Stoni's Journey Ch.2

[Stoni and her siblings remain safely in the nest with their parents. Phoenix defied pack law and killed Rogue, the alpha male. He is in exile and must fend for himself.] Chapter 2 Nightfall Stoni and her siblings had been thriving for a week now. Each had grown since birth, but were still very small: they were all about four feet long. In the months to come, Stoni's skin would harden, and would be covered in spikes and studs from her shoulders down to the tip of her tail. But for now, she and her siblings were completely dependent on their parents for protection. Stoni was completely mobile, and regularly walked the perimeter of the circular nest. While her parents continued to bring food to the nest, Stoni often scuttled a few feet from the nest to eat leaves of her choice. Already Stoni was showing signs of independence, something she would need to practice for when the time came to go off on her own. Night began to fall on the Cretaceous landscape. A full moon shined in the night sky, and silver light peeked through the treetops. Curled up next to Pontuk and Kadia, Stoni drifted off to sleep, comforted by her mother and father, whose sleeping bodies created a sort of fortress around her. *Snap.* The sound of a twig breaking alerted Stoni's parents. The Edmontonia family had been sleeping for two hours, and now each member was wide awake. Pontuk, Kadia, and Stoni huddled low to the ground, and their parents shuffled closely together around them, shoulder spikes facing outward at the ready. A few minutes passed, and the family had just begun to relax when, suddenly, a slim figure leapt over the back of Stoni's father and into the middle of the circle. Moonlight reflected off the cruel, golden eyes of a Troodon, whose agility had enabled it to scale the wall formed by the spiky bodies of Stoni's parents. As her parents struggled to fend off the Troodon without stepping on their offspring, Stoni felt a searing pain in her right front leg. The Troodon had apparently picked her to be his meal, and had latched his claws onto her front leg in an effort to pull her from the nest. Stoni could barely make out the sinister shape of her attacker in the night, but the dim moonlight did not seem to impede the nocturnal hunter's coordinated attack. Just as the Troodon was about to lunge for Stoni's neck, the predator was barreled aside. With a protective head-butt, Pontuk had knocked the Troodon off his feet and away from Stoni with surprising force, considering he was only half the carnivore's size. Recovering, the Troodon leapt at Pontuk, claws and teeth ready to tear him to shreds, when suddenly the huge tail of Pontuk's father smashed into him mid-leap and flung him down an embankment. The Edmontonia charged down after the carnivore. Ever agile, the Troodon steadied itself and leapt on Stoni's father's back as he lurched to a halt. The Troodon tried to dig in his claws, but could not find a chink in the dense armor. The male Edmontonia flipped onto his back, half-crushing, half-spearing the Troodon, then stood up, shaking off the broken body. Turning, he trudged back up the hill to his nest. The family reassembled, and Stoni's mother licked Stoni's deep leg wound. Not only the skin had been broken, but also the bone, and Stoni's leg was badly twisted. Whether or not her leg healed correctly could mean life or death for Stoni. While she and her siblings drifted back to sleep, her parents kept silent vigil over the nest. _____________ That night marked Phoenix's seventh night in exile. He had already lost a lot of weight, and his ribs were showing under his thinning red feathers. His week-old wound showed out among his feathers; Regina's claw had left a deep gash that ran from Phoenix's shoulder blade down the length of his flank. It served as a painful reminder of his heinous crime, and worst of all, his exile. Hunting in a pack had always been an exciting and rewarding experience for Phoenix. Under the leadership of Rogue and Regina, the pack had always applied their vast mental capacity and physical agility towards a common goal: bringing down the kill. Everyone participated, and everyone was fed. He now regretted taking pack-life for granted. Despite his arsenal of weaponry and his acute mind, prey was hard to come by alone, especially in foreign territory. Stalking through the night, Phoenix was nearly overcome by hunger. He would soon be too weak to hunt at all, and if this happened, he was doomed. Suddenly, he caught a faint smell of rotting meat on the night breeze. Phoenix followed the scent through the moonlit forest until he came to the foot of a steep embankment. He could detect the scent of a family of herbivores somewhere at the top of the hill, but in his physical state, Phoenix dared not risk his life for a meal. Instead, he followed the smell of rotting meat around the hill's base until he came upon the body of a Troodon. The unfortunate animal had obviously picked a bad fight, and its skull and limbs were battered and bloody. Some other scavenger had eaten half of the body and left, and now Phoenix bent down to finish off the rest. When he had eaten the Troodon remains, Phoenix turned and and set back off into the forest. Would he be forced to scavenge for the rest of his life? _______________ Hope you guys enjoyed. Be on the lookout for "Chapter 3: Companions,"coming next week!