from his very short nap to see two struthiomimuses standing over him. Instinct told him to run, and run he did. Strut ran ahead of Ozzy this time, which was a rarity, because Ozzy was holding a tree branch in case Littlefoot tried to fight, and this slowed him down.

Where should I run? I don't want to meet the sharptooth. Then again, if I find the sharptooth, he might scare away those egg thieves. But then my grandparents might think I left the nest. Boy, that branch looks heavy. I don't want to get hit with it. Should I go to the Sinking Sand? They won't fall for the trick again, and I'm pretty sure they can jump. Maybe I can make it to the Sheltering Grass. It's easy to get lost in there, though. The time I found Chomper it was so much shorter. I wonder why it's so tall now. I wonder if Cera is lost...

Littlefoot was thinking so hard that he wasn't watching where he was going. He just barely missed several trees. Then a low branch hit him on the side and brought him back to his senses. He picked up speed again and started dodging through the trees.

Littlefoot's grandparents had just arrived at the battle scene to see Ducky's mom unconscious and Petrie's mom trying to revive her. Thicknose had a gash down his side, and had walked some distance off to where the females were, not sure whether he could survive a second wound. Threehorn was holding off the sharptooth alone. He was already scratched in several places, and had left marks on the hunter as well.

"What's he doing?" gasped Petrie's mom as Threehorn walked some distance away from the sharptooth.

"Preparing to charge," replied Mr. Thicknose.

He was right. Threehorn ran towards the sharptooth at full charging speed. The sharptooth stood still, then as Threehorn came close, it lifted its foot and kicked Threehorn hard under the jaw. Now Threehorn was out, and Littlefoot's grandparents, after tending to Ducky's mom as best they could, had to face the sharptooth. Grandma whipped her tail out while Grandpa pushed Threehorn to a safer place, only to have the sharptooth pull his head back a little and open his jaws. Grandma's tail tip found its way into the sharptooth's mouth, which promptly closed.

Cera continued wandering about in the grass until she knocked her head into a rock. Being a threehorn, all that happened was that she tumbled backwards. However, she was a bit surprised to hear the rock saying, with a strange mix of annoyance and concern, "Afternoon, Miss Threehorn. What brings you here?"

Littlefoot was still running. He could still see Ozzy behind him, but not Strut. He skipped through the trees quickly. He was making for Hyp's nest, which was on the other side of the grove.

Almost there...What?!

Littlefoot saw Strut in front of him with claws spread wide. He screeched to a halt.