Hi everyone! Shorter chapter this time, for I feel like we should check in with our villains before rejoining our protags on their journey. Events here roughly take place at the same time as last chapter, the Morning of Day 4. Special thanks to RedMageKnight for the reviews, Ryan6783 and Zee-Docking for all the feedback and advice. Same encouraging feedback comments, same disclaimers, and here we go. Also for species clarification, Goregie is a Gorgosaurus (like a smaller, slenderer T. Rex), while Canthor (who you'll meet in this chapter) is an Acrocanthosaurus.
Chapter 36 – Grass Guzzlers and Fanged Foes
It was a bright morning for Juana Spikethumb and her preteen children Igg and Britt that seemed in many ways just like any other. Taking a morning drink at their new watering hole, her little family got to enjoy the company of their five remaining herdmates, who respectfully greeted her with weary warmth and affection. She had always appreciated how peaceful life was in the Valley, free of sharpteeth and with plenty of food and water for everybody, with plenty of space for her herd to call their own.
Yet through it all, an unspoken undercurrent had created an unusually high level of tension as of late. It all started that horrible night when that gigantic sharptooth pack had lay siege to their precious Valley. Despite their thumb spikes, spikethumbs were unusually unfortunate in that they were otherwise poorly armored yet also slow and bulky, making them an inviting target for ravenous sharpteeth. Their large, homogeneous herds, where they could all use their thumb spikes together to ward off attackers, were their tried and true, proven way of protection against sharpteeth, no matter how many times the Circle of Elders preached about interspecies teamwork. Easy for them to say, since most of them had strong bodily defenses that made fast biters mere inconveniences. But while their herd did their best to keep the monsters at bay, they still had endured the deaths of fourteen of their herdmates in the attack. Stupid, barbaric sharpteeth. They all deserved to suffer for the cruelty they imposed on innocent leafeaters.
At least some good happened from that catastrophe. Old, feeble Thicknose finally realized he was in no shape to defend the Valley and stepped aside. And none of the worrisome alternatives to replace him were ultimately able to take over. Old Threehorn had always had his horns lustily fixated on power to satisfy his own bloated ego, the longneck was a pompous, know-it-all outsider who craned his neck into everyone else's business, and she did not want to get started on that disgrace of a flyer's scheming and flight from responsibility. It was a relief to see that all their burning ambitions had come to nothing. Or perhaps, it was all really an act to disguise their real plan to transfer their power to their severely underqualified children, always endangering the Valley through their reckless, childish antics. No matter, they were gone too.
The dinosaur who emerged as the Valley's new leader proved to be a surprise, but not a totally unwelcome one. While hardly older than the Circle of Elders' troublesome scamps, his demeanor would hardly suggest such. Unlike them, always getting way over their heads in their foolish efforts to change their world, the hollowhorn was very humble and deferential to the wishes of the circles and to the way things always have been. Polite and gentle yet confident and well-spoken, his respect for the deepest traditions of the different kinds made for a marked contrast with the activist Circle of Elders and their even more radical children. After all, it was their insistence on integration between the naturally different kinds that had led to all the quarreling that their Valley had become infamous for ever since their arrival. It was a refreshing feeling to be surrounded by her fellow spikethumbs, all of whom she could just naturally get along with without fighting, just like in the days when she was growing up.
And there was no denying that the hollowhorn was effective. Despite the siege on the Valley just four nights ago, no sharpteeth had dared to attack their beleaguered Valley ever since he assumed power. Perhaps he really was a messenger of the circles, and the circles, pleased with what they were seeing, were once again keeping the Valley safe from sharpteeth in their newfound purity. He may have been prone to delivering lavish speeches and dramatic histrionics as his critics always pointed out, but he was plainly succeeding in keeping the sharpteeth out of their precious Valley.
Yet despite everything, not all was perfect, even aside from the tumultuous prison escape and ensuing battle which she and the rest of her herd tried to steer well clear from. For one, they were without their longtime herd leader, for he and his son had mysteriously vanished, right about the time when many of the Valley's most radical swimmers, hollowhorns and bigmouths revolted against the new boundaries to join a protest no doubt started by Mr. Threehorn and his cantankerous threehorn herd, never missing an opportunity to lose their temper. Rumors had also begun to spread that same group of adults, primarily consisting of the old Circle of Elders and their most devoted allies, had left the Valley en masse that prior night, as had a massive exodus of children. She could hardly comprehend why anyone would leave the safety of the Valley to willfully live in the Mysterious Beyond, especially now that it had been completely barren and burned by those fires.
Which made the sudden disappearance of their herd leader Gideon and his son Weald all the more befuddling. Perhaps Gideon, more connected to others in the Valley than the rest of them as the shieldback scales teacher, had joined in on this revolt without informing the rest of their herd, correctly assuming they would try to discourage him. Or perhaps it had to do something with his son, which made further sense when considering that curmudgeonly Wess Runner, dimwitted Dug Spikethumb and strict Lance Bonehead, none of whom she would call do-gooders like the Circle of Elders and their children but who had fellow children in the same youth gang as Gideon's son, had also disappeared around the same time.
Far more concerning to her personally however was the behavior of her own children, who had been acting strangely ever since they returned from their class two nights ago. That night, Igg and Britt had been oddly quiet when they came home for dinner, and she supposed that they must have been tired between their long lecture and having spent the previous day running around, giggling their heads off as they watched the little threehorn and her gang's unbelievable display of cheeky insolence. But following the second day of classes, the two kids looked even worse, seeming to be constantly trembling, looking scared of their own shadows as if they had expected a sharptooth to creep up from behind them at any moment, and she couldn't help but notice the sudden bruises and cuts that had suddenly appeared.
It was then that she had started noticing the behavior of the kids from the farwalker herds who had settled in the Valley after the destructive fires in the outside world. Though upon passing glances, they had acted normally most of the time, eating, talking, drinking, wrestling, and sleeping just like her kids, she couldn't help but observe that their style of roughhousing was always a bit more intense than she was accustomed to. She had always assumed that this was a byproduct of living in the dangerous Mysterious Beyond rather than their plush Valley, a minor cultural difference that she would just have to get used to that would mellow the longer they stayed. But when comparing it to the vigorous yet friendly spars that sometimes took place among the Valley's threehorn herd, both the children and adults seemed to display a remarkable willingness to go for the jugular that she found very disconcerting.
Then there was something strange about their eyes. They often seemed empty, lacking any humor, and only coming to life when they were fighting, most noticeably when they were trying to stop the prison escape that went right through their territory. Perhaps it was her imagination or the wide distance from which she stood to watch, but the eyes of both the children and adults seemed to oddly narrow and redden as they jabbed their thumbs and slashed their sharp claws into the flesh of the escaping young longnecks and the sharptooth, looking ironically enough like the sharptooth that they were so intent on stopping. And following the incident in which they had been knocked unconscious, they had woken up to perform a vigil under the Night Circle's light, issuing war chants ever since, their low rumbles only being punctuated by the high-pitched shrieks of their kids joining in, sounding as though they were their junior soldiers …
As she took in a cool drink, she heard footsteps approaching and looked up to find that a large group of these new spikethumbs had approached her and her relatively small herd. Despite their time in the Valley, they had generally stuck to themselves, and she only recognized two of them, her old herdmate Denna, just an energetic kid when she had lived in the Valley, but who now looked beaten, drawn, and vacant as an adult, and her mate Gonn, who seemed to be their herd leader. Most of the group was glowering at her herd with cold, hard eyes, but she especially felt the stares directed at her and her two children.
"So," Gonn demanded as his herdmates growled, leering at her herd intimidatingly. "What's your excuse?"
Feeling Igg and Britt bury their faces into her foot, Mama Spikethumb turned to face her herdmates quizzically, who looked just as confused as she did, before turning to face Gonn. "I beg your pardon?"
"Don't play dumb," Gonn growled. "You knew as well as the rest of us that the prisoners were escaping, yet you and your herd didn't do a thing to stop them."
As she felt Igg and Britt clamp down tightly on her foot, Mama Spikethumb looked up to face Gonn indignantly. "So? This is the Great Valley. Dinosaurs come here to be in peace and live in freedom from sharpteeth, not to fight them."
Gonn snorted. "You've got it backwards, heretic. We must fight for our freedom from sharpteeth. Anyone who refuses to fight is a dirty coward with no honor. But what should I expect, considering how much tougher your weak, coddled children need to become to make effective sharptooth killers, both at the front and at the nest."
Mama Spikethumb's jaw dropped. Now she, who had toed the line and did everything the regime asked, was a heretic? And who were they to question the way she raised her children? Were they really suggesting what she thought they were?
"Excuse me?" she asked incredulously. "The very reason I raised my children here all their lives is so that they could grow up in a world without fighting. This is a sanctuary where life is peaceful, and that's how I intend to keep on raising my children."
Gonn however just snorted. "You realize that our children had almost destroyed that sharptooth, fighting alongside us as we sought to bring down the heretic longnecks guarding it? We witnessed their valiant attempts to climb up the terrible sharptooth's legs and plunge their thumb spikes into its impure neck! We raised them with honor and to follow the circles' will to eliminate that monstrosity. And they were so close! If they had just a little bit of help from two certain slackers bawling into your legs like the dirty little wimps that they are, our future warriors and egglayers might have been able to kill that abomination right then and there! But because of your mollycoddling of them, the terrible creature is still alive!"
Mama Spikethumb stood, her heart growing cold as it all began to sink in. Between her nostalgia for a bygone era, her mistrust of the Valley's elders, the young hollowhorn's pleasant, coaxing demeanor, and her own desire to stay out of any conflict, she had willed herself to believe that nothing bad was happening around her. But underneath her feet, the center of gravity in the Great Valley had been rapidly changing. Without the dinosaurs she had formerly dismissed as idealistic, naïve do-gooders like Mr. Thicknose, Mr. Longneck, Mr. Threehorn, Ms. Swimmer, Ms. Flyer and the rest of their supporters, the Valley had lost its staunchest defenders of personal freedoms and individual rights.
And without them, the societal viewpoint had shifted dramatically towards a violent form of traditionalism that even she was uncomfortable with. The new order could now move forward with implementing its true vision without fear of any kind of retribution from the elders who had so vigorously stood against them just that prior day. And now with her refusal to send her kids into fighting, she had become a nonconformist just as they had. But with her small, beleaguered herd having been crippled from the sharptooth attack and with none of the elders who she now realized would have gone out of their way to help her being present, she knew that so long as she lived in their Valley, she was entirely at the mercy of the new order. She realized that perhaps she should have joined the revolt when she had the chance. But it was too late, and with no one left who could help her now, she knew she only had one course of action …
"Fine," she said curtly. "I renounce myself. Happy?"
"Excellent," Gonn smirked. "We have no use for impure heretics like you. Send her packing, boys."
And to the horror of her old herd, Mama Spikethumb felt herself getting brutally pushed along by the other male spikethumbs in Gonn's herd. They had pushed her so roughly that she was several paces away before she realized what was happening. Staring in disbelief, she saw her old herdmate Denna step on the tails of her beloved children, while the other female spikethumbs in Gonn's herd roughly spiked aside what was left of her herd trying to stop the kidnapping as Igg and Britt bawled loudly, desperately straining to get out of the adult spikethumb's firm grip.
Whirling around incredulously as the strong male spikethumbs of Gonn's herd continued to push her away, she shouted, "Denna, let go of my babies right now!"
Denna however, looked out at her old herdmate expressionlessly as she shook her head. "My name is not Denna," she said dully as Mama Spikethumb continued to get forced further away by the muscular, brutish escort. "My name is Mrs. Gonn. I've been created by the circles to serve my warrior Gonn, carry out his orders, and satisfy him with as many eggs as he desires."
"Too right you are, lovely little egglayer," Gonn smirked as he put his head above hers, allowing her to submissively rub her head against his neck, while held down by her paw, Juana's kids continued to struggle. "We may allow you to leave, it's your choice if you wanna get gobbled up by the impure sharpteeth in an impure world. But the young blood? Not a chance. In case you haven't noticed, we've had an uprising of traitorous kids in our midst. Even three of our own have become corrupted and deserted us, and the inferior kinds have had it far worse."
As Igg and Britt helplessly continued to struggle, Gonn smirked, "Well we're gonna make things right. We need young blood to keep our power going, and these two kids of yours will make fine replacements of the ones we've lost. Don't complain, now that you renounced yourself, you renounced all ties you have to the Great Valley, even to your own bloodline. You brought this on yourself. And don't worry, if you ever get to see them again, they'll never recognize you. Because they'll be trained to become a hardened warrior and egglayer who will help protect this Valley and kill any impure heretics on sight, including you if you dare try stealing them from our purified herd!"
Mama Spikethumb seethed as she heard her kids desperately crying behind her. "You … wouldn't … dare!" she spat out indignantly. "When Mr. Leigh finds out … He loves children, he said so in his speech! He will never stand for this! And you brutes will be held accountable for your actions, mark my words!"
But the spikethumb patrol only laughed as Gonn turned to his herd's females. "Egglayers, I've got to help my fellow warriors expel that heretic. I'll warn her if she tries fighting back that you can kill her kids. Otherwise, make sure this young blood doesn't leave your sight. Send them to your nests and have them start battling the others. We'll toughen them up and make them useful in no time. And kids … If you try any funny business, our egglayers will make sure you regret it."
Stunned, Mama Spikethumb hollered from a distance, her lip quavering, "What has happened to you, Denna? You've become a shell of the spikethumb I knew you as! If you have any decency left in you, you'd let go of my babies this instant!"
But Mrs. Gonn did not respond as she lifted Igg and Britt up by their tails as she and the female spikethumbs started heading back to their nests, while Gonn accompanied his escort of males to deal with their mother.
Looking at each other in horror, Igg and Britt were completely thunderstruck. Nothing in their idyllic, peaceful lives could have prepared them from being suddenly and forcibly taken from their mother. And being heavily sheltered by her growing up, even having been led away by her upon their first meeting with the friendly sharptooth and never being allowed to get close to him since, the kids had little experience with ever questioning authority or taking the initiative. But they still had their fight or flight instincts, and they had nothing else to lose …
With hurried, near simultaneous movements, the twins unsheathed their thumb spikes and stabbed their captor right on the chin. Mrs. Gonn screamed, her opening mouth releasing the tails of the kids, and knowing it was their only chance, the twins dove straight into the tall grasses and sprinted onward. While little, they were also much faster than the big spikethumbs, and they squeezed every ounce of their speed to their advantage to get as far away from their abductors as possible.
"Get them!" shouted one of the egglayers, and they hurriedly split up to look for the two kids. But Igg and Britt were going so fast they didn't even look to see if they were being followed or where they were going. Luckily, their dull, light green coloring made them effectively camouflage with the world around them, making them go unnoticed by the dinosaurs around them despite their speed. They didn't stop until they physically couldn't go any further. Catching their breaths, they realized that in their haste, they had broken through the barriers of several herds' territories and wound up near a group of tall-crested hollowhorns, seemingly keeping watch over a cave.
"At least we're away from the mean ladies now," Igg whispered to Britt.
"Yeah, but what about these guys?" Britt asked, eyeing the hollowhorn guard. "They'll turn us in if they see us."
"Hmm," Igg said, before receiving a sudden idea. "I know! Mr. Leigh is a tall-crest, right? That's probably his cave they're guarding! Maybe if we can sneak past his mean guards, we can ask him for help!"
"Yeah, and as Mom said, he likes kids!" exclaimed Britt. "If we can get past his guards and talk to him, he'll feel sorry for us and he can reunite us with our mom!"
"Yeah, but how?" Igg asked.
Their question however, was just about to be answered. Hearing a rumbling noise behind them, they turned and saw that a dark brown spikebacked longneck was rushing forward, carelessly knocking aside trees as he drew closer, a businesslike snarl on his face.
"What's he doing in the tall-crest zone?" Britt asked faintly to Igg, who shrugged as they felt the ground shake as he ran right past them and charged right up to Leigh's guards. "Out of my way!" he ordered authoritatively.
To the kids' amazement, the guards immediately obliged, backing up to stay well clear of the spikeback's spikes. Igg and Britt looked at each other. Seeing that the guards dispersed, they knew this was their chance to sneak into Leigh's cave unnoticed, so without another thought, the two followed the spikeback inside. Their hearts beating as they watched the spikeback go deeper into the cave, the two kids stared at one another. Vaguely recognizing him as the sharptooth's prosecutor, it was obvious that he had to be very important, being allowed to defy the segregation order and scattering away Leigh's guards so easily. Knowing this, they knew they had better wait in the cave and wait for the spikeback to leave before taking their turn to speak with the older hollowhorn.
"Oh, good morning, my lovely guzzler," they heard the hollowhorn greet the spikeback pleasantly, making a slight splashing sound as he moved within his aromatic pool. "Come to admit how wrong you are? Unfortunately, I haven't got long, I've got a marvelous speech that I'm about to …"
"Oh, shut up! You know I'm not here to hear you gloat!" Gus snarled. "I'm here to tell you how badly you failed ..."
"Here we go again," Leigh tutted mockingly.
"And how we're gonna take things from here," Gus said coldly, ignoring him.
Leigh sighed, shaking his head. "Oh dear, I'm afraid we have a tragic misunderstanding. Like I told you, you are merely here as my minion, my counsel, and I have nothing to do with any of your riffraff friends. They are not worthy of me and my purified supporters, carrying out the circles' will of a cleansed, glorious …"
"Well listen here, bud. I don't care about your delusions, you're gonna hear me out. Otherwise, I'm gonna block you from leaving this cave and your fan club will never get to hear your precious speeches. Capiche?"
Leigh tutted. "Fine, but make it quick, will you? I haven't got much time for piddle."
Gus snorted before continuing. "Right then. I've just spoken to Hatzem who's been doing some reconnaissance work about our enemies. He just reached out to Canthor …"
"Excuse me?" Leigh sniffed warningly, but Gus ignored him as he pressed on.
"Who'd be reporting his findings to Goregie as we speak," Gus finished.
There was a chilling pause before Leigh said in a calm yet cold and distinctly irritated voice, "Haven't I told you not to say any of those foul creatures' names in my presence? Especially that filthy, corrupted harpy?"
"Oh, get over it!" Gus snapped. "Like it or not, we're all on the same team. And we're gonna have to work together if we wanna bring our real enemies down."
"Oh please, we purified leafeaters can emerge triumphant without the likes of dirty sharpteeth," Leigh smirked smugly. "Need I remind you that the Valley is now devoid of all the outspoken heretics? The mere projection of our power …"
"You are underestimating them so badly, Hiss Head!" Gus snapped. "How else do you think that jailbreak happened? They've become a force to be reckoned with, and we're gonna have to work together if you want your oh-so-purified kingdom. Now no more interruptions, or I'll tell everyone about a certain hollowhorn who rammed one of Goregie's teeth right through that threehorn's throat!"
Igg and Britt stared at each other in horror through the tense silence. "No one will believe you," Leigh finally said. "I've cultivated my image perfectly, and such wild accusations would never stick."
"You really wanna take that chance?" Gus asked daringly. "I can destroy your whole reputation in one fell swoop if I wanted! No one will side with you when they find that out!"
"It's not like you're in much of a position to talk, stabbing that wounded whiptail with those spikes of yours," Leigh smiled maliciously, as the two kids looked at each other, their mouths agape. They were really getting far more than they bargained for by eavesdropping in on this conversation.
Gus snorted. "Hmph, I've palled around with stupid Earl and Len ever since I was five and played the grieving friend perfectly. But who cares who had the better cover, all that matters now is that you listen to me."
Leigh tutted. "Consider yourself lucky I'm far too preoccupied to waste my verbal acrobatics arguing with you. So just spit it all out. Just don't expect me to do anything you say."
Gus rolled his eyes, but cleared his throat before continuing, "So anyway, I found out what went wrong from Hatzem. Apparently Goregie was on the lookout with one of her units and found the five brats the morning after, and sent them in for the kill. But apparently, they've learned a new fighting trick that overpowered her biters and forced her and Canthor to retreat."
"Tch … Sharpteeth are such weak, impurified creatures," Leigh smirked dismissively. "I would've been able to kill them on the spot with my bare hands."
"Yeah, sure you would," Gus snorted. "But if you got your fat head back on your shoulders, you'd know that Goregie's pack was already wounded from attacking the Valley, so it's not like she had much of a choice." Shaking his head, Gus snapped, "The least you could have done is send some of your followers to help look for them!"
Leigh sneered, shaking his head exasperatedly. "You clearly know nothing about the art of public persuasion. Don't you know that I am supposed to be a kind, conciliatory leader? How would it look if I were to just order them to risk themselves in the Mysterious Beyond when they could just stay in our paradise? Besides, I needed my fellow purified dinosaurs' help here to establish the beautiful, righteous kingdom you see before you and to enforce order against the heretics. Could you really imagine me asking them to align themselves with such impure creatures? It would ruin my image completely."
Gus growled. "You rockhead! If it wasn't for Goregie and her pack's attack on the Valley, you'd never have had the chance to seize power!"
"How delusional," Leigh sighed. "You know that I was able to justly take over because the circles had blessed me with their charisma as their messenger. Why should I care about a stupid sharptooth and her battles?"
"Well, I'll tell you why, Hiss Head," Gus snarled. "You wanna know what happened after the sharptooth failed?"
"Not really," Leigh smiled dismissively.
Gus shook his head. "Well, you're gonna! Not only did the brats get away from Goregie, but they saved a whole bunch of squabbling teens in the process! Who they trained to become their fighters, and they had no problem beating up your kiddie armies last night! And now Hatzem is telling me all our enemies have mobilized and are moving south, apparently as part of a gigantic herd! All of them, those elders who your border patrol failed to stop from banding together, the youth gangs you love to blab about, those hatchlings who left your oh so purified herds … Even that rockhead Len managed to figure out a way to join them! There's now hundreds of them on the loose, all working together to try and stop you, and here you are, lazing about in your stupid pool, not doing a single thing to stop them!"
"Oh Gus-Gus," Leigh smirked as Gus snarled in rage. "You've got to rethink your priorities. Need I remind you that now that the heretics have retreated from the Valley in the face of my kingdom's overwhelming power, they are no longer an immediate threat. Which means I can go about fortifying this place, strengthening the land and my fellow righteous leafeaters so that it will always remain an eternal bastion for the purest among us, starting with the speech which you, dear little guzzler, are keeping me from. We will strive to create a Valley so great that if our enemies ever do stupidly decide to risk their necks and show up here again, we'll be more than ready to handle them, and rest assured, the circles will do their utmost to help us."
Gus snorted. "Yeah, right. You keep refusing our help, you're gonna fail, just like you did with the prisoners."
"I don't think so," Leigh said loftily. "Me and my kingdom of purified leafeaters, always readying ourselves for righteous battle, will valiantly ensure that all lesser beings are kept out in our quest to root out immorality in our world, and we will never let this Valley fall back into the paws of our weak, dishonorable enemies."
"Let's hope so," Gus growled as Leigh tutted irritably. "Now Goregie knows better than to attack you and your herds …"
"Does she now? Then who made those barbaric sharptooth roars last night, and who were the foul creatures who attacked all my poor, innocent patrols?" Leigh asked. "Sounds like someone has an obedience problem with her pack."
Gus snarled. "You idiot, have you forgotten how to speak sharptooth? That noise was made by our enemies who learned how to say threehorns are yummy in sharptooth and kept on repeating it! And those other sharpteeth who killed your patrols had nothing to do with Goregie, she doesn't have control over every sharptooth around!"
"Pity," Leigh sighed. "Such limited ambition. But what else is to be expected from stupid sharpteeth?"
"Will you shut up?" Gus growled. "Anyway, Goregie's not stupid like you. She'd know she and her pack still need time to recover, especially if they wanna take on a herd that large."
"See? What did I tell you, impure creature taking on impure creature, just as I predicted. Now is that all? I've got a speech to deliver to rally the denizens of this purified kingdom so I can begin really exacting my vision. You better be glad I'm so nice, otherwise I could exile you for cavorting with a carnivore. Or I could send you to my righteous judges, who without Mr. Bonehead to get in the way, could sentence you to something far worse. Now leave please, my public awaits. Oh, and have a good day," Leigh beamed.
Gus snorted irritably. "I'll be back with anything else important. And I'm gonna keep my eye on you, to make sure you don't ruin anything else like you did with that trial."
"I can hardly wait," Leigh smiled as Gus huffed out, Igg and Britt making sure to lie perfectly still as Gus stormed out of the tunnel. Before they could move however, Leigh had gotten out of his pool to shake off and sniff himself.
"Such a nuisance," Leigh tutted to himself. "To think that I, purified leafeater extraordinaire, would want to besmirch myself with such sharptooth scum … When my kingdom can achieve a glorious victory all on our own, without needing to blemish any of our own righteousness."
Holding their breaths, Igg and Britt patiently waited as Leigh strode out of the cave passageway to speak to his guards.
"Hope the spikeback didn't give you too much trouble," they heard one tell Leigh.
Leigh sighed. "Yes, he is annoying, but rest assured, he is of no harm to our grand, lovely vision. Now will you kindly take me to the Rock Circle? It is time to dazzle our public."
"Yes Master," muttered the guards, and so most of them began to surround Leigh to escort him there, with one staying behind to guard the cave's entrance. Knowing their only chance was to leave before the guard could get settled, Igg and Britt tore out of the cave and hid in the tall grasses, taking a long while to get their breaths back.
"He's evil … and crazy!" Igg whispered to his sister, who nodded.
"So's his friend! But what can we do? We're just kids without our mom!" Britt whispered back. "And all the grownups who could help us are gone!"
"I don't know," Igg said sadly. "But we can't let anyone find us."
"Yeah, we've gotta find an escape somehow," Britt agreed.
"But how? Mother said the old prison guard has reinforced all the exits!" Igg replied.
"There's gotta be some other way," Britt replied. "How else did all those other kids escape?"
"Then we better start looking," Igg sighed. "Everyone's at the speech, right? We can look for another way out."
"I guess now's our chance," Britt agreed, and the two spikethumb twins looked at each other before they gave each other a hug and began to search. Creeping low to the ground, the twins began to look for some method of escape.
The twins however, soon realized that they had to be extremely careful. While most of the Valley's residents were gathered around the Rock Circle, several males were posted as border patrol agents to separate the different kinds' zones, and several of the females and children were posted to monitor the zones' interiors. After the foiled attempt to halt the prison escape the prior night, the twins realized that they would do anything to catch more rulebreakers, even if it meant missing out on Leigh's speech. This however proved to be of little inconvenience, for between Leigh's loud call immediately silencing the audience around him and his well-practiced gentle but powerful voice carrying throughout the Valley, the patrols as well as Igg and Britt had no problem hearing what he was saying.
"Good morning everybody," Leigh purred pleasantly. "Can you possibly believe it? It is now only the fourth day since the circles have called on us to take action. But look at all the wonderful restoration that has taken place since we stood up for morality! Just a day ago, there were hundreds of heretics crawling like belly draggers within our midst, waiting to sabotage us at every turn, but now they have been purged from this hallowed place, unable to withstand the power of our glorious, righteous kingdom! The circles are proudly smiling down upon all of us purified leafeaters as we gather here, free of any moral decadence and ruin in our virtuous hearts, and they are justly rewarding us for our pure spirits, protecting our Valley from any filthy sharptooth attacks!"
As the crowd, now completely devoid of open defectors, thundered its approval, Igg and Britt looked at each other. Now knowing the true reason for why the sharptooth pack had not attacked since, they were incredulous as to Leigh's ability to effortlessly lie to construct his narrative. Smugly, Leigh continued, "Now as I am sure you are all aware, not all is well and right with our world. For the course of justice has been badly perverted by a dastardly display of treachery last night."
To loud boos from the crowd, Leigh purred, "All of the depraved lawlessness you saw of course, came from those corrupted youths with whom we all know far too well. Between the flyer crime family and the littlest youth gang launching an aerial assault on our law enforcement, the seven scandalous swimmers and the oldest youth gang throwing rocks at innocent twofooters, their collaboration with sharpteeth to threaten the Valley and murder our outside patrols, and the appearance of a new youth gang sent in to attack our children, it is hard to say which of these attacks perpetrated against us was the most abhorrent."
As Leigh basked in the dark murmurs and jeers, he continued, "This, my fellow leafeating friends, is an example of the slippery slope of immorality in action. The actions of these hooligans, failing to be raised with appropriate discipline or to learn righteous moral values, have gone far beyond mere disruption and have degenerated into sheer terrorism, and now we see from their attempts at undermining this Valley how intent they are on destroying the leafeater way of life. But the circles have told me there is even more to their fall than meets the eye. They have told me that rather than these acts being unconnected demonstrations of depravity, this was really a coordinated effort, where all these impure heretics conspired to achieve a dark purpose."
Sighing, Leigh said, "And naturally, we now know what that dark purpose is, an effort to undermine our pursuit of justice and prevent the circles from giving our criminals their righteous condemnation. Through it all, the circles told me that to rally all these darkened souls, that there were ringleaders involved in orchestrating the whole process. Sadly, they told me just who they are as well. We may have thought that the original five heretics, always disturbing this Valley and bringing the circles' wrath ever since they were hatchlings, had been righteously annihilated. But the forces of darkness do not go away easily, and so while we have been trying to do our utmost to restore this Valley to full purification, they have gone out and recruited. Oh yes. They have created a new body of brainwashed youths to serve as their newest fighters, mobilized all of their fellow youth gang members and heretic elder allies to take part in their cause, and even corrupted our own children to create an entire legion dedicated to darkness and moral ruin, all intent on spreading their immorality throughout the entire world!"
Igg and Britt silently glanced at each other in horror as they continued to look for some means of an escape route, fully hearing behind the veneer of righteousness the savage pleasure emanating from his voice.
"We have no reason to be afraid, however," Leigh continued smugly. "Because through it all, we will prevail. The circles undoubtedly have a plan for us to hold back this threat. So right now, in front of every one of you, I will fall to my knees and humbly ask the circles for their wisdom."
And there was a pause as Igg and Britt looked at each other, knowing that Leigh was undoubtedly going into his performative clicking and grunting noises, hardly daring to believe that they themselves had really believed Leigh's act for all this time …
"Thank you circles, you have shared with me your glorious vision," Leigh said in false modesty when he had finished. "So now, I will share it with everybody! For starters, we are commanded to assist our remaining children in overcoming their impurity and weakness. Thus, we will take our emergency re-education to the next level, by enlisting all our future warriors and egglayers into service for our beloved Valley. Each child shall be closely supervised by a sufficiently pure elder of their own kind, who will make sure that all heresy or weakness will be cleansed from their hearts, and who will mold them into fighters who will keep our precious Valley strong and preserve our bloodlines into the future!"
There was a loud roar of bellicose approval, as Igg and Britt looked at each other, hardly daring to believe that their peaceful Valley had become a kingdom of fanatical warriors right before their eyes. "Excellent. Now children, you all want to please your parents and serve the circles, am I correct?"
Igg and Britt stared at each other in disbelief as they heard the bellicose children holler in assent, wondering how many of the remaining kids really had been brainwashed into such a dark mindset, and how many of them were silently quavering in fear, trapped in a position completely out of their control …
"We shall also be more proactive in purging anyone who may seek to undermine us. With our most active opposition gone, we can now move onward and seek to root out all heretical behavior before it can take hold. Our righteous judges will make sure this process goes smoothly, and we will emerge as a more cleansed, purified body of leafeaters as a result," Leigh continued. "And of course, to keep our numbers healthy, we will seek out leafeaters who believe in our vision to take the place of the fallen heretics in keeping this Valley a shining place of righteousness."
More cheers and jeers occurred from the crowd. "We also are compelled to purge all the creatures in this Valley that practice the wicked deed of carnivory. While the sharptooth may be gone, there are still plenty of other beings … Hoppers, sand creepers, tickly fuzzies, buzzers, star swimmers … All sorts of horrible things which live through taking the life of another of the circles' creations, and so must be righteously exterminated! The cleansing of these dark beings will sharpen all of your capabilities as crusaders for our beautiful homeland, and together, we will create an even purer place which will correspondingly lead to even greater blessings from the circles!"
To raucous cheers, Leigh continued, "And our mission does not stop there! From there, we are called to reach even greater heights to fulfill our ultimate destiny as aspirational figures our descendants will always look up to. Outside the borders of this Great Valley are lands that are barren and whose soils are stale, no doubt caused by the myriads of sharpteeth, noteeth, and other impure creatures infesting it! It is why the circles have cast their fires upon the wicked lands and left this Valley untouched, for we leafeaters are called upon to do something special! So upon fully conquering our Valley and purifying it from all pestilences, we shall expand our horizons and purify the lands around us! We will expand to spread our righteousness, eliminating any impure creature that dares to get in our way, and the circles will correspondingly reward us with luscious green food on our quest to bring purity to our world! Whichever herd is brave enough to stake out new lands may claim the territory as theirs, and soon, we shall have enough space to completely wipe out all the sharpteeth, noteeth and heretics in sight, leading to a great kingdom that the circles will shine on forever!"
"Hey Britt," Igg whispered as the crowd roared in enthusiasm, bumping his tail against a rock, and seeing that it moved slightly to reveal an underground tunnel.
Britt looked around her cautiously. "I don't see any bad guys. You think we should go for it?"
"It can't be worse than staying up here, can it?" Igg sighed, and together, the two spikethumb kids went down into the world beneath.
The long, narrow canyon remained otherwise undisturbed as from within its depths, the smell of increasingly aging carcasses continued to waft. She was growing restless after having to remain idle for three whole days. But it wouldn't make sense to try and make another move just yet. Her troops still had enough of their plunder left to sustain them for a while, during which time they could recover from their injuries and wait for another opportune time for an attack …
"Uh, gorgeous Alpha?" came a dim, gruff voice.
Turning, she looked over to see a threeclaw, a couple cold times older than she was, lumber over in her direction. In some ways, the two of them could hardly be more different. He was brown and peach, she a rich scarlet color scheme. His eye sclera had only recently changed, while hers had been shockingly blue from a young age. He had three claws, she two. He relied on strength and bulkiness, she on litheness and speed. She was a cunning strategist, he was not. Nevertheless, he made a loyal and serviceable lieutenant, and a useful and reliable agent for relaying messages.
"Morning, Canthor," she said with smooth confidence. "What's going on out there?"
"Well, we've killed twelve traitors," he growled. "Some of those bums the big white-eye talked into deserting us."
She smirked in rueful triumph. "Excellent. That shall quell dissension within our ranks. Ugh, I hated that white-eye. He was a real nuisance …"
Unbeknownst to him however, Canthor subconsciously fidgeted, and to his horror, he felt the gaze of his alpha sharpen suspiciously. "What are you not telling me?" she demanded.
"Well er, about that," Canthor said tentatively, betraying more than a note of fear in his voice as her eyes continued to fixate on him.
"What are you saying?" she asked coolly. "Do you mean to tell me that after all we did to help them … Those stupid grass guzzlers still failed?"
"Well, er, not entirely," Canthor explained sheepishly. "The hollowhorn still has control of the Valley just as we want, and the spikeback is relaying messages to him from Hatzem as we speak. But er … "
"Don't fleshcoat it, they failed, right?" she interrupted, relieving Canthor from having to answer apart from a meek nod. "Ugh. What else would you expect from foolish flatteeth … So what happened with the white-eye?"
"He escaped from his imprisonment," mumbled Canthor awkwardly. "And, um, he recruited three little fast biter kids to form a sharptooth pack. Those same triplets who claimed flatteeth helped hatch them and whose mother called you a maniac," muttered Canthor. "Of course, I don't think you're a maniac, gorgeous Goregie," he clarified quickly.
Goregie quietly fumed. "Oh yes, that rotten brood," she growled. "Just great, a white-eyed sharptooth pack. How embarrassing. I suppose his stupid parents have joined up with him too. Ah well. Three puny brats, two invalids, and a bleeding heart. Nothing our pack can't handle. We can take care of them soon enough."
Canthor nodded, but still was looking at her uncomfortably. "Er, Alpha," he muttered. "Those young flatteeth we fought against? The longneck, threehorn, swimmer …"
"Yes, yes," Goregie interrupted irritably, not liking to think of her recent defeat. "What about them?"
"Er … You know those smaller flatteeth that were with them? That bunch that was fighting with each other?" Canthor continued.
Goregie chuckled. "Oh yes, those stupid things." Then she noticed the disturbed look on her minion's face. "Yes?" she asked, in a quiet but cold rage.
"Well, uh, Hatzem told me, uh, that they've become their fighters, and, uh, that they might have worked as a unit to help the white-eye escape," Canthor muttered.
Goregie took a step closer to him, her foot causing the nearby rocks to jump as it slammed into the dirt. "You mean to tell me," she hissed, "That our enemies have trained them to act as a herd … That operates like a sharptooth pack, just like they do?"
Nervously, Canthor nodded. "Er …"
"And," she added in barely more than a whisper, "They've aligned themselves with the traitorous sharptooth pack?"
"Yeah, and, uh …" Canthor stuttered cautiously. "Maybe I should say they recruited a few more of their allies, uh, and they're moving south. It's not that big of a deal, really. Just a migration."
Goregie however, did not blink, and moved even closer into Canthor's space, causing the bigger sharptooth's heart to violently tremble. "Oh please Canthor. Tell me the truth. Hatzem wouldn't tell you they recruited a few flatteeth. He'd give you an exact headcount, and tell you exactly how many kinds of dinosaurs are in this herd. So spill."
"Well, uh, uh …" Canthor stammered as Goregie's electric turquoise eyes bored into him. "I didn't think you'd wanna know, so, uh, I didn't ask."
Goregie snorted. "Don't play dumb. He'd tell you anyway, and you'd know I need to know what we're dealing with."
Nodding hesitantly, Canthor sighed before answering, "Well, uh, my dear gorgeous Goregie, uh … There's three-hundred and fifty of them … And sixty-two kinds. Lots of them are just hatchlings or youngsters, but there's some fully-grown adults too, uh …"
"How many of those?" Goregie barked.
Gulping, Canthor answered, "Fourteen threehorns, ten spiketails, twelve swimmers, eighteen hollowhorns, the so-called Lone Dinosaur and his mate, thirteen other longnecks, and four clubtails uh … I forgot the rest. Nothing we can't handle though, er…"
As Canthor wondered if he should have said anything, he saw Goregie's nostrils flare with fury before she started creeping toward him. "Uh … it's not as bad as it seems," he stuttered as he tried to back away, only to be cornered by rocky walls. "Did I say there's also a lot of hatchlings? And we've got …"
But he never got to finish, for the next thing he knew, the twoclaw had managed to encircle his body as he stood trapped by the canyon wall, his neck precariously exposed to her mouth …
Then Goregie laughed. "Oh please. I'm not gonna hurt you. You're a valuable part of my pack. So long as you keep obeying me. If not, then there's trouble. Got it?"
Canthor nodded in understanding as Goregie, still smirking, drew back.
"Hatzem told me there's lots of little boxheads," growled Canthor determinedly. "Tiny, juicy little boxheads with no adults. You know how much I hate those things. I wanna see their looks of terror as they fall to the grip of my jaws."
"Oh Canthor, I like your ambition, but don't get greedy," warned Goregie. "We can't let your passion cause any of them to escape."
"You know I'd never let any of those rotten things escape my jaws!" exclaimed Canthor.
"We'll see," Goregie smirked. "All right then Canthor. We've got a lot to deal with here. Summon the pack. I've got to make things real clear with them and tell them what we're up against."
So in no time at all, Goregie had her pack summoned in front of her, all submissively bowed in front of her in perfectly straight rows. It was a lot of work recruiting and training them all, but she loved the feeling of power and of being in charge and was immensely proud of the pack she had constructed. True, the group lacked in size and sheer power, with relatively modest-sized groups of browridges, sailbacks and horned sharpteeth and even fewer twoclaws, many of whom like her were on the young or small side. At about a threehorn in length, she was one of the largest sharpteeth present. But size was overrated. Despite their physical advantages, big sharpteeth were more difficult to coerce and keep subjugated, slower moving, ate more food, and were more difficult to replace. So while she liked to keep a healthy amount of them around for a bulk unit to bring down the largest leafeaters, she didn't want to have a strategy entirely dependent upon them.
What her pack lacked in size they more than made up for in other ways. Because of the smaller size of many of her pack members, her pack required far less food than a similarly-sized pack of only big biters would, allowing her more flexibility in picking her battles. This allowed her to maintain a huge population of sharpteeth at her command, especially of fast biters. She loved everything about fast biters. Easy to recruit, replace, and keep satiated, they were nonetheless strict carnivores equipped with deadly weapons and far more vicious than other kinds of biters their size. Being pack hunters in nature, Goregie loved having a few hundred of them in her pack at a time, always making up the core of her unit. Intelligent, speedy, compliant, loyal, and social in nature, they had the remarkable ability to bring down flatteeth many times their size with their cunning, teamwork, athleticism, and hooked claws. Of course, she was also aware that different hunters had different skills. That's why she always made sure to keep specialized units in her arsenal, with talking belly draggers who could take to the water, sharpbeaks who could act as spies, trackers who could go long distances without eating, and sharptooth flyers perfect for aerial raids. Between her large membership, enforced cooperation, and diversity in her ranks, her pack could attack any prey anywhere, no matter how it tried to hide or fight back.
She also had a firm belief in developing homegrown talent. It made loyalty far easier to enforce with so many of her biters having been born or reared into the pack, growing up with the messages to constantly get tougher, that flatteeth didn't deserve their fear, and that cowardice and dishonor would never be tolerated. The younger the recruit, the better the retention and lower the casualty rates, with many of the enlisted hatchlings her age or younger already proving themselves to be extremely loyal and vicious soldiers. And she couldn't recall a single defection coming from the pack's many egg-raised hatchlings at their hatchery near the smoking mountain, many of whom were into their growth spurts with many more not far behind. Smirking triumphantly, she knew that in just a few more cold times, her young packmates would begin to finally mature and reach their full size, allowing her to truly carry on her parents' legacy. She could just imagine herself getting bigger too with her pack as they made greater and greater conquests, so long as she made sure to not get fat and lose her speed … But if she was able to ramp up her consumption slowly, despite their being of different kinds, she may even be able to get to be as a big of a twoclaw as him someday … If they were able to take preemptive action and nip this threat straight in the bud.
"All right pack, silence!" Goregie ordered as the hundreds of biters immediately obliged without hesitation. She grinned broadly. She just loved the gratification of seeing her fellow sharpteeth hanging on to her every word.
"All right, before anyone gets any ideas, twelve deserters have just been killed for their cowardice. Congrats to everyone who brought down those weaklings. It'll make good practice for what we've got in store," she smirked.
As her pack snarled approvingly upon hearing the fate of their betrayers, Goregie sneered darkly. "I bet you're all getting tired of sticking around here and having to feed on leftovers, right?"
Her pack nodded vigorously, murmuring in anticipation. "Good. I too am getting restless … and hungry," Goregie grinned to delighted snickers. "But as our stocks continue to dry up, let me remind you that this time in waiting has not been in vain. We are slowly regaining our full strength as we overcome our wounds. And once we do, we will be stronger than ever before, for we have gained invaluable experience through our plunder of the Flattooth Valley's riches! I see your eyes have so much more color than when we started, and will only become more intense with each kill you make! We have slaughtered so many bodies in our conquest there, and through each victory, we will become all the readier for even more bloody, triumphant battles!"
"Are we gonna do it again?" asked a younger fast biter hopefully.
"Yeah, attack the Valley! We beat 'em up real good!" agreed another.
Goregie chuckled. "Oh no," she said simply.
As the crowd sadly groaned in disappointment, Goregie smirked hungrily. She loved leaving her pack in momentary letdown before raising their spirits with her new rallying cry …
"I've got a much better idea," she smirked knowingly.
As she grinned at her rapturous crowd eyeing her every move, Goregie asked, "Who's ready for a real conquest? That will not only be the most daring one we've ever performed … But will also protect our way of life and make us forever heroes among sharptoothkind?"
Bathing in the murmuring of enthusiastic wonder, Goregie continued, "Our attack on that foul Valley may have brought down a lot of coddled leafeater bodies and brought enough plunder to feed us for days. But we've done much more than that. We've succeeded in destroying their entire society, ending the flattooth alliance there and putting it in the control of a bunch of circle-obsessed, bigoted bloated egos. They have gone back to their so enlightened values of herd division and gender inequality, leaving them easy pickings for us whenever we decide to attack."
After much raucous laughter from her pack, Goregie waved her little hand and continued, "But claws off the Great Valley for now. Pathetic as they are, they are effectively our allies, for they're keeping our real enemies out of their stronghold. Which means they are now forced out into the open … Leaving us with a potential opportunity to keep an eye on."
Pausing to allow her pack to chuckle maliciously with one another, Goregie asked, "I am of course speaking of the flatteeth who are different. You remember those five young flatteeth? The ones who have defeated all sorts of blowhards much bigger than themselves even as kids, and who unlike other flatteeth, are smart enough to reach out beyond their own kinds and work together like a sharptooth pack does? Who taught their kin and all those others to behave the same way, making their Valley so impenetrable? Who even have that halftooth and that traitorous white-eye that they hatched in their ranks?"
Dark muttering occurred from the crowd as Goregie hissed, "Well unfortunately, not only have they managed to survive our last assaults, but dare I say it, they've thrived. Predictably, the grass guzzlers we helped failed in their efforts to kill them, and instead, they've gained even more power. They've now formed a herd with a membership of three-hundred and fifty, consisting of sixty-two different kinds of dinosaurs, with many fully grown longnecks, threehorns, clubtails, spiketails, swimmers and hollowhorns, and even including six sharpteeth!"
Angry, indignant snarls rang out through the crowd as Goregie continued, "This, pack, is what we call a menace to all sharptooth kind. We sharpteeth have always used our wits, our numbers, our athleticism, our unity, and their bigotry to overcome their brute strength and body armor. But can you imagine? An entire herd of flatteeth who are actually not stupid and have learned to behave like sharpteeth? Who are being led by the slayers of not only the Sharptooth, as mere hatchlings I might add, but now Red Claw too? Who have a traitorous sharptooth pack in their midst, who are just as intent on destroying our way of life as they are? Can you imagine what they might be doing? Creating defensive strategies to combat our offensive tactics? Learning to rely on each other to offset our combined attacks? Training each other to get tough so they can become just as conditioned as us? Developing the same kind of unity that makes a sharptooth pack so formidable? And teaming up across all their different kinds so they'd be able to handle any situation, just like us? Who have recruited a bunch of hatchlings who will grow up learning their lessons? Think about it! They could become much tougher if we allow them to! And what if their ideas start to spread? If every threehorn would come to the aid of every spiketail and vice versa, how many of us would have to abandon our lifestyle in order to live and have to disgrace ourselves by becoming "friendly sharpteeth"? The whole sharptooth way of life would forever be lost!
As the crowd began to growl and mutter menacingly, Goregie declared, "Forget the stupid Valley. They're just a bunch of rockheads that we can hunt down later. This is our real fight! We must destroy every last one of these uppity grass guzzlers and keep them in their place before they can reach their full power! This is a fight that all sharpteeth should be concerned about. Unfortunately, far too many of those arrogant blowhards out there are only concerned with stuffing themselves! But not to worry. With proper preparedness , we can do this ourselves and become heroes that will forever be remembered among sharptoothkind! We will stand up for the sharptooth way of life and obliterate this existential threat once and for all!"
And to roars of angry, raucous determination, Goregie paused to allow her pack to feed off each other's energy. Then she continued, "But we must not be too hasty. These are formidable adversaries, and we've got to be very deliberate in how we take them down. So before we make any action … We will first begin to assess their vulnerabilities."
Turning to face a contingent of her sharpbeaks, she ordered, "Sharpbeaks, listen up! Fly to the south and look for this huge flattooth herd, and make sure to remain well out of sight. We cannot afford them to know they're being watched. But you need to determine where they're going, and if you're able to, spy on them for a while. Look for any way in which we can exploit the divisions in this herd … And come back with your observations accordingly. Now move out!"
And to celebratory roars and snarls, many of the pack's sharpbeaks took to the skies and began heading south, scanning the ground for prospective enemies.
Turning back to the rest of her pack, Goregie growled, "The rest of you? Get to work. Hone your skills on destroying weaker life forms. But do not get too injured. We need every one of you to be at full strength for whenever we choose to launch our assault. Because we're sharpteeth … And we'll never allow flatteeth to be better than us!"
And Goregie smugly grinned as her humongous pack of sharpteeth viciously roared in determination. To think that those stupid leafeaters really thought they would be the ones to bring down such a dangerous herd … When it was obvious that only a worthy sharptooth pack like hers would be able to perform such an accomplishment.
