Part II: The Loss of Innocence

Ever since the sharptooth attacks, things just hadn't been the same in the Forgotten Forest. After Bron had limped back to the feeding fields, things began to calm down and the panic of the adult longnecks turned into sympathy for his injuries. A few of the single females doted on him while he recovered, but that was nothing new.

News came from Brayton and the other adults that the entire forest had been scoured and not a trace of the sharptooth attackers had been found. Measures were taken almost exactly as Sky had recommended a week earlier, with members of the herd travelling in pairs and supervising their children at all times. Bron worried for Littlefoot, but a part of him knew that his only son was a survivor and it would take more then a few sharpteeth to bring him down. So in the days following the sudden departure of his offspring, he pondered what exactly he was going to do about the demands of the so called 'Tyrant King'. It concerned him that the meat-eaters could be so organized and focused to carry out such an attack without ripping him to shreds. Clearly Tyron was a worthy adversary, but as far as the threats of retribution on the children went they were very real and he couldn't bear to be responsible for such an act. He would need to come up with a solution before the seventh great circle rise or else.

"I can't believe Littlefoot just up and left like that… he is so stuck up," complained Shorty one day as he kicked a rock in frustration.

"You know how he is Shorty," chuckled Bron, "he makes his own way now and it's up to us to simply guide him wherever he goes."

"Oh yeah," Shorty snubbed, "but what about me… am I supposed to make my own way too? You're always so busy you never have any time for me as you do for him."

"Calm down Shorty," Bron lectured as he started licking the cuts on his leg, "Keep in mind we see each other all the time… with Littlefoot it's only on certain occasions."

Bron had been told that his spit was the best healing agent available, so he had to lick the cuts clean everyday to keep them from getting infected. It was painful, but it was less so then it could be.

"Wow you must have really kicked the tails of those sharpteeth… how many did you squash with your feet?" Shorty asked excitedly, changing the subject.

"I'd prefer not to talk about it," responded Bron.

"What's gotten into you dad?" Shorty pushed, annoyed with Bron's unwillingness to talk about his exploits, "You used to love telling me about all the things you did… like when you crossed the volcanic pits and met the Lone Dinosaur."

Bron sighed.

"I'll tell you when I'm ready Shorty," said Bron, before adding with a smile, "I have to think of a good way to tell it first."

…

As the deadline drew nearer the longnecks in Bron's herd began to note odd sounds in the woods, and occasionally mentioned seeing strange pairs of eyes watching them from the brush. Most of his other aides thought the accounts were made up, but Bron knew they were signs that the sharpteeth were back and they were waiting for him to make his move.

It was a hard decision to make, but in the end Bron decided that someone from his herd needed to be sacrificed to preserve the lives of the others. It was madness, but he had no choice. The only question was who would be the one.

An older member of his herd, a longneck named Xavier, had been blind for many seasons and talked about nothing but dying even while his many children guided him to the feeding place every day. One day he knew the old longneck was just not going to wake up, so Bron felt it was his duty to give him a more noble cause to die for.

Of course, nobody in the Forest would know about his deal with the sharpteeth because if they did he would be cast out and another leader would be chosen instead – a leader that won't know what happens if the conditions went unfulfilled. Hence, Bron kept it on the low and disguised it as a scouting task when he first told of his intentions at the meeting of the herd he called the night before the day.

"I have come to know that the sharpteeth who did this to my leg may return, and it is important that we are ready to protect ourselves if they do," Bron announced.

The circle of about 14 adults – one from each family – spoke in silent whispers of fear. His closest aide, Brayton, was present for his family group and piped up with an important question.

"What are you going to do Bron?" he asked.

Many of the others echoed the same question.

"I'm going to dispatch a scout… somebody to shout out if they see or hear the sharpteeth coming."

"Well then we will need a volunteer… someone of superior speed and of keen sight to watch for them," suggested a female across the circle.

"He will need to be strong… to teach those sharpteeth a lesson before they even get into our forest!" demanded another male as he ground his teeth.

"I will be sending Xavier," responded Bron, and the entire group went silent.

"You can't send that blind fool… he'll probably fall asleep and get us all killed," blared the male who just made the strength suggestion.

"Hey watch it that's my father you're talking about!" answered a different male.

"I'm sending him because of his keen hearing," answered Bron, "he can detect sharpteeth approaching that we otherwise cannot. This is my decision and if anyone wishes to assume my duty as leader instead let them step forward now."

Nobody did.

"Good. Brino tell your father of his task and ensure he leaves at great circle rise tomorrow. All our hopes rest with him."

Reluctantly, Brino obeyed and the meeting of the Forgotten Forest's longnecks dispersed. Bron remained behind, and took one last glance up at the night sky. He knew that his mate, Littlefoot's dead mother, could see him and that somewhere up there she was weeping for him and his loss of innocence.

The following morning as old Xavier hobbled along and out into the wastes, Bron made silent note of his name. Someday, he would tell everyone about his noble sacrifice.

It was an odd crowd that now lived in the bottom of the Abyss Lake Caverns, but their mutual friendship helped them get along for the first week they were trapped there. At one end of the cave was a network of tunnels that led in an unfamiliar and completely dark direction, while the other end opened up to a warm pool that was routinely filled with water brought in by the waves of the lake. It was full of various water greens, some growing naturally and others swept in by the tides.

The first thing Ruby noticed was the large gap in the rocks that led out of the prison-cave and into the light. They could possibly use it to escape.

"Aye I saw that one too," stated Gentry as he walked up beside Ruby, "it's no way out of this mess though, leads straight out into dark water."

"Dark water isn't that bad," answered Ruby, "often the bad things in the water prefer the light water over the dark water."

"Hang on a minute," corrected Gentry, "could you say that again for me?"

Ruby raised an eyebrow… she thought she had said it clearly enough. After a moment she repeated the sentence. The white egg-stealer poked in just before she had finished the line.

"Now hold on there," interrupted Gentry as he tapped the side of his head, "think about what you are going to say before you say it, that way you don't go repeating yourself too much mate."

Ruby felt a pang of anger resonate through her. They had only just met and he was already making fun of the way she spoke. It flashed very briefly on her face before she concealed it, but luckily Gentry missed the expression and continued.

"You would sound a ton better if you learned to articulate your thoughts as you complete them all. I used to sing quite a bit back in the…"

Cera recognized the break in Ruby's emotional composure and decided to play on it. After all, the threehorn was mad not only about the lack of attention she was getting but also the fact that two snotty flyers had beaten her and thrown her down here against her will. She had to take it out on someone.

"This egg-napper is talking down about you, and you're just going to take it?" challenged Cera to Ruby, "If I were you I'd give him a piece of my mind!"

Gentry stepped back in alarm.

"Don't go taking this wrong, I'm just trying my best to help right this out," he responded hastily.

Ruby's anger quickly changed to concern. She stepped in front of Gentry, and spoke to Cera moving her hands in a series of gestures that went along with what she was saying.

"It's alright Cera; he's just trying to help me help myself."

Ruby turned and briefly smiled at Gentry over her shoulder, who returned the expression. Cera snorted with indignity.

"If you ask me he's the one who should be getting help," the threehorn blurted, "the way he talks it's like he spent his entire life in a hole."

"At least I know when to keep my bloody nose out of other people's business then don't I?" Gentry countered.

Cera snarled and in a flash charged past Ruby, hitting Gentry directly in the chest and knocking him into the water.

"If you're not going to stick up for yourself then I will," Cera said to Ruby who looked horrified.

On that note the threehorn stuck up her nose and walked away. Gentry came up coughing and spitting, and even though the pool was only two feet deep he had been caught by surprise and breathed in a mouthful of water on the way down. Ruby hopped down into the water and helped him up.

"Are you alright," she asked with concern.

"Nothing but a bump on the head," the egg-stealer responded good-heartedly then shot an angry glance in Cera's direction, "though that was downright rotten of your friend."

"That's just how Cera is," replied Ruby with a smile, "she gets mad at any one for any thing."

Both the fast runner and the egg-stealer were covered in slimy green food courtesy of the lake's leavings. Gentry noticed a piece of seaweed had landed itself around Ruby's frill and reached up and removed it. There was a bit of a touching moment as their eyes met, and again Ruby felt that old unfamiliar feeling building up again. The whole scene reminded her of when Rozzy pulled her out of the lake in the Dawn Valley.

"Don't be getting any ideas now," insisted Gentry with a brief smile, and he waded past her and up onto the bank.

His tale flicked as he removed the strings of slime that covered it, and soon Ruby had followed him onto shore and did the same. She sighed as the happy memory left her mind and reality set in again. They were trapped down here in a cave with no way out and no hope of rescue. Who knows how long the wingtails would leave them down here to fend for themselves.

All of a sudden Thylo bounded into the water pool area, and skidded to a halt. She was breathing hard and looked like she could blurt out a thousand words a minute, if only her body would let her. Gentry, Cera and Ruby where eating and drinking their fill from the slimy pool without really enjoying it so Thylo's interruption was a bit of a relief for them.

"Guys, guys come quick there was one of them and…he dropped and… we were shocked and…" sputtered Thylo as fast as she could, and the three dinosaurs present promptly whirled on their feet to see what was wrong.

Luckily as Thylo caught her breath Chomper came in at a more leisurely pace.

"Umm, you guys gotta come see this," the sharptooth commented as he waved for them to follow.

…

Followed by only the sounds of their footsteps clicking off the walls, the group of small dinosaurs made their way back to the middle of the cave. Chomper led them nearly back to the hole in the ceiling where they were dropped, before stopping just out of sight of it and biding the rest of them to be silent. Naturally for Thylo it was quite difficult as she was nearly jumping out of her skin with excitement.

"What is it Chomper why are we hiding?" asked Ruby in a whisper.

"Shhh," silenced Chomper with a finger to his mouth, "look over there…"

Ruby peeked around the corner and looked around the cavern for something amiss. The illumination provided by the beam of light in the ceiling gap made it an easy search, and near the hole propped up against the wall was one of the most vicious wingtails she had ever seen.

Glide had come to when they threw him down the hole, and with his world shattered into a million pieces the only thing left for him was sit with his back against the wall and breath in and out to carry on his life. Blood still covered both his face and his precious fur, and in his mouth he could taste it's bitterness on his tongue. His ribs felt like they had been caved in and that the injury had made itself anew, but nothing compared to the pain of knowing that his sister had betrayed his trust.

From the moment his uncle had told him to watch over his sister he had taken the duty absolutely to heart and ensured that nobody could play with her emotions and steal her heart. That nobody could abandon her and leave her broken, or lay so much as a single feather on her. In this whole world the only thing they had was each other, but now that was gone along with both his freedom and good health.

With all this pain pounding him, both from the inside and out, Glide did something he hadn't done in many many years. He cried. It wasn't a flowing sob or a wail of misery, but it started with a single tear, and then another, and another.

"Oh it's one of them," commented Cera with a bit of spite, but she couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for him.

"He looks quite a bit banged up he does," added Gentry, but there was really nothing else to say.

"Ruby, wait!" Chomper said with urgency, but it was too late.

Without a word, Ruby hopped around the corner and into sight. She was afraid of what the wingtail might do to her, but it didn't get in the way of her urge to ease his suffering. They might be mean creatures, but had feelings too and she could tell this particular flyer was a wreck. He noticed her almost right away, and turned to stare in her direction. In his glance there was a mixture of surprise and hate.

"Umm, are you alright?" asked Ruby nervously.

"Do I look alright to you… do I?" shouted Glide as he picked up a rock on the ground next to him and hurled it in her direction.

It was a clear miss, but he didn't intend to injure but instead to ward away the fastrunner. Glide wanted to be alone.

"I…I can help if you want me to," persisted Ruby cautiously, "my friends say I'm good at helping someone who needs help."

"Leave me alone…" remised Glide as he turned away.

It was clear he wanted nothing to do with Ruby, but she wasn't quite ready to give up just yet. Sensing his pain she took another few steps closer.

"You don't have to be like this," Ruby began, "I know a few herbs than I can use to–"

Glide turned and hissed loudly at her, snarling in rage.

"What did I just say hatchling? Go away before I hurt you."

Ruby backed up a few steps, but not out of fear. He was just lashing out because he had nothing left but his dignity. Sooner or later he would have to accept the situation and that they were together in the same cave indefinitely, but until then she would have to do her best to bring him around.

"Wingtails eat water-swimmers right," Ruby suggested, and then piped up excitedly, "I'll bring you something to eat."

Glide glared at her with venom, but otherwise didn't say a word.

"What are you doing Ruby?" asked Cera rhetorically when she made it back around the corner, "in case you hadn't noticed he's one of them!"

"Yeah Ruby," added Chomper nervously, "maybe it's a better idea we just leave him alone."

"I know," addressed Ruby, "but he can't be with the others since he's down here with us. We should at least help him since he can't help himself."

"I agree in the fullest," said Gentry with a bit of a smile, "if he's not up there with them then he's down here and with us."

"Did anyone see how he snapped his beak like that?" mentioned Thylo, "it's so cool he could have shattered a tree branch with jaws like that I wish I could see him do it again."

The group shot odd glances at Thylo, who embarrassingly silenced herself.

It would appear that Ruby's half of the gang had now received a new friend that they had to learn to live with whether they liked it or not. At some point perhaps an aggressive and mean wingtail like Glide could come around, but in all instances it wasn't too likely. Until then, they would have to avoid him like one would a sharptooth.