CHAPTER SIX: PRISCI

Orni was, understandably, shaken by her close brush with death. Even an Egg many times her age would have laid low for a time. It certainly took her some days before she would again dare to steal another egg. She may have gone even longer, had not the plant food in the area been scarce. And, of course, the Leaf Eaters already being segregationist toward their own kind over the limited supply of food, they were certainly unwilling to show the smallest shred of kindness toward an Egg Stealer. So, it was, that, after over a week of little food, Orni once more dared to try her luck in filching eggs.

One afternoon, when she had spotted a Fast Biter couple leaving a nest, she decided that maybe she could gather some lunch here. She waited till two minutes after she had last seen the tails of the Fast Biters disappear out of sight before moving toward the nest. The area around it was littered with twigs and leaves, no doubt as booby traps meant to create crackling and crunching sounds which the parents could detect if intruders were near the nest and they were asleep or nearby. These booby traps slowed her progress, for she dared not assume that the parents were too far off that they couldn't hear her if she was too careless. When she was only a few feet from the nest, she accidentally stepped on a twig. She paused, not daring to move a muscle; she knew that running would create heavy footfalls and remove any doubt that she was there, making her a target. Her chest was aching from not breathing as heavily as her rapidly beating heart made her want to. Sweat dripped from her forehead but she stayed put, not moving a muscle, her foot raised in the air, for over two minutes before daring to move again.

Finally, she slowly crept to the nest and seized the first egg. She thought of making a run for it and just taking this egg for her meal. However, she also wondered how long it would be before she could be able to take an egg again. It knew she would feel foolish if this turned out to be the only egg she had for several days. She decided to seize a second egg, then a third. As she picked up the fourth, she felt that was all she could handle by herself without risking losing one of them.

After she had briskly walked 100 yards from the nest, she could hear footsteps coming. It was two sets of footsteps. The parents were returning back! She could hear the footsteps quickly pick up speed; they were aware of her! She bolted, knowing that their sense of smell would make any stealth attempts on her part useless. She made it half a mile, before tripping on a rock and falling on her face. She was able to spread her arms out as she fell, cutting them open upon impact but saving three of the eggs. The fourth splattered open on the ground. The parents were some 500 feet behind her, and closing in. They would be even angrier now that an egg had been destroyed.

"Hey, do you need help with those eggs?" Orni turned to see another Fast Hand, an Anserimimus. She was a female, about Orni's age.

"I can handle myself!" Orni snapped. However, she knew she needed help or she'd have to drop some of the eggs.

"You look like you have too many. I can help you and we can share them."

"How do I know you won't just run off with them and leave me?"

"You'll have to trust me."

"My father left us and then, later, my mother and siblings left me behind. I'm having a hard time trusting anyone."

"I'm sorry to hear about that. I have no family left either. My parents were killed by Sharpteeth."

Orni thought about it. There seemed no reason why she shouldn't trust a young fellow Fast Hand, who, like herself, had to get by on her own wits. Perhaps the two of them could do better together. "Ok fine," she said.

The two quickly and silently moved with the eggs, hoping, for as long as they could, to avoid being found by the Sharptooth mother. They made many twists and turns, even sometimes doubling back, to throw their pursuers off the trail.

They made it for twenty minutes before the mother started to approach them, the father having been thrown off the trail by their maneuvering. By this point, they had found a place to hide, about 500 yards in front of them. They wondered if they could make it, for the terrain wasn't level, but hilly. There was a cavern up ahead, at the top of a steep and rocky hill that could fit them, but not the vengeful mother.

Unfortunately, it was windy outside, and, even worse, the wind was blowing downhill against them. As the Sharptooth mother came nearer and nearer, they kicked rocks with feet, sending them backwards toward her, hoping that they would slow her down. As they neared the top, the Sharptooth mother made a giant leap toward them. The two Fast Hands made their own leap. Only just in time do they reach the safety of the cavern. The Deinonychus mother snapped at them, biting the air, just missing Orni's foot. Her saliva landed on the two, but that was the most she could do was hit them with her breath and slobber. They were out of her reach. She stood at the entrance, snapping and growling. Orni and her new friend had to hope that there was some other way out, or else the angry mother was likely to stay there for days, as long as she could still scent them nearby.

"I hope there's a way out of here," Orni said.

"Me too. Otherwise, we'll be Sharptooth food."

"Thanks for your help, um….."

"My name is Priscilla, but I prefer Prisci."

"Thank you Prisci. I couldn't have done this on my own."

"You're welcome."

The two searched around the cave, looking for any way out. Most of the passages led, after long and winding courses, to disappointing dead ends. However, one passage led to what seemed like a way out, albeit a perilous way out. The passage in question, which they found after toiling all night searching for a way out, led to the top of a rocks, which was a safe distance away from the prowling mother below. The only paths that led down, unfortunately, passed right by the Fast Biter mother, who still zealously guarded the way they had come in. Prisci was near despair, but Orni pointed out a possible path to safety.

The possible path in question was a mere set of vines that one could, theoretically, walk on, one leg each, and move across to another ledge, moving across a between two cliffs, with at least a forty-five-foot drop to the bottom. The other cliff, if they could make it there, was out of reach of the Fast Biter mother, and they could be long gone before she reached that region from her current position on the ground. "I don't know. Sounds like a great way to fall to our dooms," Prisci sighed.

"Well, if we don't go, we might as well go feed ourselves to that Sharptooth down there. We don't have any water in here. Better to fall to our deaths than die of thirst."

"Well, when you put it that way, let's do it. But you go first."

"Ok fine, I will, but you go right after me."

"Ok. If it's safe, I will."

Orni moved forwardly slowly and nervously, her face dripping sweat. The vines sagged under her weight, but seemed, for now, to be holding. She knew that she must not look down, not that she was normally one to be afraid of heights, but dangling nearly 50 feet in the air on two vines would make most dinosaurs feel queasy. She did ok, until she was nearly to the other side. Something, probably a Vulcanops from the cave, zoomed past her and she lost her balance. She fell, but, at the last moment, reached out and grabbed the vines. There was no way that she could pull herself back up, so she did the next best thing, she moving herself along the vines until she was to the other side, grabbing onto the ledge and pulling herself to safety. "Come on Prisci, you can do it!" she called down.

Prisci followed Orni's lead, making it all the way across until the end, where, like Orni, she ran into complications. One of the vines snapped under her weight. She quickly moved both of her feet to the remaining one, which sagged under her weight and moved wildly, making it hard for her to keep her balance. "Slow and steady. Don't move too quickly!" Orni called to her. She moved slowly, taking over an hour till she was near safety. It was at this point that the remaining vine started to give way.

Knowing that she had no hope of trying to make it across on the vine, she jumped, hoping she could make it. She wouldn't have, had not Orni reached out and grabbed her and puled her to safety. "Thank you, Orni," she said.

Their trip across the vines had lost them half of their egg loot, but the two had managed to steal three eggs. "I say we each have one and split the last one." Orni said.

"Sounds fair."

"We make a pretty good team."

"Yeah."

The Fast Biter mother, discovering that their scent was now much further away, stormed off in a disgusted fury. The two saw her leaving and shouted down after her. "You won't be having Egg Stealer tonight!"

"Better luck next time!"

PLLLLLLLLH! The two stuck their tongues out at her.

RNNNNNNNNNNNNH! The Deinonychus let out a final roar of fury before storming off, defeated.

The two each ate their eggs, sharing the last one. Now with full stomachs and tired bodies, they decided to rest in a cave for the night. "We sure showed that Sharptooth!" Prisci laughed.

"Yes, they're no match for Orni and her cunning ways!"

"Can I stay with you? I've never been able to take anything on my own, save green food."

"Green food? I suppose, in a pinch. But with us working together, I think that we can make sure that we eat our main diet, eggs, as much as possible."

"I hope I can learn well from you."

"With how you handled yourself back there, I think you can manage."

"Well, goodnight."

"Goodnight, Prisci."