Chapter Seventeen: Flames that Burn like Ice
"Mushroom!" Remy shouted, pushing through the thick foliage of the forest. "Mushroom! Where'd you go! Come on, little buddy! Make some noise so I can find you!" She paused, listening for any sound that may tell her where the little frill-head had run off to. Only the ever-present chitter of flyers and tiny-teeth answered back.
"I wish Cera hadn't said any of that stuff. I don't think Mushroom understood it, but he seemed to feel what she was saying." Remy pushed through the last of the trees and into an open grassland of the Great Valley. As she looked across the long grasses, her Shard grew cold. Grasping the cooling crystal, she continued to search for any form of the infant frill-head.
Remy shook her head. "Why does it seem like Cera's always the one spurring on this type of stuff? Going into the Mysterious Beyond to fight sharp-teeth, instigating fights in the Great Valley, scaring off innocent hatchlings…"
She trudged through the field, keeping a lookout for the hatchling's glowing hide. Shielding her eyes, she looked over a rocky hill. The mound of earth rose from the ground, peppered with stones. It looked like the armored back of a stone-back, so it was aptly named Stone-back Hill. A pale shape moved among the rocks, its slight blue glow making it easy to track.
"Gosh, he can move fast for a little hatchling." Remy made her way to Stone-back Hill, talking to herself aloud. "I wonder if dinosaurs grow faster than humans. He's already running, but I guess that makes sense too. Calves and foals can run soon after they're born. Though, I don't think babies would understand the tone of Cera's voice. They might cry if someone screams at them. However, Mushroom seemed more upset than scared. He shouldn't understand anything." Remy shook her head, dislodging herself from her thoughts. "I'm rambling."
Picking up speed, Remy jogged closer to the hill. Close to Mushroom, she crouched behind a bush, unsure if Mushroom would run away again if he saw her. Currently, the frill-head was running between rocks, chasing after a violet dragonfly. His laughter floated on the wind, even when he tumbled head over tail when he tripped over a pebble. He simply shook himself out and spotted where the dragonfly had landed on a nearby rock, and chased it again. Remy let him play, seeing no danger by letting him have some fun.
When he grew tired and had yet to reach the dragonfly, Mushroom flopped onto his rump and pouted. The dragonfly, a light on a rock, fluttered its wings at him. He pouted further and turned away from the insect, like a toddler who couldn't get what they wanted. Then, something landed on his frill. Mushroom looked up, the long, violet abdomen of the dragonfly hanging over his frill. He squeaked with delight and paraded around, dragonfly clinging to him.
Unable to keep the smile off her face, Remy slipped from the bushes. "I see you made a friend, Mushroom." She crouched low to the ground as she approached the hatchling. "It's a beautiful dragonfly, isn't it?"
Mushroom squeaked and jogged up to Remy, his rump wagging like an overexcited dog. It seemed the ordeal that had happened not too long ago was forgotten. Remy picked him up, the dragonfly fluttering off Mushroom's frill and onto her hair. She laughed, feeling its prickly feet clinging to each strand of dark brown hair.
The dragonfly took to the air, and unease settled over Remy's shoulders.
The scrape of stone on stone made Remy turn around. The brother claw-hands stood before her, Oz's beak bared in a silent hiss. Remy stood her ground, holding Mushroom tight. "It didn't take long for you to come back for a second round."
"Well…" Oz slunk toward her, hands spread wide, and his amber eyes narrowed. "Your friends were guarding the egg, so I found the next best meal. I'm not leaving you leaf-licking scum until I've had my eggs. Now, why don't you tell me where those other two hatchlings went?"
"Do you think I'd ever tell you anything about them?" She held Mushroom closer, glaring at the claw-hands.
"I guess not, but it never hurts to ask. What about a trade?" Oz offered an open palm to Remy as if the trade he talked about was just in reach. The beige scales on his palm had peeled away, and the skin was just as red as it was when Mushroom had used his magic on him.
"I don't trust anything you say."
"I guess that is reasonable." Oz folded his hand back to his chest. His amber gaze dropped to Remy's feet and trailed upwards until they stopped on the girl's honey-brown eyes. "You know…" he drawled, approaching Remy, a hungry glint in his eyes. "I've never eaten thin-skin flesh before."
Remy paled, squeezing Mushroom closer to her. The hatchling whimpered as she squeezed him too tight. Remy didn't let go, so he nipped her arm, his sharp beak breaking skin. Unthinkingly, she released him. He landed on his belly with an 'oomph' but quickly climbed to his feet.
"Looks like the over-grown egg wants to be eaten. Fine by me." Oz glanced over his shoulder. "Strut, hold down the thin-skin."
"I…" The brown-backed claw-hand nervously glanced at Remy, rubbing his hands together. When his brother's gaze narrowed, he audibly gulped. "Right! Sorry!"
Remy couldn't grab her bow and arrow in time, but she didn't need to. With adrenaline racing through her blood and danger nearby, the magic of the Shard acted on its own. The nearby plants jumped to her defense, wrapping around Strut's ankles, tripping him. More grasses, turned glossy blue-green from the Shard's magic, wrapped around his wrists and torso. Strut struggled against the bindings, but they were feeble at best.
With Strut grappled, Remy drew her bow and nocked an arrow. Whisps of brilliant blue magic gathered in the air. They wrapped around the arrow until the runes on the shaft glowed a soft blue. She followed Ozzy's movements as he got ever closer to Mushroom, unphased by his brother's bound state. All he cared about was a meal of flesh and blood.
Remy released the arrow.
"Ozokerite!" Strut frantically pulled at the grasses, his brother's howl of pain sending him into a frenzy. Grasses snapped, and the ones that reached to replace the broken pieces could not grasp the nimble claw-hand. He rushed to his grey-backed brother's side but did not touch him.
Oz had all but stopped his approach on Mushroom. Breathing through his beak, he glared at Remy. An arrow was embedded in the base of his tail. Scarlet blood beaded from the wound, dripping onto the grass in a rhythmic 'drip, drip, drip.'
"Leave the Great Valley, or I'll shoot. And this time, it'll be fatal." Remy had already nocked another arrow, the magic curling around her as the Shard grew uncomfortably warm around her neck. "If you aren't careful, the other residents might find out about you. You know that big dinosaurs can be just as deadly as a Shard-wielding human like me. And they aren't as forgiving."
Remy glanced at the blood dripping onto the grass. "And the other humans aren't pushovers either. Just leave with your life and don't bother the Valley again. It might help you to change your ways and stop stealing eggs."
Oz hissed, brandishing his hands, claws itching to dig into her flesh. From the corner of his eye, the infant frill-head coward beside a rock. There was no hope attacking the thin-skin. They also wouldn't have any luck getting another meal in the Valley, but… Maybe he and his brother could still escape with full bellies.
In a flash of yellow tail feathers, Oz's claws dug into soft beige scales. Remy's arrow sliced through his back, shedding feathers to the ground. Blood dripped onto the rock Mushroom had been hiding behind. Oz took no notice of the pain, claws digging deeper into warm flesh.
"Mushroom!" Remy ran for Oz, but she was shoved to the ground.
Strut stood on top of her. "I'm very, very sorry. I didn't want any of this to happen, but my brother…"
"I don't care! He's going to kill a baby!" Remy screamed, writhing underneath Strut's foot, the plants around them raising like irate cobras. "I can't let him kill Mushroom!"
She smacked her palm on the ground, willing the grasses to wrap around Oz, but it was no use. The claw-hand's talons dug deeper and deeper, Mushrooms cries ringing through the field. No matter how many grasses wrapped around him, Oz did not stop. As long as he could hold Mushroom in his grasp and squeeze his hands, that was all he needed.
"Now…" Oz brushed a finger across the infant's throat. "I and my brother shall have full bellies soon enough."
Tears streaking down his face, Mushroom stared back at Oz, terror in his pale blue eyes. The ravenous glint in the claw-hands amber depths was the trigger to the ever-chilling bright markings that adorned Mushroom's flanks. Oz had taken no heed to the strange chill that had encompassed the hatchling, and now it was too late.
A terror-filled cry of the hatchling rang through the air. Brilliant blue flames ignited across his small body. The flames hungrily lapped at Oz's hands, crawling up his arms before he dropped the frill-head. The scream was lost in the back of his throat as he stared in horror. The blue flames danced on his beige and grey scales, colder than ice. He couldn't feel his arms anymore.
Oz dropped to the ground, attempting to smother the icy blue flames. But they remained, burning bright and as blue as the morning sky.
"Oz-Ozzy?" Strut hesitantly raised from where he was pinning Remy. His yellow-orange eyes grew larger and larger as he watched the terror unfold. His brother wouldn't stop burning. The blue flames just kept growing and growing, engulfing the upper half of Oz and crawling through his thick grey feathers.
"Ozokerite!" Strut rushed to his brother's side and try to put the flames out. "Ozokerite!" He gasped, the flames wrapping around his hand, the sharp cold penetrating his flesh down to the bone.
Mushroom cowered behind the rock, bleeding and trembling with fear. His pale eyes were locked on the cold-burning dinosaurs.
Remy scrambled to her feet. She scooped the wounded hatchling into her arms. Without words, she shushed his whimpering and turned away from Oz and Strut, Mushroom's gaze torn from the claw-hands.
The frozen blue flames stopped burning.
Oz laid on the grass, blood-smeared where he had rolled across the ground. The arrow was still lodged in his tail but had been snapped in half. The blood source only came from the wound made by the arrow, but the pain it brought was a welcome from the numbness on the upper half of his body. His arms were folded across his chest, cold blisters littered throughout his scales.
As he lay on the grasses, catching his breath after the chilling flames faded, his amber gaze snapped to Remy and Mushroom. "I will kill you." The words were ragged with pain, his throat shredded raw from screaming.
Carefully, Strut helped his brother stand, only to freeze, gazing past Remy. "We have to run! We have to run!" He dragged Oz to his feet and pushed his brother to walk faster.
The earth shook, the air splitting with an enraged roar. A large orange figure charged past Remy. The claw-hands were sent flying into the trees. A heavy thud sounded as they crashed to the ground, followed by silence.
"Cera," Remy breathed.
"Is he okay?" Cera didn't look at the hatchling in Remy's arms, but the harshness of her words couldn't hide the worry saturating them.
"I think so…" Remy looked down, only to pause in confusion. The wounds Oz had dealt to Mushroom were slowly closing. Only smudges of half-dried blood were left behind. The young frill-head whimpered, snuggling deeper into Remy's arms. "His wounds just healed like how my Shard heals wounds."
Cera grunted, but relief filled her usual sharp green gaze. "We should get back to the others."
"Right." Remy followed Cera back to the grove, Mushroom held tight in her arms.