Search for the Emerald Sunstone Flowers: Part 3

Meanwhile, in the underground jungle, the semi-Allosaur listened as the adventurers told him about Treetown.

"Some of my people managed to survive," he said, "but we no longer have possession of the medicine. You will have to ask them," and he gestured to the anthroceratops.

He seemed friendly enough, but Lian saw him back away slightly when the anthroceratops approached.

"I probably said too much already!" the semi-Allosaur said. "Now, the others are going to get me! When they find me, they'll kill me for talking with the enemy!"

"No," C'xoila said. "You not gonna leave till you tell why branch break. You do it?"

The half-Allosaur shook his head furiously and said, "No! I didn't do it! You have to believe me! It was another of our kind, and now he wants to kill me!"

There was a rustling sound from the bushes and another half-allo jumped out and growled, "That's right! I AM going to kill you for you are a traitor!"

As the newly arrived Semi-Allo moved in on the other, C'xoila rummaged in his pack. He had just remembered something that might help. He pulled out something wrapped in a cloth , and using the cloth as a glove, held it in his clawed hand. It was an ice blue stone.

C'xoila mumbled to himself, "Me knew this come in handy!" He yelled to the Allosaur-human, "Hey! You! CATCH!" C'xoila tossed the stone at the Allosaur's head and he caught it easily. Cyrrus looked saddened at how C'xoila didn't realize the dino could catch. C'xoila just smiled. With a loud pop iced formed around the semi-allosaur. A dino-sickle! "See!" C'xoila said. "Me KNEW winterstone come in handy sooner later!" The good semi-Allosaur had fainted!

Cyrrus rushed to the fallen Allo's side to make sure he was all right. The others stared at the frozen Allo with feelings of relief and pity.

"I wouldn't worry about him," said Swiftclaw. "The temperature in this valley is warm enough that he'll thaw out soon. In the meantime, we should start for the flower caves. It will be at least a day's journey through the woods, and you will probably want a more secure place to sleep."

"We should get a move on, then," Cyrrus said. Cyrrus picked up the ice stone, using a leaf in place of a glove. She handed it back to C'xoila. "Good thing you kept this." She then turned to the little semi-Allosaur, "I don't think you should worry about the rest of your tribe hurting you. We will make sure you come to no harm."

She turned towards her friends, "Right guys?"

C'xoila smiled and said, "No, me not think they are gonna bother you. Not if I can help it!"

And so, along with the ghosts, the semi-Allo, and a few brave anthroceratops, the party set out through the forest. Quickstride was even more uneasy than before. While the semi-Allo seemed friendly enough, the ghosts and the Anthroceratops were clearly not happy traveling with him, and the Allo in turn seemed wary of them. Whether there was real reason for any of these feelings Quickstride wasn't sure. She hoped there wasn't, because their lives and the lives of everyone in Treetown depended on trusting these characters.

The group started off towards the emerald flower cave. They walked for several hours. After a while, several people were tired. "It's been a really long day." Cyrrus said. "Anyone think we should bed down for the night?"

C'xoila, also noting the tired ones, said, "I 'gree with Cyrrus. Ha! Cyrrus, I 'member your name! Yes, we should go sleep soon. But we need watch for Allosaur-Humans."

"Do not worry," said Swiftclaw, "My people no longer have need for such sleep. We will keep watch."

Bowing low, C'xoila said, "It muss be lonely to live life such as yours. When I not 'member who I was, me feel real lonely. Now, I have friends back," C'xoila smiled. "I stay and watch too."

After walking in silence, the allo motioned for C'xoila to come translate. The allo said, "I am deeply sorry for what my people have done to you, anthroceratops, honored elders. But not all are evil. In fact, I came to realize my tribes mistakes through my grandfather's stories. And there are some of us who agree with him and I..."

Swiftclaw did not seem impressed, though nothing the allo did was going to impress him. "Did your grandfather tell you about the infamous Bloodfang? The most ruthless Dinotopian if ever there was one." The mist that seemed to make his form turned bright with emotion.

"Yes" the allo said. "My grandfather said he was the lowest Dinotopia has ever faced. Murdered women and children, as well as the men, and plants and animals. He was the worst of my tribe. I could not begin to explain."

Swiftclaw seemed surprised by the straightforward answer of the semi-allo. He had been hoping to make him angry by bringing the name up. Instead, he found himself momentarily speechless.

The semi-allo went on to describe all that Bloodfang had done. His voice was dull and cracked often. He seemed almost about to cry as he described the horrible events of long ago.

Cyrrus stared at the allo as he spoke to Swiftclaw. Then she blinked, "We never learned your name, little one. What is it?"

"Unfortunately," the allo said, "I was never given one"

"You need a name, little one. We will call you Peacegiver," Swiftclaw named the semi-allo.

Coming from Swiftclaw, this surprised everybody. The moment, however, was ruined by a terrible, unearthly roar that echoed from somewhere in the valley. At the sound, several of the ghosts cried out in terror and disappeared, and a general wave of extreme fear ran through the party.

"It couldn't be," said Swiftclaw, "Bloodfang has been dead for generations."

Peacegiver, trembling, managed an answer. "My tribe is divided. A few are like me. A few want to be like... him," he said, not daring to say the name. "Most do not know what do. He is dead, but through his evil followers he isn't."

Atero was sitting in his bed-basket in the lofty Sequoia he lived in, when he felt a raindrop and heard a terrible explosion. The rain picked up, and he heard more explosions. He got up to see what the explosions were, but he soon got an answer. About ten seconds after he got out of bed, lightning hit through the bed-basket! Atero tried to pick up a shred of the cloth that came off of the bed. It was still electrically charged. As he touched it, it shocked him and blew him to his feet. He was knocked out by the force, but later, when the storm had ended, he got up and he felt like he had been hit with rocks from every angle. "Had it been a dream?" he thought. He looked where his bed-basket was, or would have been, and realized it was not a dream. He looked around and saw damage to many of the wonderful trees. He had been lucky that his was not hit. He laid down on a couch in the loft he lived in, terrified at what could have happened. He heard a person climbing up the ladder of the Sequoia. The person was the healer who had been watching over him. She looked in the doorway, went out and yelled down "He's okay!" Someone at the ground said "Good! No one's hurt." This relieved Atero, because he was worried that someone might have been in a tree when it was hit. "But," he thought, "will Treetown be able to repair all the damage that's been done?"

Most of the sick people had already been moved out of the damaged trees, and now the houses were being repaired. It would take awhile, because so few people were healthy enough to help. Atero thought he should do something, but he felt really sick.

Meanwhile, the group stood frozen, expecting to be attacked. Nothing happened.

"Let's get moving," Lian suggested, as the sound of the roar still echoed in the valley.

"Y-y-yes." C'xoila stammered. "M-me think move good idea!"

Swiftclaw nodded. "This way," and he motioned away from the sound, down into another valley. After walking for not too long, they began to hear the sound of running water. "The under ground stream," Swiftclaw explained. "This and others like it is what feeds the jungle, and allows normal vegetation to grow here."

As they traveled, Peacegiver kept looking over his shoulder.

They came to the stream, where they stopped to drink. After that, they decided to keep moving. They walked along the stream until it merged with another, creating a deeper, faster river.

"Here," Swiftclaw stopped them. "We can build a raft, and travel much faster."

It took them the rest of the day to make two rafts. Half the group would travel in each one. Then they camped by the riverside.

Atero watched as a skybax appeared in the sky. It circled for a few moments, then came down. The rider climbed up one of the ladders to a neighboring tree. Atero cried to him, "Quickly! Get help! No time to explain! There is a sickness! Go to Waterfall City! Get help! Go!" The rider turned, nodded, and left.

Atero said to himself "Wait ... I couldn't speak before ... could I be healed all ready?" He took a bottle of the Arcticum Longevus salve from next to the couch in his loft and pocketed it, expecting to need it. He left the Sequoia to find Coba standing there.

"You can't go, Atero! You know that!"

"I have to go and find Az! She's our friend and will need help." Atero replied.

"But you're sick!" said Coba irritatedly.

Atero replied simply, "Not anymore. I feel fine. Now, I have to go find Az."

Atero looked around for Azonthus' footprints, but he soon found that the day before storm had taken them. He found a tree that looked like one he had seen Azonthus pass when she left. Yes, this was the only one on the east side of the city that had a knot twenty or so feet up. He had definitely seen Azonthus pass this tree when she left. He passed through and found several fallen trees, probably the lightenings terrible vandalism. He walked for a long time, and finally found some footprints. They were saurian, but not Azonthus'. They were that of a Lambeosaurus.

Atero heard a noise and wheeled. He saw a huge Lambeosaurus carrying the banner of the water lily! He immediately recognized the face of the pair - Magnolia and Paddlefoot, the Habitat Partners of Freshwater! He asked plainly "What are you doing here?"

Magnolia replied just as simply "What are YOU doing here??" Seeing Atero was at a loss, she laughed and said "I was traveling from Bent Root to check on the headwaters of the Polongo. And to check out what was going on in Treetown. I hear that there is a sickness there..."

"A bad one." Atero explained. "I was just there about an hour or so ago and I would know. There has also been a terrible storm, and many of the trees have been damaged. I have all ready sent a skybax to Waterfall City to get help. Right now I am looking for a raptor named Azonthus, who left before the storm. Have you seen her?"

"Slow down!" Magnolia said after Atero was done rattling of this information. "First of all, who are you?"

"My name is Atero." he responded.

"Okay. No, I haven't seen your friend Azonthus, and I obviously can't help. But," she said with a smile, "I might know how to help after all. Do you know what to follow?"

"No, I guess not."

"Well, you can't follow her footprints, because of this storm, right?"

"Right."

"And you can't follow broken twigs because of us, right?"

"Right."

"Well, you can follow broken twigs without footprints for a while, until you clear where the storm hit, right?"

"Right! Thank you, Magnolia!"

"Glad to help. I need to go now. Good luck!"

"Thank you. I'll need it." Atero finished as Paddlefoot trotted off into the forest.

As Atero was running, he tripped over the root of a tree. "Have a nice day," the tree said, then Atero fainted from exhaustion.

Blissfully unaware of the epidemic in Treetown, C'xoila's brother and sisters were taking a vacation near that area. C'xoila had dropped them off when he had went to join the convoy, and they were enjoying being away from their big brother. Rounding a bend in the forest, they came upon a young man, sprawled across the ground.

"Who's that?" Fer'dri, C'xoilas brother, asked as he turned young man over.

Atero opened his eyes, looked at Fer'dri for a moment, tried to pick his head up and soon found that was useless. "Ow! Please tell me I didn't break my neck..." he said as he reached up behind his head.

To this Fer'dri said, "No, I don't think you broke your neck. If you broke your neck, then you wouldn't have been able to pick up your head. You probably sprained it."

"Where is Az?" Atero asked after a long pause.

"I don't know." Fer'dri simply replied.

"I've been looking for her since yesterday."

Kaylah spoke up, "Rest. You're neck needs to heal."

Atero pulled out the bottle of Arcticum Longevus salve and put it on his knees, which were cut badly.

Seeing this, Sashaa asked, "What happened?"

Atero responded with his story of meeting Magnolia and Paddlefoot a while back, and about him tripping on the tree root.

Though the sunstones glowed for all of what would have been day and night on the surface, the anthroceratops had a good sense of time. In the morning the group set out on the river.

The two rafts drifted along with the swiftly moving current, almost side by side.

Sitting in the bow of the boat, Kaz was happy despite their situation. The swift movement of the boat reminded her of flying (an activity she hadn't done for far too long) and C'xoila sitting next to her was normal, well as normal as he would ever get.

"Do you suppose the evil spirits will let us continue this journey, or are you expecting a nasty surprise?" Kaz asked the raptor beside her.

C'xoila smiled remembering, "With our luck is bound to 'volve raptors somewhere along the line!"

Tamith chuckled at the remark. "Don't jinx it!" she said smiling.

"We're not trying to! It just seems that there are very few times when the raptors are not our enemies!"

Just then the terrible roar was heard again, closer this time.

"I think raptors are the least of our problems right now," said Quickstride.

Suddenly Swiftclaw appeared before them. The spirits had remained out of sight for most of the raft trip, keeping watch for danger on the banks. Now the Gallie chief made himself visible, his green eyes full of fear. "They are ahead!" he cried. "Get to the shore immediately, or you will come straight to them!"

"The allos?" asked Cyrrus.

Swiftclaw was clearly agitated. "There are four of them," he said. "Their fangs, their fangs are painted like blood."

The current had them in its grip but gradually the rafts were getting closer to the shore. The roars were getting closer and those in the front couldn't help but shiver. The crafts were expertly steered but they didn't seem to be able to land

"What's happening?" called Kaz from the bow.

"There's something stopping us veering right." Cyrrus answered.

"But there's nothing there!"

Swiftclaw disappeared for a moment into the gloom as the rafts battled with the current but made little progress. Suddenly one lurched to the side, it was in danger of capsizing but at least it was moving the right way.

"Sorry about that" said Swiftclaw when they were safely on the shore "I know it was a bit bumpy but at least now you are relatively safe."

As if to emphasis the 'relatively' bit a roar once again echoed around the cavern.

"Quick, let's get out of here!" Lian cried out.

They pushed the rafts into the river to get away. Nothing happened for awhile so they finally started to relax.

Although Swiftclaw had originally said for them to get to shore he was the first to motion for them to return to the rafts. "At least up ahead we will know what we are facing"

Kara peeped around the doorframe of Atero's room, and allowed herself a small smile. She was the healer who had been watching over him the past few weeks. She had been summoned to Tree Town by the other healers then when the terrible sickness had begun to spread. She couldn't understand it, but she seemed immune to it - something to do with living in a swamp, and riding a Lambeosaur. Atero seemed to be getting better, to her immense relief since so many had already died. However she was really, really worried about her lost friends from the convoy - Alkazra, Tamith, C'xoila, Cyrrus and the rest - since their disappearance no word had come of their welfare, and Azonthus had gone looking for them too. Maybe she should send a dimorphodon.

Looking out, Kara saw two ceratopsians and what appeared to be an injured skybax rider approaching Treetown.

"Strange," she thought. Since the bax looked injured, she decided to go down and see what she could do.

A few minutes later, the trio arrived. Her heart skipped a beat when she recognized two of its members. "Mirajai! Triforce! What are you doing here!" she exclaimed, "Where is Alkazra and Tamith and the others?" The saurians looked at her and answered in their own language.

"Get a translator!" Kara said and immediately all of Treetown was on the search.

Excited at seeing Kara, an old friend right where she was needed, Mirajai went up to her. He cawed to her and though she couldn't understand she could see his wing was badly hurt and she set to work healing it immediately.

A few hours passed. Kara paced back and forth wondering of the fate of her friends. Then, a small ceratopsian entered the room.

"Greetings from Waterfall City!" it said, "My name is Chaz, and word has reached that you need a translator?"

Kara nodded her head vigorously. "Yes, the partners of some lost friends of mine arrived today. Without them, I don't know what happened and need someone who can speak their languages to help."

Chaz nodded. "May I speak to them?"

"The skybax is resting in the rookery because it is injured, you can talk with the ceratopsians."

"Better still," the Protoceratops said, "I would like a conversation with my cousins." Kara lead Chaz down to the barns where the Triceratops rested.

"Good day cousin!" Chaz said brightly, "What... oh?"

The Triceratops spoke rapidly in it's own tongue for a few minutes, Chaz nodded and asked a few questions now and then. Then he spoke. "Triforce says that they where part of a convoy on the search for some healing herbs. They where attacked by a Tyrannosaurus and the convoy split up. One group, the one she and your friends were in, later found the injured skybax and her partner. She tells me that they found a lost Temple and went into it for shelter and also out of curiosity. They never emerged. The two ceratopsians and the skybax waited for two whole days then decided to get help, and here they are."

"Oh dear!" Kara gasped, "what is to become of them, we must send some sort of rescue party for them, but so many people here are ill."

A human female slowly walked into the room, "I didn't mean to overhear your conversation, but I did... My name is Tirana Ki, and if you need people to help rescue your friends, I'll be happy to assist."

Mirajai, Triforce, etc. returned from the jungle to find help, Kara was there attending to Atero. He had hurt his neck and confusion arose about how he did this as he didn't want Kara to know he went into the jungle by himself when he should have been resting.

Because of the different dialects of the saurians a translator was sent for and within minutes of each other Chaz, a protoceratops, and Nallab arrived. They now had the full story from the trios viewpoint but were still unsure of what to do next.

An island came up on the river, and they decided to stop and eat. Lian decided to take a look around the small island. She came to a swamp like area.

"Squawk, squawk," came a sound from deeper in the swamp. It sounded like whoever, whatever, was making the noise was in trouble.

Cyrrus cocked her head, then turned to Alkazra, "Want to go see what that is?"

Kaz nodded "Sure!"

The two headed off into the jungle greenery, following the sound of the squawks.

Suddenly Cyrrus pointed, "Look there!"

Fumbling with a piece of rope was a young semi-allosaur. It's foot was caught in a snare.

Kaz approached it "Don't worry we're friends."

The semi-allosaur just looked at them. Then, quite suddenly, it gave a sharp chirping sound. Cyrrus and Alkazra exchanged glances. From out of the brush came several, much larger, semi-allosaurs. They carried drawn bows, the arrows pulled back to the fullest. They were aiming right at the two femmes.

"We've got company!" Cyrrus gulped as the closest semi-allos freed the younger one from the supposed snare. "It's a trap!"

The semi-allos with the bows took a step forward. Their teeth were dyed a bright crimson. As they were about to fire Swiftclaw and the six other Gallie ghosts appeared.

This time, instead of being made of mist, they seemed to be actual living creatures. They stood and taunted the allos from a direction other than where Cyrrus and Alkazra were standing. Enraged upon seeing their kind's old enemy, the allos immediately re-aimed and fired. Instead of striking flesh, however, the arrows sailed harmlessly through the Gallies' forms.

"Come on, let's get out of here!" shouted Cyrrus, as the allos stared in bewilderment at the dancing and jeering ghosts.

Running back towards the raft, C'xoila wondered why they had fallen for such a trick. He also wondered when his voice would return to normal, if it ever would. He really didn't mind, it was just a nuisance and it made it that much harder to understand him.

The group cast off and set sail again. Once they had lost sight of the island, the Gallimimuses shimmered back into view. Swiftclaw let out a sigh of relief to see that all, including the little Semi-Allo, were safe.

"Well," he said, "There are some advantages to not being of flesh."

They sat down, Swiftclaw sat beside the Semi-Allo. The two talked throughout the voyage. It seemed they were really starting to enjoy one-another's company.

As the light from the sunstones dimmed, the signal for evening, the little allo curled up next to Swiftclaw, let out a sigh, and fell asleep. But he did not have peaceful dreams. They were filled by other Semi-Allos and they chased him and killed him. And worse then that, they did the same to his new friends!

Swiftclaw, noting the troubled expression on his sleeping face, tried to put his claw on the Allo's shoulder, but it passed right through.

C'xoila moved closer to the group of ghosts. "Must be hard, be a ghost. No?" he said. The others could just nod. "But," C'xoila continued, "You not alone no more. we here, and we your friends. You welcome to come with us, after."

Swiftclaw's attention turned away from the small Allo for a moment and said, "You would really do that for us? Really and truly?"

C'xoila nodded enthusiastically. "Sure!" he said. "We like you guys. Want you be happy."

And for countless generations, Swiftclaw and his tribe did, with their new friends, feel happy.

The rest of the night progressed uneventfully, much to the relief of the party. No allos roared, and strange but pleasant sounding frogs and insects chirped endlessly through the cavern. So Quickstride was that much more surprised when she awakened the next morning to an odd whooshing sound to her left. She opened her eyes to see if it had been made by someone on her raft. Lian, C'xoila, Peacegiver, and Tamith were on hers, while Alkazra, Cyrrus, and three Anthroceratops were on the other. The ghosts were nowhere in sight, probably scouting ahead for trouble, and everyone else was asleep. Again the whooshing sound came, this time from her right. Quickstride turned and to her shock found an arrow imbedded in the side of the raft! "Wake up! It's an attack!" she cried.

Cries of surprise issued from everyone as more arrows sailed through the air. They hadn't hit anyone, but it was only a matter of time. The Anthroceratops on the other raft bellowed in fear. On Quickstride's raft, Peacegiver panicked and raced across the raft to the other side. This movement caused the raft to tip over, throwing everyone on board into the river.

Quickstride swam to the surface, using her tail as a paddle. Suddenly she felt a horrible stinging sensation in her tail and knew she had been hit there. Unable to use it anymore, she tried to swim with her weak forepaws, like her old Smilodon friend, Story, had once taught her to do. While rather awkward, it worked. She could see some of the others floundering nearby. The question was, what to do now?

Cyrrus jumped awake at Quickstride's shout. She leapt to her feet, dodging arrows as she went.

Cyrrus looked down at her friends, splashing in the river. She turned to Kaz on her back. "We have to help them! Here, lets try to pull them onto our raft!" She pulled Lian and C'xoila out of the cold water. Then she grasped Peacegiver's hand, and screamed. Looking back, Cyrrus saw an arrow imbedded in her thigh. "Guys, hang on to the raft! We're gonna paddle out of here!"

Every saurian made use of their tails for paddles. All humans used their hands. Quickstride, Peacegiver, and Tamith clung to the raft for their lives.

"We've got to get out of here!" Cyrrus cried out.

Alkazra was on her feet as well. "What do we do?" She asked.

Cyrrus grabbed her hand and pulled the skybax rider onto her back. She gestured to the Anthroceratops to follow her. "Hang on!"

The struthie clambered onto the other raft. Quickstride had Tamith on her back and C'xoila had Lian. Peacegiver was already jumping to shore.

Cyrrus followed his example. "Lets go! The jungle will provide cover! Move!"

Once on dry land, on the other side of a river the Semiallos couldn't cross, C'xoila rummaged in his pack. He was unharmed, if a bit waterlogged, and was looking for something to help. His hand wrapped around a small object, the same size and shape as a marble. The blue healing sunstone.

Walking over, he was about to tell the others, when he tripped. C'xoila fell to the ground and yelled. The stone flew into the air, and landed, IN C'XOILA'S MOUTH!

Gulp. He felt it dissolve in his throat. Strange, a stone just shouldn't do that. Ah! It tasted awful, and worse, the healing stone was gone. Everyone had seen it too.

"Spit it out!" said Alkazra.

Everyone was very distraught. What could have healed Cyrrus and Quickstride, C'xoila accidentally swallowed.

"Oh," he said, "Me feel strange." Actually, C'xoila had never felt so healthy. The Blue stone must be working. "AHHHHHHH! ME EAT ROCK!"

C'xoila's siblings looked over Kara's shoulders. Sashaa the oldest among them, asked, "Will he be all right? We found him lying on the ground, and we wanted to know how he is."

Atero smiled weakly at this. "I'm all right. Don't worry about me," he said, his voice barely audible.

Kara said, "I think you three need some food."

After saying their good-bye-for-nows, they left to get some fish for dinner.

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