Treading down a Dangeruous Path
#41 of Out of the Shadows: AnthroLover's Version
A few hours later, almost everyone in the cave was sleeping. They all felt very tired, especially Ali. After delivering an egg, she was all worn out, and she lay down, slightly curled, beside the nest that held her precious egg. The spotted shell was leaning to one side, and the spots had a slight glow to them. The only one who remained awake was Sandstorm. The old raptor cautiously approached the egg, and lowered his snout. He pressed his nose against it, feeling the cool shell against his sensitive skin. It was smooth, not bumpy, but when he nuzzled the spotted side, it appears that the spots were raised.
He lifted up his head, his light red eyes narrowed with concern and worry. This wasn't any ordinary longneck egg, that was for sure. When he was young, he stole many longneck eggs, and none of them felt or looked quite like this. He sniffed a few times. It even smelled different. The smell of a longneck egg should be a little sweet with a tinge of earthy scent, but this...this smelled more like a recently made kill. Ali would not have noticed this. Longnecks don't have good sense of smell, and neither did duckbills. He frowned. What was he going to do? He couldn't just tell Ali that she should get rid of her first egg, but if he didn't, whatever was hiding in the egg...it could be a threat to them all.
He lowered his head down again, and ran his long curved claws against the egg's shell. It was tough, but if he applied enough pressure he could crack it. He decided not to. What would the others think if they woke up and discover the egg is cracked? With his hands scented with the egg's yolk, no doubt Yu would notice it was him who did it. Reluctantly, he moved away from the egg. He closed his eyes, deep in thought. He kept thinking of one reason why the egg was probably spotted. But he wasn't sure if that could be possible. The creature was mythical! Then again, so were the flame-breaths, and yet he somehow felt the heat of dragon fire, even from far away. So if the dragon existed, so could this creature.
Sandstorm thought about it. This could be the work of Chomper. He could've done something to Ali to impregnant her with a monster. He stared long and hard at the spotted egg, getting more and more tense, and wanting more and more to smash it. Then he thought he saw the egg move. Startled he backed away, only to bump into someone. Whirling around, he faced the person he backed up into.
"Yu!" Sandstorm cried, surprised. He lifted his tail high. "What are you doing up?"
Yu climbed to his feet and wiped off the dust off his sides. "Funny, I could ask you the same thing, Officer..." He spat, voice tinged with anger. "Just what were you thinking of doing with Ali's egg?"
Sandstorm shook his head. "Nothing. I was just thinking..."
"...have how to eat it?" Yu finished for him, a dark smirk on his face.
Sandstorm growled. "Of course not! It's just that..." His voice faded away, and he closed his eyes.
Yu rolled his eyes. "Just that what, huh?" He crossed his arms, waiting for an explaination.
"I'm not sure why you would want to know, Yu." Sandstorm hissed angrily. "You are one of Chomper's top young soldiers. Why would you even think of showing your face here?" He advanced forward. "What is your plan, Yu? To decieve this young ones and attack while they are sleeping? Is that why you were awake just now! Were you going to attack them!" He said in an accusing voice, pointing a finger at the green velociraptor.
Yu's eyes widened, and his lips curled back in anger. "What the heck are you talking about, you stupid veteran!" He screeched, raising up his claws threateningly. "Didn't you know! I was a spy!" He advanced forward as well. "I broke into Chomper's ranks in order to gain his trust! I was getting information! Chomper found out I was a spy and went after me! I escaped! If I betrayed him, why in the world you think I would ever ever EVER consider attacking these dinosaurs!" He was so close now that Sandstorm could feel the younger raptor's breath against his face. "These leaf-eaters happen to be my friends!"
Sandstorm backed away in surprise. But Yu wasn't done just yet. The blue-striped sickleclaw grabbed the old veteran by his arm. "You were with Chomper a lot longer than I was, old one! You are among his most trusted sickleclaw pack! You were one of the most loyal of them all, and probably still are! You are the one who is a threat here, not me! I don't know why these guys are letting you stay!" He bared his teeth. "You would just kill us all when we slept! You were going to steal Ali's egg and smash it open! You were going to kill Spike if Ducky wasn't there!"
Sandstorm felt his heart beating faster as anger swept through his body. He grabbed the young raptor's arm and threw him hard into the ground. Yu looked up in surprise and fear as Sandstorm pinned him to the ground. "Don't ever say things like that unless you have evidence, stupid kid!" Now it was his turn to bare his own sharp teeth. "I admit I was part of the pack, but things changed! I knew where this war was going! I knew many innocent lives would've been lost if we didn't leave the war! I tried to convince the others, but Red convinced them that I was a traitor! They attacked me, nearly ripped me apart! They abandoned me, left me to die!" He narrowed his eyes. "If it weren't for these leaf-eaters spotting me and helping me out, I would have died! Do you really think I would turn against the ones who saved me!"
Yu opened his mouth to speak, but he quickly shut it. He was at a loss of words. A sense of guilt began building in his heart. The old raptor's expression softened quickly, and he got up off the younger raptor. He looked down at the young velociraptor as he struggled to his feet and regain his balance. Yu then managed to say, "I-I-I'm sorry. I didn't know..."
Now it was Sandstorm's turn to feel guilty. "And I'm sorry too. I didn't know you were a spy." He then offered a small grin. "Must've been fun, deceiving Chomper like that."
Yu managed a weak smile as he rubbed his sore arm. "Y-Yeah fun..." He turned his head towards the egg in the nest next to Ali. "So if you weren't going to eat it...why were you staring at it for so long? Does it have a strange smell or something."
Sandstorm nodded. "Yes, it does not smell like any egg I've ever encountered before."
Curious, Yu walked cautiously towards the egg, and pressed his nose against it. He breathed in deeply, and almost immediately, he coughed and packed away quickly. "Whoa! You're right! That smells like a kill, not a baby longneck's egg!" He rubbed his nose, trying to get rid of the scent. He then turned his head to face the old sickleclaw officer. "What do you think it is?"
"I don't know." He said solemnly. "But whatever it is, it can't be good." He stared at the egg, a frown returning to his face. "Whatever hatches out of that egg...may end up destroying us all!"
The two raptors turned their backs to the egg, unable to look at it anymore. They decided to walk to the other side of the cave and sleep there. As they left, Ali, still asleep, twitched her tail, and it gently hit the egg lightly. The egg rattled back and forth silently, and then it slowly stopped. It stood there for several minutes, and then, on its own, the egg shifted to one side, almost as if it was trying to look at its mother. Then, without warning, two circles of red light glowed near the top of the egg, and narrowed slightly, as if it were angry. And from within the egg, a low hissing sound, sounding like a cross between a rattle snake and a bird, came through...
In another part, Zera, the two crested swimmer opened her eyes in fear. She wasn't able to sleep and so decided to see how things were going. She was terrified as she spoke to herself. "No. Not this. Please not this."