Revenge
Chapter 7: Awakened
Rosemary sat beside the girl stroking her long auburn hair. Bandages covered her arms and back where there here been several serious injuries. She sighed. Who was this girl? Why was she with a pterandon? Rosemary knew better than to sit here but she could feel something odd about this girl. Not odd as in a bad way but as in unique.
"I wish to know your secret," she murmured as she closed the door behind her, "What am I feeling?"
~*~
Her body was on fire. Cherry groaned as she felt her whole body throb in pain. A cool hand pushed a cloth onto her head. Luckily she didn't open her eyes or she would have panicked seeing the dinosaur who was acting as her nurse. She coughed weakly and thrashed around wildly as the Protoceratop nurse struggled to hold her down. Rosemary once again wetted the cloth and gently pressed it to Cherry's forehead. The girl's eyes flickered open before the fever once again took control.
~*~
'What are you doing here?'
Sharpbeak could barely manage to open his eyes but he opened them long enough to catch a glimpse of an oddly coloured pterandon.
'Freefall...' he muttered weakly.
Sharpbeak closed his eyes and lost himself to sleep.
~*~
Sunlight filled her eyes as she opened them. She blinked but all she could see was blurs. She coughed weakly and shivered slightly as the cool air brushed her face. Cherry began to sit up and...
'CRACK!'
And met with a warm, hard object. She winced as her vision turned black. She felt as if somebody had driven burning knives into her skull.
"Ow..."
"OW!"
'What's happening? Is everything all right?' a young voice asked frantically.
Cherry groaned and rubbed her head. Slowly her vision cleared and she almost jumped as she stared into a pair of laughing bluish-green eyes.
"Ow... that hurts," Cherry guessed he was around her age. He smiled sheepishly, rubbing his forehead, "Guess that'll teach me not to do that again..."
"Cause if you do I'll give you twice the headache," Cherry snapped rubbing her own head.
"Oooo... touchy," the teenager smiled giving her a devilish grin.
Cherry had the urge to slap him but was too tired.
'Guess both of you have thick heads,' the voice said again. This time the voice hid the faintest trace of laughter.
"Not funny!" the boy and Cherry snapped at the same time.
"Not funny!"
Karl frowned.
=Wait a minute... how can she understand 26?=
~*~
Cherry opened her eyes. Had she fallen asleep again? And where was she? Cherry braced her elbow against the bed and tried to lever herself out of bed. She bit back a yelp of pain as the cuts and bruises on her body rebelled at her movements. A pair of delicate hands gently clasped her shoulder.
"What the!?"
"Breathe deep," a quiet voice said calmly.
Cherry sat up and looked at the woman sitting on the bed. This regal woman seemed to send out a vibe of power and intelligence but her features were soft and caring.
"Where am I?" Cherry demanded.
The woman looked at her for a while, Cherry quailed under her calm gaze.
"This is the Earth Farm. I am the Matriarch."
The Matriarch's voice was soft but hid the smallest trace of command.
"My name is Cherry," the girl answered the unvoice question.
The woman nodded.
"My name is Rosemary," Rosemary looked at Cherry calmly, "Are you a dolphinback?"
"I am a newcomer," Cherry stated simply.
"Why were you with a pterandon?"
Cherry stared at her, concerned.
"Sharpbeak? Is he okay?"
"He is fine," Rosemary cut her off before she could ask more questions, "Why were you with a pterandon?"
"Long, long story..."
"I have time." Was the cool answer.
Cherry took a deep breath and frowned as she tried to remember. It came to her slowly in bits and pieces. Mentally she put them together and began her story.
"It all started a month ago..." Cherry snorted in disgust, "My family has a fair amount of money but not much love. We thought it would be a wonderful idea to go on a cruise around the world to you know... ' to get to know each other better'."
Cherry sighed.
"We had just left Porta Rica and was heading towards the Greek Islands when the captain reported that we many experience some rough weather. My sister was scornful and demanded why we should have to pay so much and not get beautiful weather," Cherry gritted her teeth, "She thought you could just wave her hand and poof! The world would be just like what she wanted it to be."
"It sounds like you don't like your sister."
Cherry shrugged.
"Why should I? She's spoilt and selfish!" Cherry closed her eyes and sighed, "She may not be perfect but she's my sister. We were going to experience some rough weather...."
Flashback"Why is the boat rocking so much?!?" her sister wailed.
Cherry rolled her eyes and ignored her sister who was whimpering pitifully.
"Oh my god! This is stupid! We pay over a grand for this and we get this stupid weather," her sister growled.
Having heard her sister complain for the last hour, Cherry ignored her and continued to flip through the magazine she was reading. Her sister opened her mouth to whine again but was cut off when the ship's speakers came to life.
"This is your captain speaking..."
Cherry's eyes widened as she detected a trace of panic in the captain's usually calm voice.
"We're experiencing some difficulties..."
End of Flashback"Yeah we had some difficulties alright... huge waves pounded our ship. Rooms were flooded. We didn't even stand a chance. Lightning hit the boat and set it alit. Flames destroyed some of the cabins before we were evacuated. It was utter, complete chaos. I was knocked out and the next thing I knew I was all alone and the ship was empty."
Cherry smiled sadly and bitterly.
"Seems like nobody cared about me."
Rosemary opened her mouth to object but Cherry continued her story.
"I climbed onto the deck and jumped into the ocean. I was tossed around by the wave until I was rescued by a dolphin."
"Dolphins are known to help humans."
Cherry nodded.
"Waveride helped me onto shore but when I woke up on the beach a pterandon attacked me and knocked me out. The next thing I knew I was in a cavern of some sorts."
Cherry continued her tale telling Rosemary everything not leaving out the tiniest detail. When she finished Rosemary sat there digesting what she just heard. She frowned.
"This Longwing sounds dangerous."
Cherry snorted.
"I think he's totally wacko, off the wall, a few sandwiches short of picnic..."
Cherry stopped seeing Rosemary's puzzled expression.
"Longwing is a little..." Cherry groped for a term, "A bit not right... in the head."
"Nonetheless he's the leader of a flock of pterandons."
The girl nodded as Rosemary sat deep in thought.
"Don't tell anyone your story," she said sharply surprising Cherry.
She stood up suddenly as Cherry stared up at her. Rosemary looked down at her.
"I will not lie to you. This Longwing is dangerous and must be stopped. But we dinotopians are bound by law and honour to be equal and fair to all creatures," Rosemary let out a long sigh, "This is complicated but for the sake of Dinotopia we must bend the rules."
Cherry nodded still confused.
"Breathe deep."
~*~
'Longwing sent you didn't he?'Freefall towered over the injured Sharpbeak. Sharpbeak moaned wearily and began slowly moving his wings as he struggled to get up.
'Answer me!' Freefall thundered.
'I was trying to escape him!' Sharpbeak snapped as he finally managed to get up.
'Liar! He sent you to kill me!' 'Stop being paranoid! I was almost killed by him!'Freefall glared at him.
'If you are lying, I will kill you.'
Sharpbeak gave a saurian sigh. There was no talking to some dinosaurs.
~*~
She opened the door careful not to make a noise. Cautiously she peered outside. Good, no one was around. She had to find Sharpbeak soon. Stealthily she sneaked down the quiet hallway.
"Now if I could only..." Cherry stopped and a smile slowly came to her face.
Standing right in front of her were two large wooden doors. One of them was slightly ajar.
Still not believing her luck, she dashed to the door...
"BAM!"
And ran straight into someone. A pair of strong arms grabbed her waist before she collided with the hard ground. Cherry opened her mouth to thank the person who had caught her but the words stuck in her throat when she stared into a pair of burning amber eyes.
"Aren't you the girl with the pterandon?"
"Umm... yes..."
"What are you doing?"
"Trying to find Sharpbeak."
"Sharpbeak?"
Cherry glared at the boy who glared right back at her.
"The pterandon," she said coldly.
"Follow me."
With that the boy whirled around and stalked out of the doorway.
"What's with him?" Cherry wondered as she followed him.
~*~
"Sharpbeak!"
'Cherry!'Sharpbeak cawed in pleasure as Cherry rubbed her hands along his beak.
"How are you?"
'Could be worse.'
Cherry laughed and hugged her friend's beak.
"Glad to see you're okay."
'So am I, you lost a lot of blood.'
"I'm fine."
'Were you sent by Longwing as well?'
Cherry whirled around and stared into another pterandon's furious eyes.
'Were you sent by Longwing?' the predator said dangerously.
"No way! Longwing tried to feed me to those crazy younglings!"
'Liar,' was the cold reply.
Cherry glared at the albino pterandon.
"Freefall," the teenager said, this time his voice wasn't as cold as before, "Leave her alone."
Freefall glared at Cherry and stalked off towards its partner. Cherry and Sharpbeak looked at each other.
'I have no idea what is wrong with him.'
"And I have no idea what is wrong with him."
Sharpbeak looked at Freefall and his partner.
"Something is wrong..." Cherry muttered, "But what?"