The silence must have been what woke Buck, and for the first time in years, Buck didn't want to get up. It was warm and soft where he laid, and this was more comfortable than he'd been in a while. But alas, Buck knew he couldn't stay there for very long.
He opened his eye and blinked at the light coming in through the gap under Beast's neck. He then cracked his neck, and started to clamber out of the space between Beast's chest and neck.
Beast must have been woken by Buck's movement, because her eye opened not so long afterwards.
"Mornin' Beasty." Buck said, stretching his back.
Beast gave a rumble in her throat in response. Buck looked at her curiously.
"You okay Beast?" he asked, moving closer to her eye. It was a duller blue than usual, and she had bags under them. Again, Beast simply grunted.
It was only then that Buck's nose twitched with a sick and gruesome smell. Buck made his way to the wounds that Lucy had patched up, and his heart dropped.
A foul smell was coming from them, and they were weeping pus, tainted a yellow colour, and the flesh of the wounds were swollen twice the size and flaming red.
"God's help us," Buck muttered, then said to Beast, "we've got t' ge' you to Lucy. This has gotten so much worse." Buck reached out to touch one of the wounds, then decided against it.
No wonder I was so damn warm last night. She's radiatin' enough heat t' cook an egg, Buck thought with a cringe.
When Beast didn't move, Buck rushed to an un-injured part of her body, and started shoving her urgently.
"Get up! We've gotta go, or ya gonna die." Buck shoved harder this time, and Beast raised her head, no doubt more in irritation than motivation. After some more determined shoving, hauling, pulling and threatening, Beast finally groaned again, and started to rise. It was a shaky start, with her legs trembling with the effort of working after so long of being out of action. Then there was the obstacle of the hill. It had been the thing to keep them dry all night, but now it was a curse. Beast tried to take it slow, placing one paw patiently (or painfully, Buck couldn't tell), in front of the other. She was about half-way down when the dirt underneath her paw gave way, and she slipped. She gave a yelp as she tumbled forward.
In an unlucky form of luck, she rolled to her feet at the bottom, and stumbled, but stayed up. She trembled, and was about to lie down again, but Buck had slid down the slope after her and was underneath her belly in a second, pushing on the bottom of her ribcage upwards.
"Don't make me add to tha' collection of cuts, Beast. I've got a knife, an' I'm not afraid to use it." He growled as he pushed.
Beast let out a huge huff, then straightened her back, and shook, then continued forward.
The trip through the tunnel was treacherous because of the low visibility and the jutting rocks and roots. After they broke through however, blinking in the sudden light, the trip was easier. It was a fair way to the village, and Buck considered rushing forward and getting Lucy, then returning, but pushed that idea away. He was determined not to leave Beast. At this point, she had also grown determined and stubborn. Whenever Buck asked if she wanted a break, she'd shake her head and growl.
So she hobbled along while Buck walked beside her. If she fell, he wouldn't be able to do much about it, because she'd squash him like a berry, but he could keep her going if need be. It took an hour or more, but eventually signs of the village started to appear, and Buck was once again relieved at the sight. He wasn't sure how long Beast could go how she was, because she'd slowed down more and more the further they got.
Buck and Beast had slept in more than usual, so when they entered the village, many weasels were awake. They stared as Buck passed, and a small crowd had started to form by the time Buck and Beast reached the outside of Lucy's burrow.
"Wait 'ere," Buck said to Beast, "and try t' stay standing."
Buck disappeared inside the burrow, and Beast considered disobeying and flopping to the ground, but decided that sitting on her haunches would be a better idea. She tried doing it without falling over, and managed to succeed, but it put some of her wounds on her hind legs in the dirt, which made her cringe.
A small kit made its way up to her carefully, staring with large, curious eye. Beast managed a small smile, but the kit stared at her saber-teeth. It then approached closer, and only then seemed to notice the wounds, and thus looked at Beast with concern. Beast didn't try and explain anything. She couldn't waste the energy. Lucy might want her to get up and move somewhere else to clean this up, so she had to keep her strength.
"What the hell is that?" came a strong voice from the crowd. Beast disliked the voice immediately, and even less when he appeared. He was the colour of blood and had bones hanging from around his neck, and had a band of other cruel looking weasels trailing behind him.
Beast growled at him. She thought that the kit that was with her would run away in fright from her growl but instead, the brave little thing turned to face the red one, and backed up against Beasts foreleg.
"Leave it alone, Regal." The kit yelled in its little voice, and by Beast's guess, it was a girl.
"Get out, twerp," Regal snapped back, but the girl shook her head and pressed closer into Beast, who lowered her head in front of the girl to guard her from Regal. Regal stopped in his tracks, seeing the attitude of the creature before him.
"This must be that animal Buck had rushed to get Lucy for. Honestly, I thought he was just using an excuse to get her away from me."
Beast snapped at him, not liking the attitude he had towards Buck, causing regal and his followers to jump back in surprise. Thankfully, Buck appeared with Lucy moments later. At the site of Regal, Buck's ears lowered and he said,
"Whatever you're doin', go away."
"Calm down Buckminster," Regal said with a smirk, "Just admiring you're new company. It's been worse for wear, hasn't it?"
"And still alive. Better than you will be in a minute." Beast said, and Regal's eyes widened in surprise. The little girl looked up at Beast with a whole new admiration, and Buck smirked.
Lucy however, was rushing around Beast, once again inspecting the wounds. Her mouth twisted into an uncertain line, ignoring the fact that the small crowd that had gathered, was watching her intently. Even Regal had gone silent, but he was staring at Buck and Beast with contempt.
"Buck, how did it…?" Lucy asked quietly, and she seemed to be in shock.
"Dunno. Maybe the humidity? Or the fact tha' we arrived pretty late." Buck said.
"We need to get her to the stream." Lucy said, "You go ahead and tell Dwain to gather some of the river weeds."
"But-," Buck looked at Beast with concern.
"She'll be fine with me, for now, just go." Lucy pointed sternly up the canyon wall, and Buck quickly nodded and ran off, occasionally throwing looks over his shoulder.
"Lucy, no offense," Beast said, looking down at the blonde female, "but you have a terrible taste in males."
Lucy threw a smile at Regal who was standing not so far away. "He's not that bad."
"But he's a meanie," said the kit girl, who was still clinging to Beast, who had forgotten she was there.
"No, he's just pretending." Lucy said, but Beast could hear the lie underneath. "Now run along. Beast doesn't need you clinging to her like that."
"I don't mind. I'm just worried that if I fall over she'll be crushed like a bug." Beast said with a tired smile. The kit seemed determined to stay with Beast, because she nodded with a 'humph,' at Lucy.
"Okay then. We might as well start up. I'm guessing you wouldn't want to take the long way to the stream?"
Beast huffed with a smile, then raised once more to her legs.
"Regal, can you go get Oma and more healers?" Lucy asked, the turned and started walking next to Beast.
Beast took the canyon wall in her stride, scrambling and pushing herself up in huge bursts of energy, but when she reached the top, she was panting heavily and every part of her body was trembling.
"It's not too far now Beast," Lucy said confidently, "And then you can rest."
Beast huffed, trying to save her energy for the rest of the journey.
It only took them a few more minutes to get to the stream, and by then the other healers had caught up with Lucy, even Oma.
"I've gotten Buck and Dwain to collect some plants that we'll use to try and get rid of the infection. We'll have to cut these stitches out quickly," Lucy explained. Beast let her command the other healers, the young ones nodding, and Oma occasionally making a suggestion, while she herself simply limped along, and almost smiled with relief when she saw the stream glittering in the mid-morning sun that came through the ice roof. Beast looked up, admiring the beauty of the roof.
And that's when she saw it. Sitting in the tree not so far away, was a featherless bird with the largest beak. Beast stopped in her tracks, and it took a moment for Lucy to realise that she had. Once she did, she turned and looked worriedly at Beast.
"What's wrong...?" Lucy asked, then followed Beast's astonished eyes.
Beast looked from Lucy, to the creature, to Lucy, and back to the creature again. When the featherless bird squawked and leaped from the branch, Beast flinched away, then watched it flap away lazily.
"Yeah," Lucy said casually, "Buck wasn't lying, or insane. There really is dinosaurs."
Beast shook her head, then continued on limping. The short shock had given her energy enough to reach the water, where Lucy picked a spot shallow enough for her to lay comfortably in the cool water. Beast hobbled to it, then fell so heavily that she caused a large wave that splashed everyone nearby.
Lucy shook herself out, then set the others to work. Buck and Dwain returned, and Buck lent his knife to her to cut the stitches out, while the others did the same with small work knives. After, they cleaned her whole body to get rid of any grime and dirt that could re-start the infection. After they cleaned her as much as they could, they then started filling the wounds with crushed herbs and healing plants.
Buck and Dwain stayed out of the way of the whole process, and sat on a rock nearby, watching the whole scene with concern. Beast only growled and yelped occasionally, from the sting of the paste they put on her wounds, but apart from that she barely moved. The water must have been cooling her down and making her feel better though, because her eyes were brighter and she seemed more awake. But Buck was still worried. Infections could get worse or come back, and with the extensive wounds Beast has, she might not make it through.
It took almost all day to get her re-patched, and some other weasels had come up to the stream for water or to collect food in the nearby trees, and were astonished at the sight of her.
"Did you ever ask her what she eats?" Dwain asked suddenly, and Buck frowned.
"No, actually. Why?"
"Well what if she eats weasel? And Otter?" from his tone, Dwain didn't seem too worried about it, and neither did Buck. There was plenty of fish in the streams and rivers, and she might even have the right teeth for getting through dino hide, but Buck wasn't too thrilled by that idea.
"I think she would quit eatin' weasel after this." Buck said.
"I dunno. Regal can get really annoying, and with something that has Beasts temper, I'm not sure how safe he would be."
This comment was well timed with Regals arrival, and Beast immediately growled in his direction, so he backed off and continued to the other side of the stream further down. Buck smiled at the sight.
"You may 'ave a point there."
Dwain nodded, then leaned back on his arms and said, "So what's she going to do down here? Has she anything to go back to?"
Buck sighed. "I don' think so. She'll jus' have t' get used t' eatin' fish."
"Either that or have herself a weasel feast." Dwain and Buck laughed together, and waited for the healers to finish.
Lucy came over to them wiping her paws of blood with a leaf when she was finished, and said, "We're going to have to move her to a dry spot. Preferably a sunny spot until tonight. Then we're going have to get her into a cave or something. Buck, do you know one nearby?"
Buck pouted in thought. "Yeah, actually. Less of a cave, but it's a shelter beneath some rocks."
"That's good enough. But for now, help me get her moving. She's too comfy and being stubborn."
Buck smiled and shook his head, then jumped down from the rock, then approached Beast.
She smelled far better than she had that morning, and her fur seemed to glitter, despite its muddy colour.
"Come on Beast, time t' get up." Buck said, patting her shoulder suspended out of the water.
She grunted and looked at him, and it was like looking into his own eye.
"Do as he says, or we'll poke your wounds." Dwain said, crossing his arms.
Beast pulled back her lips into a silent snarl that also looked like a sneer, and Buck knew she was daring them to try.
"Move, or we'll kick sand in your eyes." Buck threatened, knowing that it would at least getting her moving if it had to come to that.
She grunted with her ears flattened, but eventually she rose, stronger than she had the last couple of times she had. The water dripped from her fur in large droplets, and when she shook, everyone once again got soaked. Buck shook himself, and then waited for Beast to make her way up the bank. Lucy had again picked a spot for her to lay in, a hard-packed earth area that they'd laid large, soft leaves onto. Beast circled around until she was comfortable enough, curled up in the shade.
"You weirdo," Buck said, then a thought occurred to him. "Hey, wha' dya eat?"
Beast seemed taken away by the question, then said, "Antelope mostly, but that's only because the young ones are slow. But I'll eat anything made of meat."
Everyone around looked uncomfortable after that, but Buck said,
"Well, dya ea' fish?"
Beast thought about it, then nodded. "Sure. Why?"
"You haven' eaten for two days. Are ya hungry?"
Again, Beast paused, then nodded.
"Is I' safe for 'er t' eat Lucy?" Buck asked.
"Yeah, and it's probably a good idea."
Buck moved to go to the stream, but Lucy grabbed his arm.
"It's okay, I can go get them with Dwain." She said with a smile.
"Lucy, you've done enough today."
"Well, I also need a bath real bad."
Buck laughed, then said, "I'll go with you then. Be back in a minute with some food for ya."
Beast watched them walk off with a smirk. Isn't that a lovely sight? Gods wonder why they aren't together, instead of that bloody red, Beast thought.
"You've strangely grown attached to that weasel where others would avoid him." Said an old voice, and Beast looked down to where her elbow lay, and a twisted, plump old weaselette stood there glaring up through shining eyes. Oma.
Beast shrugged at her comment. "He's grown more attached to me while others would normally look the other way. I'm a twisted wolf-cat. Who would want to befriend something as freakish as me? Only the crazy ones."
"Do you have any idea what you are?" Oma asked.
Beast snorted a laugh. "No. I don't even think there's any other thing like Me."
Oma laughed. "Don't be silly. You're a hyena." Said the little old thing, and Beast blinked at her in surprise.
"I'm a what?"
"A hyena. I just wonder how you got all the way over here. The rest of your kind are far across the land."
"You mean… you mean you've seen others like me?" Beast asked.
"Of course." Oma smiled kindly.
"Huh." Beast looked towards where Buck and Lucy were diving in and out of the water, coming up with fish and throwing them onto the bank. A hyena. Obviously Buck hasn't seen the before, or he would have told me.
"Have a good night Beast," Oma said, then tottered away.
"Hey wait!" Beast called, "you can't just..! What the hell is a hyena anyway?!"
But the old weaselette just continued on her way, and Beast thought she heard chuckling. Beast flicked her tail in annoyance, then rested her head on her paws.
When Buck and Lucy came back with the fish, Beast was quiet as she ate, feeling even better after she'd had a feed. But Oma's words were bothering her. She'd gotten used to not knowing what she was, but now she knew there was others like her, she wanted to know how she'd gotten where she was. Oma said my kind were far across the land. Does that mean my parents were pirates?
Beast had seen pirates come to shore before, and some were friendlier than others, and a strange array of creatures, but never had she seen something resembling herself.
When Night finally started to approach, Buck flicked away a fish bone and said,
"You've been quiet Beast. What's up?"
"Hm? Oh, nothing, just tired I guess."
"Come on then, we'll ge' you t' that overhang then."
Getting Beast to the overhang was far easier than the past couple of movements, and she was clearly feeling better.
She settled easily into the shelter, once again curling up.
"I'll check on you first thing in the morning." Lucy said, after she'd sniffed at Beast's wounds for the thousandth time.
"Thanks Lucy." Beast said quietly, then opened her maw to give a great yawn.
"It's fine. You're the most interesting thing that's fallen down here recently. It would be a shame to let you die."
Beast nodded sleepily, and when Lucy walked out of the sheltered area, Beast lowered her head onto her paws.
"Mind if I sleep 'ere as well?" asked Buck.
Beast lifted her neck a little in response, and Buck crawled over her leg and curled up underneath her neck again. For some reason, Buck felt this would become a habit.
"Night Beasty. Let's hope we don' have the same mornin' tomorrow as we did today, eh?"
Beast hummed a laugh, hoping that very thing.