Chapter 34: New hope/Petrie's inside The members of the recently founded herd were gathered around the Flyer quicker than a Sharptooth could possibly open his mouth. Everybody was calling and asking in a mess so that the Threehorn had to stomp his foot to make the crowd fall silent. "They're alive!" Petrie's Mother panted. "Probably..." A conjuct cry of jubilation sounded. "That's great news!" Mama Swimmer sobbed in relief. "Well done, dear," Grandma praised. "Well, by the look of it, I indeed missed something really important..." Pterano admitted in shame. Even though his failure was now official, he was happy about it. After all, it was more important that the kids were save than his pride was. The Threehorn glanced at Pterano grimly, but he left it at that. "Well... congrats," he muttered in lack of words. "Now tell us what exactly you have discovered," Grandpa requested. "Questions later, please," Grandma amented. "Alrighty! So... I've spotted this hole in the ceiling of the cave system; the ceiling's totally caved in there!" "I knew that I failed," Pterano thought. "I looked into the opening, discovering a tiny hollow with two paths leading away from it from which one was completely blocked." "I STOOD ON THE OTHER SIDE..." Pterano cursed insidely. "That's no proof for our children having been there of course... but a spot of blood certainly is!" The crowd gasped. "Blood?! Ohhhh noooooooo!" Ducky's Mother called hysterically. "Does this mean they are...?" Pterano didn't dare to finish this sentence. "I doubt that," his sister responded. "Otherwise, I would have discovered their bodies." "What did the spot of blood look like?" Oscar wanted to know. "Well... it was about the size of a Spiketail footmark, circular... a-and there aren't any tracks of blood leading away from it." Mama Flyer now remembered details she didn't exactly register when seeing them. "So that indicates that one of the kids got injured, collapsing. Later, though, it was able to walk away as the injury had closed and stopped bleeding," Oscar explained. "Which indicates that at least one of the kids is probably still alive, more likely all of them," Grandpa noted. "Then we need to free them now!" Mr. Clubtail proposed. "Yeah, but we mustn't do it in a rush," the Threehorn amended. "That is correct, Mr. Threehorn, we need a plan," Grandpa announced. "We need to free them NOW!" Mama Swimmer screamed in a panic. "Settle down, my dear," Grandma said gently. "We will rescue the children sooner than you may think right now." "So who has a plan?" Mr. Clubtail questioned. Cera soon drifted off whereas Ducky nodded off on Petrie's side. The tiny Flyer was quite worried about many things. On the one hand, he was concerned about Ducky whom he really cared about not only when she, like a few moments ago, cried. Although he was ematiated and worn-out himself, his situation was still better than Ducky's. The Swimmer got increasingly feeble, seemingly. Petrie had concerns for Cera as well, even though the impetuous Threehorn girl was the only member of their group the Flyer didn't quite like. They had become a group, a team somehow although there were disagreements and problems among them. Petrie felt much safer at withstanding adventure after adventure on their way, that would hopefully lead them to their folks soon, along with Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky and Spike. He was born anxious, hence any company was better than being alone, with the exception of the company of a Sharptooth perhabs... On the other hand, he was annoyed by the fact that he still wasn't capable of flying. His siblings were since an eternity but he wasn't, always being the only one falling out of the nest, being clumsy and having a miserable speech pattern. His siblings had always laughed, only his uncle Pterano was always on his side and trusted him. Petrie missed his siblings, his mother and his uncle nevertheless. Though they were his tiniest worry... What was really bothering him, was the thought of Littlefoot, Cera, Spike and specially Ducky making fun of him for one or another reason. The Flyer was used to it from his siblings but he earnestly hoped that his four friends wouldn't do it as well. On top of that, Petrie wanted to be useful for the group which he, from his point of view, could only be if being capable of flying. He could spot dangers from the sky and fly ahead to look for the best way. Besides, he would be much faster than on his feet... Moreover, he had in mind to impress Ducky which would prove tricky without doing some skilled maneuvres in the air... Petrie yawned. Thinking made him all dizzy. Carefully, he placed Ducky, who was still dosing on his side on the ground. The Swimmer curled up and continued to snooze. Petrie curled up himself, drifting off to sleep in a blink of an eye and entered the world of dreams...