Chapter 44: Cursed misfortune
Pterano walked along the path when he heard a sound. Skidding to a halt, the Flyer listened carefully. However, there was perfect silence. Slowly, Pterano continued walking, past the little Threehorn girl that was struggling with death...
When Petrie's Mother climbed out of the cave, it was already pretty dark, the last bit of light quickly disappearing in the west.
Immediately, she was bombarded with questions.
"Hey, hey, HEY! Not all at once, please!" she called. "Pterano and I seperated in order to be faster; no, I didn't find the kids; yes, I have found blood."
"Our last hope is Pterano then..." Grandma Longneck sighed...
Pterano eventually stepped out of the cave happy to have found an exit. "What a relief!" he exclaimed. "Either, they have been able to get out of the cave or my sis found them..."
The Flyer looked around; he spotted no sign of the kids at all. Hoping his sister would have found them, he took off.
Neither Ducky and Littlefoot nor Petrie and Spike found any leaves so they eventually turned around and walked all the way back to meet up with the others, hoping the other group would've found the special leaf...
When Pterano arrived at the dinosaur crowd, he was greeted just like his sister.
"QUIET!" Mr. Threehorn bellowed in order to be able to listen to the Flyer.
"Where are the kids!?" he growled.
"You haven't found them either, sis, have ya?" Pterano questioned, receiving a clear no from her.
"Well, they are certainly not in the cave anymore, I have found two exits, one of which is blocked by a fire river that has turned to rock and the other one lead me to the very other side of the mountains we're currently at."
"Does that mean they're alive?" Mama Swimmer called, excited.
"Probably, yes..." Grandpa concluded.
"So they are out there somewhere, all alone, aren't they?" Petrie's Mother asked.
"It seems so..." Grandpa replied.
"Oh my..." the Threehorn gasped in shock. "How big are chances that we will find them?"
"If we send the Flyers on a lookout right when the Bright Circle rises, chances aren't too low I guess," Oscar piped up.
"Why not doing it tonight?" Mr. Clubtail asked.
"Well, would you spot anything in this darkness?" Pterano countered.
"Ehh, right..."
"Then it is settled. The main group might want to move to a more pleasurable place than here though.." Grandpa spoke.
"Yeah, there is some food down there," Pterano told pointing to the direction of the Great Valley.
"We'll move to that green food tomorrow; now you may rest." Grandpa turned to his mate and walked some distance before laying down for sleep...
Eventually, Littlefoot, Ducky, Petrie and Spike met at the exit of the cave again.
"Did you find any leaves, did you?" Ducky asked in worry.
"We no find anything, ohhhhhhh!" Petrie squeaked.
"Damn it! There has to be a way to cure Cera!" Littlefoot whined.
"Oh no, no, no, no, noooooooo!" Ducky exclaimed.
"What we do now?" Petrie questioned.
Spike munched on a farn.
"Oh Spiky, eating will not help Cera, oh no, no, no," Ducky told Spike.
Spike shrugged his shoulders and continued his dinner.
"I'm afraid we can't do anything for Cera," Littlefoot announced, dispirited. "She's lost."
"Nooooooo..." Ducky moaned.
"Uhh ohh..." Petrie said and gulped.
Spike stopped eating. Just now, an awful thought haunted him... Was he guilty of killing Cera? Not directly of course but he did hit her injury, aggravating it in a possibly fateful way. Spike gulped as conspicuous as Petrie.
"We need to continue the search without Cera, as hard, unfair and disgusting as it sounds..." Littlefoot announced after a while. He feared that especially Ducky might react angrily to this decision. Making decisions for others was a thing he never would have chosen if given an alternative but there wasn't one. Neither Ducky, Petrie or Spike could possibly make decisions that would be beneficial for the group since Ducky and Petrie would choose their emotions over rational thinking and Spike couldn't talk at all. Littlefoot considered himself responsible for his friends and he felt that they needed him. He didn't want to disappoint the cheerful but emotionally weak Swimmer, the fretful and easily scared Flyer and the mute and easygoing Spiketail; he would lead them to their parents... or at least to a place where there was enough food and water to survive.
"I-I g-guess s-so..." Ducky said in a shaky voice, a single tear rolled down her cheek before she was able to fight against the desire to cry - this was clearly not the right time to break into tears. She had to stay strong for the time being.
"Me understand we must leave Cera behind but me still feel sad," Petrie spoke in a husky voice.
Spike's facial expression was clearly stating how he felt; bad, worried, guilty and depressed.
"Any suggestions as for what we could do now?" Littlefoot questioned, somewhat clueless.
Ducky and Petrie merely stared at the ground as if deeply depressed which they which they, in fact, were. Spike, however, appeared to be thinking about something.
"You do not know what to do either, do you Spiky?" Ducky questioned, sighing.
Just, when Ducky adressed him, the Spiketail remembered everything... and he knew what they could do now. Uttering his unique range of sounds and emphasising his message with gestures, the Spiketail tried to convey his propose to Ducky. The Swimmer first didn't seem to understand what Spike was trying to tell her but at Spike's second try, Ducky understood her friend's idea.
"Me wonder what Spike saying..." Petrie mumbled to Littlefoot.
"Well, I hope Ducky is able to understand him," Littlefoot answered.
"Hey guys! Spike has an idea, he has, he has," Ducky called in excitement.
"Yes? Tell us about it, please," Littlefoot requested, suppressing his excitement.
"Well, Spike told me that we all have a special light in the sky that is shining brighter than the others. According to him, the loved ones who have passed on are always watching us from up there, they are, they are," Ducky explained.
"So? What your point?" Petrie squeaked.
"It is Spike's point of view, not mine, yep, yep, yep," Ducky chirped.
"Not important, please tell us now because it's getting pretty dark and we need to rest in order to have enough strength to search for our folks tomorrow," Littlefoot said and shrugged her off.
"Alriiiiiiiight! Spike says that we should go to a lonely place and look into the lights in the sky, yep, yep, yep."
"Okay... dunno what this is gonna bring us but we don't have a clue what to do anyway so let's do it!" Littlefoot exclaimed.
"Me not sure but me gonna do it," Petrie replied, being a little startled.
"Yes, yes, yes. Let us do it," Ducky said.
The four young dinosaurs separated and walked a little distance so that they were all alone. Then they plopped to the ground wondering what the lights were going to tell them, if anything at all...