Sorry for the massive delay in updating but I've almost completely forgotten about this fic. I kinda lost interest for a while but I recently watched the DVD of Dinotopia again and I began writing again and I fully intend to finish this. So here, enjoy three new chapters!
Dinotopia
Revenge
Chapter 18: Uproar
Romana moaned and touched her head gingerly. Why was she lying in bed? What happened? Slowly it came to her. Romana lay back down, closed her eyes and remembered.
Flashback
Stratus lowered his head and nudged his partner's shoulder gently trying to shake her out of her melancholy.
Romana half-heartedly patted Stratus's beak and continued to watch the sun begin its slow descent into the mountains. The sky was a fiery red tinged with traces of gold as the distant stars above began to reveal their own glow. The scenery was the perfect backdrop to the deep fissure and gorges, which made up Canyon City.
It was here that one could really feel the heartbeat of the earth yet Romana ignored the beat right now as she glanced absently at the sky deep in thought.
Chaz...
Her heart still mourned the death of her and her father's dear friends. In some way he had been the only living link between her and her father. The sorrow of losing her father and mother gushed to the surface as Romana blinked back tears.
Stratus gently rested his beak across her shoulder trying to comfort his partner as Romana patted his beak reassuring him that she was fine.
"Don't worry it's just a silly human thing," she murmured to Stratus, "I'm just thinking."
Stratus cawed gently to her as Romana smiled.
"Thank you," she murmured touched by her partner's gentleness.
She turned back to the skies and smiled sadly.
"I really wish you were all here," she whispered softly, "Father, mother... Chaz..."
Romana sighed wistfully and began reliving happier times with her family both human and saurian as Stratus watched over his partner a silent sentinel, warm and comforting.
End of Flashback
"You do realise that this is a grave offence?" Mayor Waldo, the 207th mayor of Waterfall City, asked.
Oonu, leader of the Skybax Corps in Canyon City met the mayor's questioning gaze. Power and purpose practically radiated from the man. His gaze was firm and unyielding.
"I am well aware of that," he said shortly.
"And are you aware that your... antics may have started up a war?" Waldo persisted.
Several of the human and saurian members of the Dinotopian Senate squirmed uncomfortably with the word 'war'. Zippo seated in one of the wooden pews in the hall watched the exchange nervously noting everything down in a book he was holding in his hands.
"A 'war' was not started by any members of the Skybax Corps. The Matriarch and I have reason to believe that war was already in motion at the time of the attack."
"But nonetheless against the senate's will you trained riders in the art of combat!" one of the humans standing on the balcony overlooking the hall said.
"Yes, Steven is right. We banned you from training riders to fight and you deliberately ignored the will of the Senate!"
Strongbow, an elder Triceratops standing on the balcony, snorted and shook his head, stabbing the air with his horns for emphasis.
An anklyosaurus standing behind him waved his club-like tail around as it barked hoarsely.
"Both Strongbow and Redbeat agree," the Mayor said, "Do you deny that you trained Skybax riders in combat therefore leading to the injury of a young girl?"
"No, I do not," Oonu's strong voice resounded through the hall, "But I was only doing what was right for Dinotopia. The pterandons are not afraid of humans and will one day attack us."
"As long as Sentinels stand over the portal the pterandons would not attack us," the Mayor told him, "So I do not see why you had to train riders to fight."
Oonu knew the pterandons were no longer afraid of the sunstones but he couldn't say it here in front of the esteemed members of the Senate without facing a rebuttal of some sorts. Rosemary and that girl knew it as well. The pterandons would attack and the normal dive-and-swoop tactics would not drive them away.
The man known as Steven stood up.
"May I be given leave to speak?" he asked.
"I value your wise advice, Steven. Proceed."
Steven looked at Oonu.
"None of us here can deny that Oonu is not a good leader of the Skybax Corps but he had ignored the will of the Senate. This proves he is not reliable," Steven stopped, "In face of this I ask of him to step down. I call for a vote of no confidence."
Zippo gasped as the whole senate dissolved into confusion.
"SILENCE! SILENCE!" the Mayor yelled slamming his wooden hammer down, "I agree with you Steven. I call for a vote."
Oonu remained silent as the votes were tallied. It was unanimous.
"The Senate had decided. From this point on you're stripped of your position of Skybax Corps leader," Waldo told him, looking at him with sadness in his eyes, "A new leader will be selected soon."
Oonu looked at him evenly.
"I pity you," his strong voice echoed through the halls, "I pity you. I pray that you will live to regret your decision."
With that the ex-leader of the Skybax Corps turned around and marched out of the senate building leaving the leaders of Dinotopia to puzzle over his words.
Romana frowned. There was more... but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She closed her eyes and concentrated willing herself to remember. Then it hit her... the explosion.
Flashback
Romana sat still deep in thought. The sun was long gone leaving behind a kaleidoscope of colour in the sky. But even that had faded giving way to the black canopy of the night.
The silence was deafening. Stratus had long departed to rest for the night after much urging from her even so he had flew off reluctantly.
"I guess this is the final goodbye," Romana murmured softly, "Goodbye Chaz. Thank you for allowing me into your life. May you rest in peace and find happiness in the next life."
Feeling peaceful after uttering her final goodbye to her saurian friend she began to get up.
"BOOOOMMMM!
The rock beneath her shook and trembled as she fell to her knees. Dust and debris shot up into the air and came down with terrifying force smashing the cliff faces and sending chips of rock flying into the air.
"CRRRRRRR..."
An ominous creak filled the air as Romana looked around desperately trying to find the source of the noise. She spotted it and gasped in shock, her mind working furiously trying to comprehend what she was seeing.
As the smoke cleared the sound of screeching pterandons echoed through the canyons. The Sentinels was enveloped in a giant ball of burning flames, it was as if something had ripped a giant chunk out of them. A single word came into her mind: explosives... her father had told her about them. He had said they were the most dangerous and destructive weapons man had ever created. Romana had never understood him until now.
She could only watch helpless as the top half of the statues balanced precariously on the bottom half. It was as if time had slowed, the statues teetered forwards inch-by-inch until gravity took hold and pulled. They collapsed falling into the deep gorges never to be seen again. A minute later the sound of rock hitting rock reached her ears. Then all was silent.
She stood there stunned. The sunstones were gone; they had fallen into the deep fissures where the pterandons roamed. It was like a nightmare. The barrier for Canyon City had fallen. The barrier holding back the pterandons had fallen.
Too late did she look up. Too late did she see a piece of smoking debris fall from the sky. Just before it slammed into her, she saw three pterandons flying away from the smoking ruins. With that her strength gave out and she knew no more.
Deep beneath the ledge on which Romana lay was a giant labyrinth of caves and crevasses. One could make their way into the World Beneath if they knew how. But nobody did except for one person...
The Master smirked as he viewed his underground kingdom. It was all his, this world of caves and darkness and how he hated it. He longed for the world above just as much as he loathed it.
He glanced at the pterandons lining the walls of the caves and smirked. Fools! If it came to it he would betray them without a qualm.
His eye was filled with malice and a deep hatred. His mouth was twisted into an unpleasant sneer.
The Master laughed with glee as the reports slowly drifted in. The Sentinels had fallen. The barriers had been removed. Slowly his plans were becoming reality. Finally he would have his revenge.
He chuckled to himself, his laughter bouncing off the rocky walls of the cavern as the pterandons turned their heads to look at him.
The Master knew the time was coming and soon, soon he would get his revenge. The thought pleased him and another fit of laughter burst from his lips as he stroked his wooden leg...
End of Flashback
Mayor Waldo retired to his chambers as he once again reviewed the likely candidates for the position of the Skybax Corps leader.
He wondered if he did the right thing. None of the candidates had the drive or skill that Oonu had.
Waldo slowly lowered himself into a chair still clutching the sheaf of papers. But he had to choose soon. If he did not act fast the corps would be thrown into chaos.
He had already forbidden any messenger birds to be sent to Canyon City but it was only a matter of time before somebody find out.
Time was running out and he had to act fast.
The Senate had been in an uproar after he had fired Oonu. Many of the members had changed their minds and wanted him back. But some still stuck to their decision.
First he had to sort this little mess out and then he had to deal with the huge amount of paperwork still lying on his desk.
Sighing again he rubbed his temple feeling a headache coming on. He stared down at the papers he was holding and began to read them again.
A few minutes later a knock on his door snapped him out of his concentration.
"Come in," he called.
One of the workers within in palace opened the door. Waldo blinked in surprise seeing the parrot-like bird perched on the boy's shoulder.
"There's a message for you, sir."
Waldo nodded as the messenger bird opened its mouth and recited what had been told to it.
"A message from the Skybax Corps to the Mayor of Waterfall City," the bird fussily preened his rainbow-coloured feathers as he waited for the Mayor's reply, "Do you accept?"
Mayor Waldo nodded impatiently waiting for the bird's news. Surely the Corps had not heard about Oonu's dismissal already?
"The Sentinels have fallen. The sunstones are gone and the pterandons are uneasy," the bird recited.
The room was silent as Mayor Waldo stared at the bird in shock. The Sentinels? Fallen? Impossible.
He needed time to think. It took all of his self-control to keep up this façade. On the outside he was calm and composed on the inside he was dazed and shaken to the very core of his being.
"You are dismissed," Mayor Waldo said tightly.
"But the Corps asked for a repl..."
"LEAVE!"
The boy dashed out of the door as the messenger bird sniffed disdainfully and flew out the window muttering about rude humans.
Mayor Waldo was still in shock.
His logical self told him that the pterandons would remain peaceful but deep down inside he was afraid. Afraid for Dinotopia.