Chapter 8: The Price to Be Paid
Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike looked nervously at each other as Mr. Threehorn leered at them with a threatening expression. Soon, many of the other grownups had arrived at the scene, including Grandma and Grandpa Longneck, Mama Swimmer, Mama Flyer, Mr. Clubtail, Mrs. Clubtail, Mrs. Clubtail's sister and her husband, and many of the longnecks in Ali's herd. The kids stared at each other nervously as Mr. Threehorn asked again, "What's gone?"
"Nothing's gone," Littlefoot told the grownups nervously.
"A likely story," Mr. Threehorn growled.
"Oh yeah? What about our eggs then?" Mr. Clubtail growled.
"Eggs?" Littlefoot asked confusedly.
"Our eggs and my sister's have all disappeared from our nest," Mrs. Clubtail cried out, and at that moment, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike were subjected to many glares, murmurs, and growls from the crowd.
"Now, now, calm down everyone, we should at least offer the children a chance to explain," Grandpa Longneck told the crowd. The crowd slowly quieted down before Grandpa Longneck asked, "So… why are you all here in this odd corner at the crack of dawn?"'
"We were… just eating treestars, yep yep yep," Ducky told the grownups nervously. "Spike ate the big tree that was stopping the little trees from growing, he did."
"That's funny," Grandma Longneck replied. "Because I don't know of any little trees growing right here, do any of you?" she asked the crowd. Nobody nodded, and the crowd began to murmur skeptically again.
"Cera! I am your father and I demand the truth!" Mr. Threehorn bellowed, stomping the ground aggressively, while the others in the crowd jeered.
Under the furious glare from her father, Cera couldn't help but to shake. She began to answer, "We…we were…"
"Helping out a murderer," came a voice from the forest. Everyone looked behind them, and they saw Cam walking in with a somber expression on her face. She was carrying Mia, who was lying draped over Cam's back.
"It bit me!" Mia yelled. "That blue sharptooth! It bit me and gave me this injury on my neck!"
Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike looked at each other, aghast.
"She's lying!" Littlefoot yelled out passionately.
"And how would you know that, Littlefoot?" Grandpa Longneck questioned him.
"Well, I…" Littlefoot began, but then he stopped and swallowed. Telling the full story would involve letting the grownups know how Chomper escaped.
"If they won't tell, I will," Mia interrupted with malice. "I was eating some tree stars peacefully when I saw this enormous sharptooth raiding the clubtails' nests and eating their eggs. I told it to stop, and it responded by charging at me and gnashing its teeth aggressively. I called out for help, and Cam rushed over to my side. By then though, the sharptooth knocked me down and gave me a bite on the neck. But when Cam came, she chased it away, and the sharptooth retreated back to its cave. Cam then went back to sleep, and I tried to fall asleep too, but I couldn't. I knew now that there was great evil that lay within the Great Valley, and I knew that it would undoubtedly try to strike again. I was proven right, for the sharptooth came back down to try and finish me off. It nearly took another bite out of my neck, before it was stopped by those kids. They convinced the sharptooth that it would have to leave the Great Valley. Then I asked them to kill the sharptooth because I knew it would be a threat to everyone, but they didn't listen to me. Instead, they led the sharptooth in a direction that led right to this very clearing. If you ask me, they helped the sharptooth escape."
"Is this true?" Grandma Longneck asked seriously. Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, and Petrie remained silent, not knowing how to counter her. Mia smirked with triumph.
Mama Swimmer then suggested, "Perhaps we should ask Spike to tell us what happened. Spike, can you tell us?" she asked gently.
Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, and Petrie looked nervously at Spike, hoping that everyone would understand his nonverbal communication correctly. Spike nodded, and he walked over to the adults. He made the same gesture pattern that he did before, stretching out his neck, baring his teeth and pounding the ground.
"See!" Mia gasped. "He's admitting it! The sharptooth bit my neck! And it ate all of the Clubtails' eggs!"
"That is not what he is trying to say, no, no, no!" Ducky gasped. "I know my brother!"
"She's just making this up!" Cera shouted, glaring at Mia. "We saw inside Chomper's mouth, and saw that there was no sign of blood or flesh or egg shells at all!"
"And look at those footprints!" Littlefoot desperately added. "We saw them before we heard Mia scream!"
"Prove it!" Mia spat out. "What evidence do you have, your word?"
Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike looked at each other sadly, not knowing how to respond. Mia smiled with a triumphant leer. "See? Case closed. That sharptooth bit me and ate the clubtails' eggs. Now it's time to punish its accomplices!"
There was an outcry of furious, determined cheers with Mia's suggestion. "We need to make them pay for helping the sharptooth steal our eggs!" Mrs. Clubtail's sister shouted angrily.
One of the longnecks from Ali's herd shouted, "Exile the co-conspirators!"
Grandpa and Grandma Longneck, Mama Swimmer, Mr. Threehorn, and Mama Flyer looked nervously at each other. They really didn't want to exile their children from the Great Valley, but the longneck herd and the clubtails looked expectantly at them, and began to chant, "Exile! Exile!"
"No!" came a voice behind the grownups. The grownups looked behind them and in a couple of seconds, Ali hurried forward and hurled herself in between Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike and the crowd. "You can't exile Littlefoot and his friends! Even if they did help the sharptooth out, they would've only done it out of good intentions! They were wrong, but they just wanted to help their friend out! Please, everyone! Think of all that Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike did that was good for the Great Valley! Without them, the evil sharptooth that attacked your herds on the journey here would not have been defeated! And without Littlefoot's initiative and all of their help, I wouldn't have gotten the night flowers, and you wouldn't be here today, Mr. Longneck!"
Ali's herd and the clubtails quieted down after Ali's words, and the parents looked relieved. They began to whisper to each other, before nodding and coming to an agreement. Grandpa Longneck declared, "So we have come to a decision. The children are still only children, and we know they wouldn't have done what they did without good intentions. So we shall allow them to stay."
At once, howls of rage came from the crowd. Mrs. Clubtail's brother-in-law shouted, "How would you like it if your kids were eaten?"
"How dare you let them off so easily! You wouldn't if it was someone from your valley!" a longneck from Ali's herd cried out, causing most of the rest of her herd to murmur angrily in agreement. "We want to see some punishment!"
"However," Grandpa Longneck continued, speaking over the cries of the protesters. "We're ashamed of our children's behavior, so we've decided to ground them…indefinitely!"
"From now on, our children cannot make any contact with each other or else they will be subject to an even greater punishment!" Mr. Threehorn yelled, to ravenous jeering from the crowd. Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike gasped and looked at each other, with the same expression of horror on all of their their faces.
"Meanwhile, we will form a search party to track down that sharptooth and bring it to justice!" the Old One shouted, causing many loud cheers to erupt from the crowd. By now, everyone in the Great Valley, having heard the commotion, had arrived on the scene. "Our herd will lead the charge to find that sharptooth and we will make sure that it regrets ever daring to take a bite out of one of us!"
Mama Swimmer added, "All of us parents will be watching over the children to make sure they don't get into any more trouble and follow the new rules."
The Old One then declared, "So everything is settled then. Parents, Cam, Mia, stay here and keep an eye on those overgrown eggs."
"What about Tricia?" Tria asked, who had just arrived in with Tricia by her side.
The Old One nodded, saying, "The youngest ones can stay here with their parents. The rest of you, follow us and we will take care of that sharptooth."
"Wait!" Ali asked. "Can I stay behind?"
"Yes, you can," Grandma and Grandpa Longneck quickly answered.
The Old One and Ali's mother frowned, before they turned and joined the rest of their herd and the Great Valley residents in heading out to hunt for Chomper. Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike looked at each other and saw the same expressions of sadness and fear on each other's faces. They all desperately wanted to talk to each other, but they knew they couldn't with all of the parents staring angrily at them.
"Come Cera," Mr. Threehorn growled.
"Littlefoot, follow us," Grandpa Longneck added.
"Ducky, come follow me," Mama Swimmer said firmly. "As for you Spike, you're going to have to go with Cam and Mia."
"But no Mama! He is my brother!" Ducky cried desperately.
"I'm sorry Ducky, but you and Spike can't be trusted together until we get this whole thing resolved," Mama Swimmer sternly insisted, though Littlefoot could not help but to notice that a tear fell from her eye as she spoke.
"Petrie, come with me," Mama Flyer finished with that stern tone, and with tears in their eyes, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike took one last look at each other before they went off their separate ways.