Meeting the Herd
The next morning, Aladar plodded along the empty landscape, with the Purgatorius on his back. Suri was still upset about the death of most of the clan.
"Now, now, Suri," Yar reassured her. "There's nothing to be afraid of,"
"Look!" yelled Zini.
"Woah!" cried Aladar as he caught a glimpse of another dinosaur before it disappeared. "Did you see that?"
"What?" asked Yar.
"I did," replied Zini.
"Me too," said Suri.
"Where did it go?" asked Plio.
"I don't know," answered Aladar. "Let's go see."
"Leave it alone!" yelled Yar. "Hey!" Plio elbowed him.
"Ssh, Dad," Plio whispered.
"It's scaring Suri," said Yar.
"No, it's not," replied Suri.
"Everyone, just be quiet," Aladar whispered.
They soon saw the small dinosaur perching on a rock and cleaning its foot claws. It was an Acheroraptor, and it spotted the duo. It then squawked to alert its comrades. Several more of them appeared, encircling Aladar.
That was when one Acheroraptor landed on an outcrop just in front of Aladar, and it snarled at him.
Soon after, the others inched closer, with their claws and teeth at the ready. One Acheroraptor lunged at Aladar, but the Triceratops dodged it. Both dinosaurs made a run for it, with the whole pack in pursuit.
One raptor clung to Aladar's thigh and bit it. The Triceratops roared in pain. Another raptor jumped and lunged at Yar, causing him to lose his balance.
"Yar! Grab on!" cried Zini as he grabbed his father's hand.
"I can't reach!" replied the old Purgatorius as his children pulled him back onto Aladar's back.
Another raptor clung onto Aladar's flank, trying and failing to grab Yar before jumping off.
"Aladar! They're stopping!" cried Plio.
Aladar looked back and saw the raptors heading in the opposite direction.
That was when a sandstorm hit and huge male Triceratops knocked Aladar off his feet. He had purple skin and larger horns.
"Stay out of my way!" he roared. The lemurs scrambled to safety, trying not to get trampled.
"You heard Kron! Move it!" growled his second-in-command. He was also a larger Triceratops than Aladar and had more pronounced horns but with brown skin and a much more muscular build.
Moments later, a whole herd of dinosaurs followed. Many were Triceratops, like Aladar. There was also Edmontosaurus tagging along.
Aladar heard some screeching and looked down. Several Triceratops youngsters scrambled between his legs. When he lifted his head, he bumped into a female Triceratops.
"Watch it!" she hissed before she disappeared into the sandstorm with the others. Aladar was so preoccupied, that he didn't notice an Edmontosaurus heading toward him. The duckbill knocked him over. That was when several Alverezsaurs, jumped over him.
"Zini! Get your head down!" yelled Yar.
That was when they heard another bellow. A huge Alamosaurus towered over Aladar. He and the Purgatorius were all bamboozled by her immense size.
"You're walking backwards, huh?" an elderly Edmontosaurus spoke. "Well, let me know if that gets you there any faster. Keep those little legs moving, Url!" she called out to an Ankylosaurus who trotted closely behind her. "Or you'll get left behind."
When the wind died down, hundreds of dinosaurs were now in view.
"Look at all the Aladars!" Suri said in awe.
"If you're even thinking of joining them.." Yar said. That was when the raptors came back.
"Hang on! Hang on!" yelled Aladar as he and Woot ran to catch up with her herd, leaving the predators to eat their dust, much to their frustration.
The herd stopped, giving Aladar enough time to catch up to them. He looked up at a hill where their leader was standing; Kron, the same Triceratops that knocked him over in the sandstorm. Standing slightly below him was his second-in-command, Bruton, and beside him was his younger sister, Neera, the female who bumped into Aladar.
"Kron," Bruton got his attention. "There is a more protected spot, further down,"
"We'll rest here for the night," replied Kron. "Go ahead, Bruton."
Bruton threw his head up and bellowed, getting the herd moving into the valley.
"Oh, Eema," the Alamosaurus began to speak to the old Edmontosaurus. "I wish we were at your nesting grounds now. All this pushing and shoving, just for a place to sleep. I ain't used to this kind of behavior."
"Baylene, you've got big feet, just give 'em a kick," replied Eema. "Git!" she headbutted a Pachycephalosaurus, causing it to scurry out of the way.
"Oh, I could never," said Baylene. "Shoo. Shoo." she trod carefully, trying not to trample the smaller dinosaurs scurrying between her legs.
"Will you come on, Baylene? You want to get to the nesting grounds alive? Show some backbone!"
"Hey, there!" said Aladar, startling the old Edmontosaurus.
"You're going to give an old gal a heart attack, sneaking up on me like that!" she scolded.
"Sorry," Aladar apologized. "It's just that we overheard you talking, and um.."
"Well, hello there," Baylene lowered her head to greet the blue Triceratops.
That was when Url approached him with a rock in his mouth. He dropped it and looked up at him, panting like a dog.
"Well, my word," said Eema. "Look at Url. He doesn't normally warm up to strangers so fast."
That was when Baylene started sniffing the Purgatorius and let out a sneeze. "What a stench."
"A good mudbath will clean those right off," Eema commented.
"Excuse me," Yar turned to face the old Edmontosaurus, startling her again.
"He's our grandfather," Aladar chuckled. "A couple of times removed."
"Try a couple of species removed," Zini corrected.
"My name's Aladar," the blue Triceratops introduced himself. "This is our family," he gestured to the lemurs. "We're all that's left."
"Oh, dear, bless your heart," Baylene lifted her head, giving them a look of empathy.
"Baylene's the last of her kind," Eema explained. "Been finding stragglers like her all along the way."
"I heard you say something about nesting grounds," said Plio.
"It is the most beautiful place there is, child," replied Eema. "It's where the herd goes to have their babies."
"Will we find anybody that looks like us there?" Suri asked.
"That last few days, I've seen all shapes and sizes," she sat down. "Who knows what we'll find? The hard job now is getting there."
"And we've been driven unmercifully," Baylene added.
"By who?" Aladar asked.
"Kron, the herd's head-honcho," replied Eema.
"It's hard to keep up," Baylene explained. "An old gal like me, well, it's indecent."
"Then tell him," Aladar chuckled. "What's the worst he can do?"
That was when they heard a snort. Kron, Bruton, and Neera passed through. Bruton almost trampled Url, and Kron rudely brushed against Aladar.
"Hey! What's his problem?" Aladar grew annoyed.
"That's him, honey; Kron," Eema told him.
"Excuse me! Kron!" Aladar yelled to the purple Triceratops.
"Get lost, kid!" Bruton growled at him.
"Relax, Bruton," said Kron before he approached Aladar. "Who are you?"
"Uhh, Aladar," the blue Triceratops nervously answered.
"Why aren't you uphill with the.. young bloods?" Kron asked him a question before snorting at the Purgatorius.
"Well, I was just over there, talking to these guys," Aladar gestured to the elder dinosaurs. "They're having a hard time keeping up. So, maybe you could slow it down a bit."
The blue Triceratops's words got the female's attention. From the smile on her face, she seemed to admire what he was saying.
"Hmm," Kron chuckled. "Let the weak set the pace. Now, here's an idea. Better let me do the thinking from now on, Aladar," he turned away.
"Hey! They need help back there!" Aladar protested.
"Watch yourself, boy," Kron warned him before rejoining the herd.
"Don't worry," said the female Triceratops. "That's how my brother treats newcomers, no matter how charming they are."
"You sure do know how to catch a girl's eye there, stud," Zini giggled.
"Wouldn't be catching no eyes if I was you," Eema warned Aladar. "Especially Neera's. Just you keep your head down and mind what Kron tells you."
"Since when do we take orders from the likes of him?" Yar asked with disgust.
"Kron has swatted flies bigger than you, pops," Eema joked.
"I could hold that monster's brain in the palm of my.." Yar went on a tangent, only to have Aladar interrupt him. "No, Yar, she's right. Better to keep our heads down with this bunch than have them bitten off by... those things," he noticed several Acheroraptors on the horizon.
"Lucky for you, they're just raptors," Eema chuckled. "That's all that's following us."