A Look in The Water

Story by AnthroLover on SoFurry

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#49 of Out of the Shadows: AnthroLover's Version


"A...stoneglare..?" Littlefoot inquired, his voice trailing off. "How...how could we possibly give birth to a...stoneglare?" He then thought for a second. "Hey what's a stoneglare?" He felt kind of silly asking this, but what could hurt asking a question. Ali whirls her head around to face Littlefoot, her blue eyes narrowed. Littlefoot couldn't tell if it was anger or sadness that was lurking inside Ali's eyes.

"A stoneglare is a monster who kills with its stare. Don't look into its eyes. That's all you need to know." Ali said sternly before looking away. She quickly closed her eyes to protect herself from the stoneglare which had just taken Spike's life. Ducky had felt her away towards her brother, and when she touched his skin, once soft and warm, now hard and cold, she broke out into a sob. Ali tried to hold back tears of her own.

Littlefoot narrowed his eyes, never even daring to look towards the ground. "There must be something we can do..." His eyes tightened as far as they could do. "There's just got to be something! Anything!" He turned to look down at Shuva and Spellbound. "I-Isn't there anything that could stop it?"

They weren't paying attention, but the cockatrice was still looking around. It looked almost confused when the others weren't looking at it. It screeched loudly again, but the others weren't buying it this time. Frustrated, the cockatrice spread its wings and tried to fly, but it was too young, and it fell straight to the floor. Screeching, it scrambled to its feet, and cawed furiously.

Shuva looked downcasted. "S-Sorry kid...but no one's ever succeeded in killing a stoneglare before."

Her cousin looked just as upset. "No one could ever get close enough to attack it without it looking their way and killing them." He kept his eyes closed. "No one knows how to kill it. No one..."

Shuva nodded, eyes remaining closed. "Its glare will kill anything that looks at it." Her body started to tremble. "Even the insects must flee. There's no way to kill this thing. We can only hope we can trap it inside the cave and it starves to death."

Littlefoot listened, and looked shocked. There was absolutely no way to kill the cockatrice? There was no way to keep this monster from killing anyone unless they tried the risky attempt to trap it inside a cave? No way! Littlefoot wasn't buying it. The longneck felt there still had to be another way to kill it. There just had to be! The apatosaurus closed his mind and drifted into deep thought. Ignoring the hideous cawing and pecking of the cockatrice at his feet, he began to think about what Shuva had just told him about a cockatrice. He knew that they could fly later on in life. He knew that they had a horrendous odor linging to them. He knew that you couldn't approach them without your eyes being closed. He knew that one should not look in their eyes or they will kill.

Then Littlefoot's eyes widened. As he recalled what Shuva said about the stoneglare's stare of death, he also recalled how she said it will kill anything. "Wait a minute..." His voice sounded hopeful. "I-I just thought of something..."

Ali turned her head towards her mate. She walked closer and looked into Littlefoot's eyes. "Oh? What is it?" She sounded hopeful too, but she was trying not to get her hopes up too high. She hated to be disappointed in the end.

"Just think about it. Shuva, didn't you say a stoneglare's glare kills anything?" He said, stressing on the word anything. Shuva nodded, but before she could get a word in edge-wise, Littlefoot interrupted. "So wouldn't it be safe to assume that this creature can't survive its own stare?" He said, still sounding hopeful. "What if we tricked it into seeing its own stare?"

Spellbound sounded a little skeptical. "It's never been done before, Littlefoot." The male alimon brushed the feathers on his neck with a paw. "We don't even know if it'll work."

"And on top of it," Ali said, "How are we going to manage it looking at its own stare? Isn't that kind of impossible?"

Shuva thought about this. "Not quite.." Littlefoot, Ali, and Spellbound looked at the green alimon, who was scratching her chin thoughtfully. "The water reflects everything that's in its path. It shows our own image. If we could get the stoneglare to look into the water and it sees its reflection, maybe the stare from the water would be enough to take its life away."

Spellbound shook his head. "It's too risky. And like I said, we don't know if it'll work. Why should we risk our necks trying to get that monster to look into the water when we don't even know if it'll kil it or not?"

"And why should we risk our necks getting it inside a cave and cause a rockslide and trapping it inside without one of us getting trapped in along with it?" Shuva said, glaring at her relative. "I'm all for the longneck's idea. It's never been tried, I give it that. But it sounds like it could work!"

"All right then..." Ali said softly, still looking at Littlefoot. "How do we do that?"

"Well..." Littlefoot said before Petrie cut him off.

"This include me bait again?" Littlefoot couldn't help but chuckle.

"Well we DO need someone to make it look into the water. The only way to do that is to have it chase someone. Since you are the smallest and fastest of us, Petrie, you have to do it." Littlefoot smiled, though his eyes still held seriousness in them. He wasn't joking around with this. And Petrie knew that, no matter how much he begged, he'd still be forced to go through with it.

"Oh..okay..." The flyer said reluctantly. "What me need to do?"

Littlefoot looked at where the river was that was nearby. "All you have to do is get its attention, without looking at it straight in the face." He said in a commanding voice. "Then fly over to the water, and hover over it. When the stoneglare comes for you, dive into the water at the last second, and force it to look into the water. And it should be over." Petrie looked nervous. "I will signal to you when you can come up." Petrie gulped, and flew over to the cockatrice, keeping his gaze way from direct contact with the pupils of the beast.

"Hey you! Stupid stoneglare!" The stoneglare looked up at the annoying flyer. It hissed. "Can't catch me! Can't catch me!" Petrie darted every which way, sometimes at close range, frustrating the stoneglare. The beast screeched in anger, and snapped at Petrie. The plant-eater dodged just in time. "Haha! You miss!"

Petrie started to fly closer to the river. The stoneglare followed, just as they all hoped it would. Ducky watched, glaring, hoping the monster would meet his doom after what he did to her brother. As Petrie neared the water, he gave a careful sideways glance to make sure the cockatrice was still following him. When he was sure, he stopped right above the water. He waited for the cockatrice to get closer. When the cockatrice arrived at the water's edge, it started to look nervous, as though it sensed something was wrong.

Littlefoot's eyes furrowed with worry. "Oh no..I think it knows..."

Ali shushed him. "Shh! Let's see what happens!"

From the treetops, Gorjak watched as Petrie was attempting to get the stoneglare to see its own reflection. The dark flyer thought about this. It seemed logical enough. Gorjak hoped for them that it was indeed true. If this failed, well, he didn't know what to do. He would have tried to help, but after the scrap he had been in with Petrie before, he didn't feel the little guy was ready for his return now, especially in this situation.

Petrie waited for the stoneglare to get a little closer. When he felt it was time, feeling its cold stare on his body, he quickly dived down, and hid under the water, close to the surface. If the stoneglare looked down, it would see its own reflection and hopefully perish. If not, then it's back to square one. Petrie hoped it was the first.

The cockatrice looked into the water, but nothing happened. Shuva took a closer look, avoiding the possible glare. Then horror registered in her mind. "It closed its eyes! The stoneglare actually closed its eyes!"

"Then it's true..." Spellbound said, amazed. "If the stoneglare won't open its eyes, then it must be afraid of turning into stone by its own stare. It must be true!"

Petrie stayed under the water, and was confused as to why Littlefoot wasn't coming for him. Feeling confused, the flyer emerged from the water. "Littlefoot? What's taking so long?"

Littlefoot's eyes widened with sheer horror. "PETRIE! NO! GET BACK DOWN!"

Ducky shouted, "PETRIE! BACK IN THE WATER! NOW!"

Shuva screamed, "GET IN THE WATER!"

Spellbound screeched, "YOU HEARD THEM!"

Petrie was rather confused by the dinosaurs' shoutings. If the stoneglare had looked down, wouldn't it be dead already? What was there to hide from? Curious, the flyer looked at shore. He was careful not to look straight up, in case he was wrong. And he was. He could see that the bird monster's foot was still flesh and blood, and it was still very much alive. Petrie gulped, and looked up and gasped. The cockatrice's eyes were squeezed shut, but its face was pointed in Petrie's direction.

Petrie trembled, unable to move. He waited for the beast to open its eyes and take his life away. But as he waited, nothing happened. Petrie started to climb out of the water, feeling confused as to why the stoneglare hadn't laid a claw on him yet. "Guys! What happen? Why it no attack?"