"Kron!"
They both turned their heads towards the voice. Noah barely bit back a gasp when she saw it was Bruton. He had deep red gouges in the left side of his body, and he was lifting his left hind leg clear off of the ground. The scout was nowhere to be seen.
"Carnotaurs!" he continued. His voice sounded hoarse and strained.
"What?" Kron exclaimed, sounding incredibly worried. "They never come this far north." He stood to his feet.
"The fireball must've driven them out." Bruton grunted and twisted his body.
Noah couldn't tear her eyes away from his wounds. They were unlike anything she had ever seen on anyone. The only similarities she could come up with were when she got attacked by the fossas. But that had been when she was half her size, and they were only a little bigger than her. And even then, her wounds were scratches, especially compared to his wounds.
To cause such damage to an Iguanodon bull his size, they had to be huge. They must have also killed the scout; even if he was annoying, she still felt incredibly upset about it. If only because these Carnotaurs were capable of killing nearly anyone. She began to shake as she tried to imagine what they could have looked like.
Her breath froze in her throat when there was a distant howling. It sounded nothing like she ever heard, but it still turned her blood cold. It didn't help that both Kron and Bruton became so frightened.
"You led them right to us! Maybe you can feed them with your hide!" Kron suddenly shouted. "Move the herd out! Double-time!" Without waiting for a response, he stormed off.
Bruton was hanging his head, but briefly lifted it up with a loud bellow. Kron let out one of his own, not looking back even once.
Once his voice gave out, Bruton turned his head, finally catching Noah's eye. He half-heartedly glared at her before turning around to follow Kron. He was still flinching and groaning, and was much slower than before, basically only having three legs now.
A small part of Noah felt justified. Not so nice getting embarrassed, huh? But she quickly shook that away, horrified she even thought about that. Now was not the time to be petty. Now was the time to get moving.
As she ran back towards Aladar and Neera, she saw the herd quickly getting up and running. She wondered if they would go faster if they knew what was coming, but knew better than to shout it out. Not only would it cause complete chaos, but she wondered if Kron would decide to leave her behind as bait. Like Bruton.
She shook this thought out. He wouldn't do that to his own co-leader! He was just upset and afraid! He can't be that cruel.
She finally caught up to the two of them; the calves stood by their feet. "Noah, what happened?" Aladar asked.
"There he is!" Neera took off for the edge of the lake, where Kron was stood overseeing the herd.
"Neera, wait up!" He charged after her.
Noah rolled her eyes, but ran after them. The calves were chasing after Neera as well. When one of them stumbled, she paused and quickly nudged him up with her snout. He squeaked in surprise, but quickly caught up to his brother.
"Kron!" Neera called up. "What's going on?"
"Carnotaurs." he answered, still looking worried. But it was mostly overshadowed by determination. "If we don't keep moving, they'll catch up to us."
Neera's eyes widened. "But... the others in the back," Aladar protested, gesturing back with his head. "They'll never make it."
"They'll slow down the predators," Kron answered. But it wasn't in a tone that suggested he was regretful. He sounded like it was to be expected.
Though she wondered if he would do it, it still horrified Noah. There were calves in the herd. And egg-carriers. She thought of Chastain getting left behind, and felt sick.
Aladar glared angrily. "You can't sacrifice them like this!" he snapped. He charged up onto the hill next to the bull.
"Aladar, don't!" Noah shouted.
But he ignored her as he shouted over the herd, "Hold it! That could be you back there! Or you!"
Some of the herd-members actually stopped. She recognized Paka and Chastain among them, glancing at each other. But she couldn't quite see their expressions through the shadows and dust.
With a snarl, Kron threw his upper body over Aladar's back. He bit at his shoulder and shoved him onto the ground. "Hey!" Noah tried to run over, but Neera stopped her with a foreleg and head shake. She gaped at her in shock.
Kron stood over Aladar's body, a wild look in his eyes. He held his head just above his ear. "If you ever interfere again... I'll kill you," he said softly. His voice was filled with anger.
"Get off of my brother!" Noah pushed past Neera and stormed forward.
Kron whipped his head around and snarled in her face. She jumped back, but refused to show him how startled she was. When he finally stepped away from Aladar, she quickly jumped over to stand in front of him.
Neera walked over and tried to reach out to help him up. "Stay away from him!" Kron snapped. He whipped around as Aladar stood up, and shoved both him and Noah back with a loud growl. Then, he shoved Neera away, and marched her in the direction the herd was going.
Aladar stood up next to Noah, gritting his beak. He started to follow them with a growl, but stopped when Neera shouted, "Aladar, no! You just-just go!" She stammered when Kron nudged her again. "I'll be okay!"
From under their feet, the two calves ran to catch up to Neera. He finally shook his head with a sigh, and turned to run back to the others. Sharing a glance with Neera, Noah turned to follow him.
As they approached Eema, Baylene, Url, and the lemurs—who were all starting to wake up, no doubt from the commotion—Aladar shouted, "Let's go! Let's go! Carnotaurs!"
"Carno-what?" Yar asked.
"Carnotaur!" Eema corrected, gasping with worry. "A mouthful of teeth with a bad attitude. Let's go!"
"Come on, you guys! Get on! Get on!" Aladar demanded as the lemurs all bounded and climbed up his side. "We're gonna get left behind." He darted off just as Yar climbed up onto the back of his neck.
Noah almost followed after him, but stopped when she saw the others were slower at getting up. Baylene's legs were shaking as she stood up, and even Url couldn't waddle faster than he normally could. "Aladar, wait a minute!" she called out as she trotted ahead.
"Let's go! Hurry up! We're losing them!"
"You're gonna lose us," she grumbled under her breath. Rolling her eyes, she slowed to a walk and doubled back.
"No, you go on ahead," Baylene said, already breathing heavily. "We'll only slow you down."
"Either you come with us, or we won't go at all," Noah retorted as she joined Url's side. He grinned up at her. She returned it with a sad smile.
She didn't have to look up to see that the herd was already disappearing.
But luckily, Aladar had finally stopped. When they caught up to him, he had a guilty expression. "I'm... I'm sorry."
"Oh, don't worry about it," Eema panted. "It was only a matter of time."
"No, that was selfish of me. Either we all go, or we don't."
"That's what your sister told us," Baylene said with a tired smile. She groaned softly as she fell forward. The ground shook briefly.
Aladar and Noah ran to one side of her, and Eema and Url to the other side. As they began to push against her, Noah snapped at Aladar, "If you leave me behind like that again, I'm pushing you into the lake when we get to the Nesting Grounds!"
If we get to the Nesting Grounds.
A/N Pretty much the only reason Noah isn't angry at Kron for basically sentencing Bruton to death is she doesn't believe he's being serious yet. She's thinking (and hoping) he only said what he said in a fit of worried anger. Especially because Kron and Bruton both lead the herd, and therefore seem to be good friends, if not very close. And to top it off, she can't imagine anyone acting like that, growing up in a community where (to pardon the Disney pun) they were one. Actually, "We are one" and "Ohana means family, family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten" would be very fitting mottos for Aladar and Noah; even Aladar alone.
I'm actually really excited to get everything going :D I'm contemplating adding Tuesday as a chapter day, since it always seems like there's a bigger gap between Sunday and Thursday, than it is between Thursday and Sunday, if that makes sense. You'll know if I made a decision when next Tuesday comes...