Awakening in the Jungle 3

As soon as Azonthus heard that a convoy was going through the basin she volunteered to be one of the guards. After all, who better to guard a convoy from Basin predators than a Basin carnosaur?

"Every one ready?" Eric called out from his perch atop Canopy, an apatosaurus.

"I believe so, sir!" Az called up to the surapod rider.

The caravan crossed the bridge in Bonabba and headed into the dark jungle, not knowing what misfortunes would happen to them…

This would be a fun trip, Az thought as she glanced around at those who were accompanying the caravan.

Eric, the head of the caravan, was riding his surapod, Canopy. Az had known Eric for a while, in fact, they met just before Az chose to live in the civilized parts of Dinotopia.

Stouthorn the Wise, a triceratops, was acting as the lead guard. His knowledge of peaceful ways with the carnosaurs would be extremely helpful.

Ibby, an Iberomesornis, was flying along for the fun of seeing a new place.

And in a little while, once they were further in the Basin, Az's little sister, Akiva, would join to strengthen the guard.

The caravan moved deeper into the basin. After about an hours travel, Az warned the caravan to stop; there were raptors in the area. "Who's there?" Az called out.

"Just me," an orange and yellow raptor answered as she stepped out from behind some bushes. She was identical to Az except for the scars and being orange instead of red. She was holding a fighting staff, archery equipment, and a cape. "I brought you cape and weapons," she told her sister.

"Thanks," Az said. She turned to her friends in the caravan, "This is my little sister, Akiva."

After proper introductions had been made, the caravan continued. Somehow, Az couldn't shake the feeling that none in the caravan would return the same...

"Hey Az!" someone called from behind her. Turning, she saw it was her friends Tamith and Triforce. "Need some extra help?"

Az was completely surprised to see more of her friends in the caravan. "It would be great to have you two along! Is there anyone else here that I don't know about?"

The steamy heat settled over the jungle at nightfall, creating an oppressive atmosphere. The three hatchery workers used all of their combined skills to assist Swiftclaw as she continued to struggle to expel her egg. For all their strength and power, Greyback and Whiptail could do nothing but watch as their beloved mate and mother groaned with pain. It was going to be a long night in the Rainy Basin.

In the darkest part of night in the Rainy Basin, relief washed over Mathaira, Maia and Thistlebud as Swiftclaw summoned her buried reserves of strength to finally expel the long awaited egg. Greyback and Swiftclaw offered silent thanks as they watched the egg emerge from Swiftclaw's body.

The hatchery workers immediately concentrated their efforts on settling the egg into a suitable nest. In spite of their exhaustion, the three would work in shifts to insure that the egg was kept at the proper temperature to hatch successfully. With the arrival of the egg, their work was only half completed.

Seeing the weakness of his mate, Greyback set out to summon the clan's healer, who arrived shortly. Swiftclaw's ordeal had drained her and she would need constant care. Greyback vowed to himself not to leave her side.

Whiptail remained with the hatchery workers and the precious egg, his soon to be brother or sister.

Tenseness settled over the tyrannosaur clan, or was it the whole jungle? Did the edginess just exist within the clan as a result of the condition of Swiftclaw? Or the tending of the egg and awaiting of the hatchling it contained? Or was their something even bigger and more dangerous brewing in the Rainy Basin?

Ness sat in darkness, beyond the area the campfire's light reached. The other two in the cave wondered about their alien friend's sadness, his annoyingly cheerful attitude gone. He now sat in dour contemplation, and darkness.

C'xoila moved closer, "Ness, whatta matter? Me know somethin' bothering you."

The youth snorted, "You, my friend, will never be as far away from your home as I am from mine. Why, in that star filled sky outside, you couldn't even spot it with the most powerful telescope!" Ness let out a frustrated sigh.

Pazu, her wound still hurting, also moved beside the alien. "Ness," said she, "Maybe it would help if you talked about your home. You know we'd like to listen."

Ness thought for a few moments, then spoke once more, "Where I live is my country's capitol city; J'Teari City. Beautiful place, my city." His eyes gained the dreamy aspect of one who is remembering good times past, "The buildings, you've never seen any buildings as grand as those! A mile tall are some, all gleaming white, silver and blue in the sun! Very similar are they to your architecture in the outer-world city of Angkor. The city is all reflecting pools and parklands and monuments. The streets are wide, the city is clean." He sighed and went on, "Our cities are grand, but each building is offset by acres of parkland and wilderness. We build machines, living, thinking machines. But they're not slaves! That word is hated, or used only jokingly to describe the chores are parents give us." Ness smiled and chuckled at this, as if remembering a time he said such. "They are the Haxa. Haxa, that's a J'Teari word that means partner. They're our partners and equals. We live and work together, go to school together. I have not seen a Haxa in a long while. The only things that come remotely close are C'xoila's machines...."

With an attention span about as big as pin hole the small, feathered dino decided to do a little exploring of the area. "Won't go to far." Ibby told herself as she looked to see if anyone was watching. "No one will even know Ibby gone." She took the distraction of new friends joining the caravan to explore the near by bushes.

"Maybe there bugs." Ibby thought as she flitted to one of the branches. Sure enough, a large green insect crawled ignorantly passed young dino. Ibby stood very still, head turned to one side, eyeing the insect. "Wait till perfect moment..." Ibby thought, getting ready to lunge toward her little bug-eyed friend.

Thinking the moment perfect, Ibby attempted to nose-dive her meal. Her timing was, sadly, a little off. She plunged past the green insect, past the branch, and straight to the ground.

Yowch!" Ibby screamed as she rubbed her sore head with one of her wing-hands. "What's that?" Ibby's attention shot immediately towards the shinny black object that sat on a near by rock. Cautiously, Ibby approached the shinny object. It was a little bigger than her than her head and seemed to reflect everything around her. "Sweeeet." Ibby said, as she examined the object.

Suddenly, the rock closed around the black object. This is when Ibby realized this "rock" was not a rock at all, but the head of a stegosaurus. Of course, Ibby did not know it to be a stegosaurus; all she knew was that it was bigger than her and might have teeth. "Teeth! Teeth!" Ibby screamed in terror, hoping one of the caravan would hear.

The blue and yellow Struthie heard a shrill sheik from not far away. She had been taking plant samples for her biology research at Treetown.

What's that? she wondered.

Moving quickly, she made her way toward the sounds. Suddenly, she broke through the brush to see a stegosaurus. In its mouth was...

"Ibby?!" She pulled her from the stegosaurs mouth. "What are you doing here?"

Az looked up from talking to Akiva. As it turned out, there would be more from the pack joining the guard. In total, around a dozen raptors would be there.

Az realized something was wrong when she didn't hear Ibby's usual chatter. Now where is that little bird? Az started looking around for her when she saw Cyrrus coming our of the dense forest with the little bird on her shoulder and a stegosaur following them.

"Oh!" She exclaimed. "There you are, Ibby! Who is this you found?

"You wander off too Cyrrus? I really wish you would tell me when you do that. I can't go looking for everyone!"

Az looked at the stegosaur. "Breath Deep, Seek Peace," she greeted it fluently in it's native language. "How did you come to be here?"

The stegosaur looked slightly surprised at being spoken to in it's own tongue. "I am Thunderfoot," he started crying. "I lost my family! We got caught in a flood, and I was separated. I don't even know how I got here."

"Shhhh.... It's Ok," the raptor tried to calm the distraught stegosaur. "You can stay with us. We'll find your family, somehow."

Cyrrus laughed. "Wander off?! I was here collecting samples for my biology thesis." She smiled and held up her bag of random herbs and plants. "See?"

"Sorry about that, little guy," Thunderfoot said, patting the little frightened Iberomesornis on the head, "I have a monstrous headache...just needed some quiet. I wouldn't eat you."

"Ibby unerstan!! Ibby give headache alla time!!" Ibby exclaimed, hopping about in her usual manner.

As time passed, the oppressive atmosphere that engulfed the tyrannosaur clan in the Rainy Basin seemed to grow denser. The days were gray and heavy with heat, while the nights were even blacker than the old ones had ever seen.

With Greyback and the clan healer busy tending to the care of Swiftclaw, Whiptail felt that it was up to him to protect the precious egg. He stationed extra guards at the entrance to the clan's territory and sentries patrolled the area at a greater frequency than before. Every so often a sentry would detect a presence other than that of the clan. However, no sign was ever seen of an intruder, only a feeling that someone or something had been there.

That night some of the caravan was woken up by strange music. Eric, Ibby, Cyrrus, and Thunderfoot followed the music to its source. There, they found Azonthus perfectly imitating the dragonflute and Akiva singing in an alto. Together they created a haunting but beautiful melody.

"Pretty," Ibby chirped and started singing off key. Eric reached down and gently closed her beak. Ibby gave out a squeak of surprise. Cyrrus and Thunderfoot chuckled quietly.

Azonthus and Akiva stopped their singing and looked at the party. Akiva shyly put her head to the side while Azonthus dashed into the forest. Akiva followed suit.

Neither of them was seen until morning when it was time to leave.

Dawn arrived slowly in the Rainy Basin, the brilliant colors of the sunrise muted by the canopy of trees as it filtered down to make dappled patterns on the moss covered ground. Mathaira was weary after her nighttime shift of tending to Swiftclaw's egg, and was anxious to pass the nurturing task to one of her partner-friends. Just as she arose to wake Maia and Thistlebud, she heard a distinctive squeaking sound coming from the egg. Excitement filled her, for as a hatchery worker she knew that an egg would squeak before hatching. "Maia...Thistlebud...Come quickly! It is time!"

Maia and Thistlebud quickly took their places beside Mathaira and the three hatchery workers carefully monitored the egg.

Whiptail had stayed beside Mathaira during her nighttime watch, and Thistlebud now turned to him, "Whiptail, you should let Greyback and Swiftclaw know that their hatchling is breaking through the eggshell."

Soon Whiptail returned followed by Greyback and a weakened Swiftclaw. In spite of her poor health but consistent with her role as mother, Swiftclaw had insisted on being present for the hatchday.

A hush settled over the small group while the squeaking sounds from the egg got louder. The cracks in the shell enlarged as the hatchling eagerly anticipated entrance into the world. In the next moments, a young female Tyrannosaur came away from her eggshell, blinking as a shaft of sunlight from the breaking dawn struck her full in the face. Knowing instinctively who her mother was, she emerged from her nest and wobbled precariously as she took her first steps toward Swiftclaw. As her new daughter tread softly over the moss-carpet to her, the two nuzzled one another affectionately. "Dawn Treader", whispered Swiftclaw lovingly to her new hatchling daughter.

Pazu and C'xoila were soundly asleep, but Ness was still awake. He stared out the entrance to the cave. Green blood on his forehead had already dried, and the cut was no longer bothering him. Something more was...

Between thinking of his home and the still present threat of Rhaxx, Ness had a lot on his mind. He heard a sound behind him, and turned to see C'xoila and Pazu staring at him...

Walking out of her sleeping quarters, Tamith took a deep breath of the fresh morning air. Noticing Azonthus, she walked up to her. "So, when are we leaving?"

The apprentice Skybax rider, Alkazra, woke up suddenly from a bad dream and totally dazed looked around at where she was. Slowly the dream faded and reality took hold again.

Grunting she sat up and pulled a rock from underneath the blanket, rubbing her side to get rid of the ache created there by it.

What was I dreaming about?

Half in anger, but half casually she threw the rock against a nearby tree and stood in the same motion. Looking up she saw Jai looking at her, head on one side. As a response she pointed an finger accusing finger and muttered: "Don't start...I'm not in the mood." To which her merely spread his wings a little in a 'Who?...Me?' gesture.

"I was hoping to leave in about a half hour," Az replied in response to Tamith's question. "Think you can be ready by then?"

"Sure," Tamith said smiling.

"I'll go make sure that everybody else is ready." Az noticed Alkazra's bad mood the moment she told her to get ready. By the time the entire caravan was ready to move out, Az was in as bad a mood as Alkazra.

When Akiva tried to get Az to sing a song with her, Az snapped at her little sister. "I don't feel like putting up with you right now. Just, just, go away!"

Akiva stared for a moment, hurt, then turned and ran.

"Akiva? Kiv! I didn't mean it. Please, come back." She stared at her siblings retreating back. "Fine! Be like that! Just ignore your promises and run home!"

Canopy lowered her head and spoke to Azonthus, "That was not very nice. You should go and apologize."

Az stared for a while then nodded her agreement. Before leaving, she left another of her raptor pack in charge of the guards.

Trotting through the woods, she was careful to look out for other carnosaurs. She stopped suddenly when she spotted a well-camouflaged human face.

The two stared at each other for a few minutes, unmoving.

Rhaxx was completely surprised to see a raptor appear out of nowhere. He had been sitting quietly, hidden in some bushes, contemplating how to best rid himself of the strange human who wanted to "rescue" his sister when a raptor came jogging through the forest.

Well, if he couldn't kill the human or Deinonychus at the moment, he could at least have a little fun with this velociraptor. Smiling maliciously, he spoke to the intruder, "I hope you feel like dieing today."

The raptor seemed unperturbed. "Today is as good a day as any other to die." She had only a bow and quiver full of arrows. Luckily, for him, he was too close for her to use them.

"Then prepare to die!" He leapt at her, reaching for her throat, hoping to strangle her. She neatly sidestepped and easily avoided his attack. He lunged for her again, ready this time for her to sidestep. She shifted her weight to the right, preparing to move to that side. He moved with her, but she stayed motionless. He ran past her.

"I really am getting bored with this, you know," she said, grinning.

Rhaxx crouched, eyes never leaving her, ready for any movements. Disconcerted, he tried to figure out how to get close enough to even touch her.

Again, the raptor did the unexpected. Instead of attacking, she leapt into a tree and started bounding from limb to limb, escaping him.

There was no way that Rhaxx could follow her now, so he sat again. What was she doing here? Why didn't she fight? He was confused. Then, it came to him. She wouldn't fight if she were protecting something! Now what would she be defending?

The air was hot and soggy. Humidity was raising and everyone was getting grumpy. Looking down at Triforce, Tamith noticed she wasn't the only one suffering in the Basin weather. But unlike Tri, she couldn't chomp on the sweet plants and get some water from them. Looking up, she noticed Akiva, Az's little sister running away from the caravan. I wonder what happened to her? she wondered, noticing she seemed upset. A few seconds later, Azonthus went after her and she also seemed rather upset.

Triforce commented something in her language and stopped her chewing.

"The basin is a dangerous place but Az can take care of her self," she replied.

To this Triforce replied with a series of short grunts.

"Watched? What do you mean we where being watched?"

Triforce replied.

"That you sense something out there and 'watched' are very different things."

Triforce added something making Tamith begin to feel uneasy and worry for Az.

"Geez it's hot!" Someone said from behind. Momentarily startled, she turned to see her friend Cyrrus.

"What's the matter?" Cyrrus asked noticing her worried face.

"Az and Akiva may be in trouble. They both left the caravan a few minutes ago and Tri says that we were being watched."

Cyrrus looked thoughtful for a moment. "Wanna go after them and warn them?" she asked Tamith.

"I don't think it's safe to wander away from the caravan too much..."

"We could go a few dozen yards and then return. They couldn't have gone far."

Tamith considered that and nodded. Looking back at Cyrrus she said, "Triforce will come with us, just in case we run into something."

"Agreed! C'mon, we don't have time to waste," Cyrrus said. They headed in the direction Azonthus and Akiva had gone and soon were surrounded by jungle.

Azonthus streaked through the trees, alternately running and leaping, she as comfortable in the trees as on the ground. She didn't stop till she reached the caravan. Jumping to the ground, she stood for several moments before informing Eric of the threat to the group.

That's it! Rhaxx finally understood exactly why that raptor wouldn't fight. She had weapons, meaning she was from the basin; she was a warrior, she had to come from some important clan; she also had a cape, meaning she had dealings with humans. Her dealings with humans had to be extensive if she willingly wore their cloth. Rhaxx knew that no Basin carnosaur willingly donned the garments of civilization. Therefore, she must have left the Basin and came back for some reason. She probably was with someone… A caravan perhaps? It had been a long time since one had passed through. So, he would have a little fun after all… Rhaxx followed instinct and jogged to the nearest caravan trail. He was delighted to see that it was a fairly large caravan. Plenty of meat for his clan. The only problem would be if those raptors were the warriors they appeared. Then he saw HER. It was the raptor that had made a fool of him. Oh, she would pay, and dearly...

The moisture in the air stuck to everyone's throat. Triforce snorted and suddenly stopped in her tracks. Tamith turned back to her friend. "What's wrong? We being watched again?" Tamith questioned, with a slight mocking tone in her voice. Triforce just grunted and turned her massive head toward the dense canopy above them. There was little light, the dense foliage blocking out most of the light. Eternal twilight shrouded the forest, yet something had Tri's attention. Puzzled, Tamith turned to Cyrrus.

Yet the struthi had her head too turned toward the concealed sky. Opening her mouth to question the two saurians, Tamith was stopped by a single raised talon from Cyrrus. "Listen," were her only instructions. Straining to hear something, Tamith resigned to give way to the superior senses of her companions. But suddenly she heard a sharp snapping or branches.

Spinning toward the sound, followed by Triforce and Cyrrus, she found herself facing a small clearing in the basin. Rays of light penetrated through the canopy here, and the sky was seen, partially concealed by leaves. The snapping grew louder and soon the upper branches of the trees in the clearing swayed, and a large form hurtled through the trees to land on the moss on the ground.

Curious, and beyond fear, the trio moved foreword to see what had fallen from the skies. A large crumpled form of a skybax with cerulean wings, with a red fire pattern at the bottom was seen. It weakly lifted its massive head, and squawked one word. "Nimbus" and collapsed again in unconsciousness.

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