Chapter Twenty-Two: Meeting the Parents
The two humans, long-neck, and two sharp-teeth woke by dawn. Few words were exchanged as they prepared for the rest of their travel through the barren wasteland. As the sun rose and the sky grew blue, the tension radiating off Shane and Chomped-Dragonfly lessened. The further away they got from the Valley, and the closer they got to the bone-crushers' family, the more relaxed they became. Soon enough, conversation began to flow.
Chomped-Dragonfly was the one that supported the conversation between Remy and Littlefoot in the beginning. He asked the pair numerous questions about the Great Valley and themselves. The lavender sharp-tooth hadn't had many interactions with other dinosaurs besides his own kind, so his curiosity was unbounded. Rarely had he seen long-necks, and when he did, it was from a great distance. His parents didn't want him near any giant herbivores until he was big enough and skilled enough to hunt them. Shane was also the only human Chomped-Dragonfly interacted with regularly.
At some point, Littlefoot had asked Chomped-Dragonfly how he became so fluent in flat-tooth. It was amazing that the carnivore not only understood and could speak the language of the herbivores but spoke so clearly. Chomped-Dragonfly spoke like a leaf-eater, just with a slight growl to some of the words. Littlefoot was the only herbivore in the group and the only one that Chomped-Dragonfly needed to talk flat-tooth to, though the long-neck was grateful that Chomped-Dragonfly spoke his native tongue. It would have been uncomfortable to deal with the roars and growls for the entire journey and needing Remy to translate everything.
"I learned flat-tooth from my friend Ruby," Chomped-Dragonfly answered. "She's a crest-beak. She and her family like to follow my family since Mama and Papa let them eat the scraps off their kills."
"But aren't crest-beaks dull-teeth?" Littlefoot asked.
"Yeah, but Ruby's family knows dull-tooth, flat-tooth, and sharp-tooth. Her parents told her that it's best to know the language of those who could be your enemies." He smiled sheepishly. "But I don't think they see me and my family like that. They've been following our footpaths and nesting beside us for years."
"So, if she taught you flat-tooth, do you know dull-tooth too?" Remy asked.
"A little. Ruby didn't want to teach me a lot of words. I think it's because she doesn't want me eavesdropping on any of her family's conversations. Not that I would."
"Will we meet them? I haven't seen a crest-beak before. There aren't a lot of dull-teeth in the Valley, and most of them are claw-hands." Remy asked.
"I don't think so." Chomped-Dragonfly raised his head to the air and sniffed. "They've been staying away from Mama and Papa until their eggs hatch. Even though my parents know they wouldn't eat their eggs, their instincts told them that they had to keep Ruby's family away. But they should be returning soon. If you want, you could stay a few days and meet Ruby and her family. They're all really nice."
"Don't go too far, Chomper," Shane grumbled from where he sat on the sharp-tooth's back. "We don't need any more creatures to know about us. They live in a paradise for herbivores. Who knows what'll happen if we start inviting them to visit."
"I'm sure they wouldn't do anything bad. They saved my little sister."
"And one of them tried to kill her. Most of them might have good intentions, but you never know what could slip. One of them tells someone about us, and they then tell the wrong creature. Better safe than sorry. Besides, I think your mother said something about moving in a moon-cycle to a new hunting ground. With new hatchlings, it's better to find somewhere safer than out in the open."
"How about you tell us more about Ruby and her family, Chomper," Remy offered.
Chomped-Dragonfly's eyes lit up. "Ruby's dull-tooth name is Ruby that Sparkles in Grass. She's a really pretty pink color, like the sky before the sun gets over the horizon. She's covered in fluffy soft feathers and has red-pink spots. Her crest is bright red and is hard to miss. She looks just like her mama, Pearl that Shines in River. Her papa is blue. His name is Tanzanite where Ocean is Seen. Then she has two younger siblings, Amethyst that Shimmers in Sunlight and Alexandrite that Glows in Moonlight. They are a mix of their parents' colors. Amethyst is a little pinker and Alexandrite is a little bluer, but they are still both a mix."
"A simple family," Remy mused. "They've got quite long names."
Chomped-Dragonfly laughed. "Dull-teeth have long names. But I don't think I could get used to the simple names leaf-eaters have. Rain? Thunder? Or the odd ones like Littlefoot?" He grinned at the long-neck, laughter dancing in his blood-red eyes.
"Your names are harder to say," Littlefoot teased back. "Chomped-Dragonfly? At least my name is easy to say. Or something like Emberhorn or Cloudneck sounds better than Savage-Carnage or Shadow-Chase." Littlefoot wheeled back at his own words, nearly biting his tongue. A boastful, brown-eyed orange three-horn a few years older than Cera charged through his mind. She was followed by the massive dark green shape of Sharptooth and his black-scaled granddaughter, Shadow-Chase.
Chomper's mirth had left his eyes, overtaken by confusion and worry. "You didn't just come up with those names, did you?"
"I…no. I've had a few bad encounters with Sharptooth before…" Littlefoot swept his tail across the dried earth, sending a gust of dust over his shoulder. "Before my friends and I killed him. His granddaughter, Shadow-Chase, had attacked me before too. Emberhorn was Cera's older sister."
"You were the ones that killed Savage-Carnage?" Shane asked.
"The flyer told us a mixed herd of adolescents with a thin-skin had taken him down." Chomped-Dragonfly's voice was quiet. "They fit the flyer's story."
Shane's eyes narrowed at the horizon. "Carnage must have gotten too cocky to let a group of four young dinosaurs, a pterosaur, and an unskilled thin-skin kill him. Don't know why a herd of full-grown long-necks or horn-faces didn't think about doing that five years sooner. Thanks for getting rid of him, though."
"Herds of different kinds don't work together well outside the Great Valley," Littlefoot defended himself. "We needed all six of us to make a plan and use each other to shove him into the deep end of a pool and knock a rock on his head to drown him. We just happened to be there at the right moment. And we had to get rid of him, or he would keep chasing us."
Shane hummed. "That was his mistake then. Taking on more than one at a time. He got cocky because you weren't fully grown. He didn't separate you and pick you off one by one. It's never a smart move for a sharp-tooth to take on anything that's in a large group, especially large powerful dinosaurs. You and your friends were just lucky that he misjudged you. Otherwise, you'd be dead."
Littlefoot's tail lashed. "My mother died because of him."
Shane looked over his shoulder at the long-neck, his eyes void of sympathy. "Lots of creatures were killed by Carnage. You killed him. I'm glad that terror is gone. But it wasn't a battle of skill. It was overconfidence and teamwork."
"Look!" Chomped-Dragonfly shouted, shattering the tension. A few trees stuck out against the barren land of the Mysterious Beyond. "See! That's the oasis. That's where my mama and papa are."
"If there's an oasis in the Mysterious Beyond, does that mean it has been created by a Shard?" Remy asked, leaning over Littlefoot's shoulder, trying to get a better look.
"It is," Shane answered. "There's a big Shard in the middle of the lake. Flyers talk about it all the time." He leaned back, the tension from moments ago melting off him, the slightest of smiles quirking the corner of his mouth. "They're always daring each other to touch it. It's great to watch."
"Better than anything on TV?" Remy asked, her heart lifting as the young man finally seemed to be opening up.
"Yeah. Anything out here is better than anything in our magicless realm."
"Have flyers touched the Shard before? Does anything happen?" Littlefoot asked, eyes darting between Chomped-Dragonfly and Shane.
"Well…" Chomped-Dragonfly trailed off, looking to the sky where several flyers already circled overhead. "Lots of them say they touched the Shard, but we don't know if they're telling the truth or not. I haven't seen anything weird happen when they dive in the water, but I don't know if something we can't see happened. Maybe Shane could tell. He's the one that wears a Shard. Have you sensed anything odd about any of the flyers that have touched the Shard?"
Shane twisted the black bracelet around his wrist, swiping his thumb across the blue crystal. "No."
"Someone who knows a lot about the Shards told me that Shard magic can only affect dinosaurs before they hatch," Remy commented. "So I don't think anything would happen to the flyers if they touched it. But I don't know much about the Shard." She twirled her own blue crystal between her fingers.
"Yeah, but Sharptooth survived that fall," Littlefoot mumbled. "Didn't he say something about a glowing blue light? He was healed by a Shard, wasn't he?" The long-neck glanced at Remy, worry in his russet eyes.
"Yeah…" Remy met Littlefoot's gaze. "Maybe we should ask Ebrima about that when we get back. It's kind of strange to think that the Shard can heal a dinosaur without a human's help. I wonder what else it can do."
"Kind of worries me to think about that."
Ignoring the conversation between Remy and Littlefoot, Shane rose from his seat on Chomper's back. He raised his hand into the air and slowly waved at something in the oasis. A pair of massive green shapes rose from beside the lakeside. One was deep green, the same shade as the hatchling Remy held in her lap. The large male bone-crusher had the same dark yellow underbelly and dark red eyes. The other sharp-tooth was a few shades lighter, and her scales were of a more yellow hue. Her eyes were also red but lighter than her mate's. They were more like the color of fresh-spilled blood.
Littlefoot froze in his tracks, finally faced with the pair of massive bone-crusher sharp-teeth. The same type of sharp-tooth that killed his mother. And one looked eerily similar to Sharptooth. "I…I don't think I can get any closer." He started to back away.
"It's alright, Littlefoot." Remy rubbed his neck. "Just take a deep breath. They aren't Sharptooth. We just need to get this little one back to her family, and then we can get back to the Great Valley. They won't attack you. I promise." She looked up at Chomped-Dragonfly and Shane, hoping they would confirm her words.
"Remy's right. Mama and Papa would never hurt you. You brought home my baby sister, so they can't eat you."
"I don't know…" Littlefoot looked over his back at Remy, fear in his russet eyes.
"I can go up to them by myself, Littlefoot. You can stay here. But we'll have to find somewhere to sleep for the night. We aren't going to make it back to the Great Valley by nightfall." Remy climbed off Littlefoot's back, the hatchling in her arms. "You can still come up to us if you are feeling better. If not, don't worry. I'll come back as soon as I can. Then we can chat about the Shard all you want."
Littlefoot shakily nodded, sneaking another glance at the two adult bone-crushers. He shuddered. Walking to a nearby cliffside, Littlefoot laid in its shadows. He returned Remy's wave with a tight smile and rested his head on the ground but didn't dare close his eyes.
Chomped-Dragonfly turned to Littlefoot. "You don't have to be afraid of my parents, but I guess I understand why you want to stay there. You can always sleep by us tonight if you want. We won't bite."
"Thanks, but I think I'm going to stay here." Littlefoot eyed the dark-green sharp-tooth that was waiting for Chomped-Dragonfly. "Your dad is scary…he looks just like Sharptooth."
Chomped-Dragonfly's head snapped to the larger carnivore. "Oh. I guess he does." He gave Littlefoot a shaky grin, careful not to flash the long-neck a mouth full of fangs. "If you're scared of Sharptooth, I'd be more worried about my mama."
Before Littlefoot could ask Chomped-Dragonfly what he meant, the lavender sharp-tooth sauntered up to his parents. From where he still sat on the adolescent predator's back, a deep frown was etched into Shane's features.
"Chomper, you're home!" The female bone-crusher rushed up to her son and nuzzled him. "You were gone for so long. Bitter-Path and I were about to come looking for you." She turned to Shane, who had hopped off Chomped-Dragonfly just before his mother nuzzled him. She chuffed in greetings and bowed her head in thanks.
A quiet chirp sounded from behind the massive female. A yellow-green head peeked out from behind her mother's large leg. Bright, blood-red eyes stared up at Chomped-Dragonfly and Shane. Like the other hatchling, she was covered in a thick layer of feathers, though hers was a shade of yellow-green. She chirped again and walked past her mother and past her brother and Shane. She stopped in front of Remy, who hung back a few paces away from the family, letting them reunite in peace.
"Hello," Remy greeted. She placed the unnamed, dark green hatchling on the ground and pushed her to her sister. "Look who I brought home."
Chomped-Dragonfly's mother gasped. "You found the egg?" She glanced at her son, then to his human companion. "You found her? She hatched? She's okay?" Tears shined in her eyes. Slowly, she crept up to Remy, watching her two hatchlings sniff each other and exchanged chirps.
"Hello, little one. I'm your mama." She bent down to the dark green hatchling, oh so carefully brushing her snout to the infant's head. "This is your clutch-mate sister, Cricket-Chirp."
The two hatchlings continued to sniff each other before looking up at their mother. It was as if they had never been separated.
"She needs a name, Gentle-Aurora," Bitter-Path, the hatchlings' father, said.
"She's been making annoying shrieking sounds like a cicada anytime I get near her," Shane commented. "She bit me a few times too."
"Cicada-Shriek it is then." Bitter-Path nuzzled the dark green hatchling. "I can't believe they're our first clutch. We had nearly lost one of them."
"Tragedy hasn't followed my family today," Gentle-Aurora said as she watched her two newly hatched children chirp and trill to each other.
"First clutch?" Remy asked. "Isn't…?" She looked over at Chomped-Dragonfly.
"Not by blood," Bitter-Path answered. "He's Gentle-Aurora's son from another male. Do you think he looks like me?" He chuckled.
Remy stared at the three-clawed fingers on Chomped-Dragonfly's arms. "His father wasn't a bone-crusher, was he?"
Gentle-Aurora hummed, smiling sadly at the two hatchlings as she laid down, letting them nestled against her side. "The only big sharp-teeth like us that have two claws are bone-crushers." She smiled sadly at Remy but did not divulge any more information.
Bitter-Path laid down beside her, nuzzling his mate's neck. She returned the gesture, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Chomper's father was killed," Shane answered, having taken a seat under a tree. Cricket-Chirp left her mother's side and climbed into his lap. He scratched her under the chin, and she purred in delight.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Remy took a seat near Shane. Cicada-Shriek leaped to her feet and climbed into Remy's lap. The parents looked on, worry in their gazes as their hatchling snuggled with the girl.
"Sorry," Remy apologized again. "I was the first thing she saw when she hatched. She might have imprinted on me."
Shane shook his head, but his gaze didn't leave Cricket-Chirp. "They don't imprint in this world. They aren't like birds or lizards. These creatures are more like humans than you think. I'd toss whatever knowledge of dinosaurs you have to the wind."
Shane reached for Cicada-Shriek, but the dark green hatchling hissed, staying firmly planted in Remy's lap. He withdrew his fingers, a slight frown pulling at the corners of his lips. "She's attached to you."
Remy stroked the hatchling's dark green feathers, lost in thought. "I'm sure she'll stay with her family once Littlefoot and me leave." As Cicada-Shriek began to fall asleep, Remy looked up at Shane. "Where are you from? Did you know a guy named Felix? Dark hair, kind of wavy. Dark eyes, tanned skin. Bit of a goofball when he was in high school? He's the older brother of my friend, Felicity."
Shane didn't say anything for a long moment as he sat in thought. "Yeah. He was one of my classmates. Didn't know him well."
"Do you still live in the area?"
Shane shrugged. "Guess you could say that. I spend more time here than there." Shane made another reach for Cicada-Shriek. This time, the hatchling didn't even flinch, fast asleep in Remy's lap that she didn't notice the different smell or the different pressure of the hand. A smile graced Shane's lips as he leaned back, returning to petting Cricket-Chirp.
Eventually, as the sun dipped lower in the sky, Littlefoot slunk closer to the sharp-tooth family. Since it was better to stay in the protection of two carnivores rather than traveling the night alone, he and Remy remained for the night at the oasis. The long-neck curled up, Remy sleeping beside him. The two parents managed to keep Cicada-Shriek in their nest rather than beside Remy. Chomped-Dragonfly slept near his parents, Shane sprawled on his side. As soon as day broke, Remy and Littlefoot would make their journey back to the Great Valley.