Chapter 27: A stormy Night
Pterano gazed to the mountains. Like many of the grown-ups and the children, he couldn't sleep because of the roaring and swooshing storm, especially since they were defenceless against the harsh weather sleeping outdoors - they were trying to at least. Fortunately, they had chosen a wide bay being bordered by a cliff towards the land. They were safe from any danger coming from that way since no Sharptooth would ever make the plunge. In theory however, those could walk around the obstacle... Happily, most Sharpteeth were asleep at night just like Leafeaters would do.
The rain poured unrelentingly down on the dinosaurs from the sky, the wind blowing from the Big Water shoved it. One Sky Fire chased another, the sound of thunder mixed with the hailing down of the water and with the sound of the raging waves being moved by the storm to become an insufferable cocktail of noises.
A very dazzling Sky Fire striked the plateau where the cave was located. Pterano winced imperceptible; Sky Fires had always scared him since he was young. The circumstance that this very Sky Fire striked the area where his nephew Petrie was let his mind wander to the children. Were they still alive? Were they still in the cave? Caught? Injured? Pterano believed having failed to see a possible exit/entrance when he was on the look for one.
The longer he thought about it the stronger the feeling of everything being his fault got. After all, it was his idea to bring the kids to a safe place. Who knows what had happened hadn't his family - Pterano believed Flyers to be the best creatures under the sun - brought the kids to the safety of the cave. What Pterano knew for certain, however, was that having to watch two innocent children being torn apart by Fastbiters was explicitly worse than the uncertainty about the wellfare of those. The Flyer took the chance the little ones were still alive for not that low. They must have taken shelter in deeper parts of the cave. It won't have collapsed completely for sure after all. Provided there wasn't an exit, they would be caught in there however. He had to take actions! Though what kind of actions? Looking for an exit/entrance that possibly didn't even exist? But what else was he capable of doing? He would check once more carefully, he sweared.
Pterano detected a slight tremor. It was so weak that most folks probably didn't even feel it. He looked to the oasis that had in fact changed to a sea of fire worriedly. As the storm had begun, this very fire had coloured the clouds orange-ish-red-ish, now it was clearly less intense. A good omen, the outbreak seemed to weaken.
Pterano spectated the distant flaring of Sky Fire in the sky; the storm moved away from them, slowly but certainly. Unexpectedly, a thought took hold of Pterano. What, if everybody else made him responsible for the happenings? What should he tell them in defence? At least, nobody seemed to have had concerns. Additionally, who would have known that all of a sudden the earth opened up, fire poured forth and an earthshake happened? Right, nobody! Pterano calmed down.
After a while, he yawned having repressed his fatique completely. Pterano sailed through the air back to the others and laid down. Soon, he snored along with everyone else who was finally able to rest...
Littlefoot, Ducky, Petrie and Spike had waken up due to the banging thunder of the Sky Fire that had hit the rock directly above their heads. Ducky - terrified and in thoughts about what she had just dreamed - began to cry; Spike comforted her by snuggling his head with her body and whispering something in his very own language to her. He too was obviously affected by his weird sleepstory.
Whereas Littlefoot was still somewhat caught in his dream, Petrie was shaking from his had to his feet. He had always been frightened easily and the sleepstory he just had been having was fairly spooky. "Pterano, uncle..." he whispered, his voice shakily.
Now Littlefoot as well shook off the sleepstory definitively.
"It was only a sleepstory, Petrie," he calmed down the completely upset Flyer. "I guess anyway... Y'know I just had one myself."
Petrie calmed down slowly, his breathing was now steady and controlled.
"Me seen uncle crash down," he uttered eventually, laborously, and stared at the ground.
Littlefoot became aware of the content of his own sleepstory grievously. He felt like crying out but for the sake of making Petrie feel better he kept back the desire, for the time being, that was... He felt
responsibility for the tiny, frightened and not yet capable of flying Flyer with the grammar issues... as if he was his big brother. Which also applied to Ducky and Spike.
"I.. in my sleepstory, I've seen my mother dying..." he told. He wasn't capable of saying more. His eyes met Petrie's. Abruptly, both began to cry, Littlefoot put his neck around the Flyer in a protective manner. It didn't take long until Spike and Ducky joined them. The little Swimmer cuddled up with Petrie whereas Spike plopped to the ground next to Littlefoot's right side whereupon Littlefoot put his frontleg around Spike.
That way, the four friends were cuddled up with each other tightly, crying - Ducky did it loud and uninhibited, Petrie in his squeeky way, Littlefoot quiet rather sobbing than weeping and Spike all muted the way he always was - and in a way sending comfort to each other.
With the storm moving away, their plaintive cries got fewer. Slowly, they drifted off into sleep again this time not having sleepstories at all...