Reply To: The Land Before Time XX: Tale of a Spiketail
CHAPTER FOUR: ORNI
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In the years since the deaths of Spike’s parents, Orni had formed a group of various types of Egg Stealers. Normally, Egg Stealers, much like Sharpteeth and Flatteeth, didn’t associate with other types outside of their own particular kind. However, like Orni, the other members of her group were outcasts and misfits, the type that didn’t fit in with their herds.
Now, she and her group of Egg Stealers sat licking yoke off their hands. Some Flattooth parents had been distracted by the Earthshake and she and her group had helped themselves to their nests. They had left before they had come back. Orni did not want to be noticed. However, much to her annoyance, as they were heading away, Orni saw something that, if not dealt with, would likely hamper that.
Orni saw two of her group fighting over an egg.
“That’s my egg Otis!” shouted a female Struthiomimus.
“Is not Prisci! I grabbed it first!” shouted a male Ornithiomimus.
Orni came toward them, a tone of disgust in her voice and a look of disgust on her face. “Prisci! Otis! If you’d stop fooling around, then we can get out of here!” snapped Orni softly. They cowered under her rage. She wasn’t the leader for nothing after all. “If they come after us and we get any trouble for it, I’m feeding the both of you to Sharpteeth!” she grumbled softly at them. Otis handed the egg to Prisci, figuring that, though he wanted the egg and felt it rightfully was his, it wasn’t worth suffering Orni’s wrath over.
Orni was still hungry, for she liked her protein. She snuck up to a Fast Biter nest. She jumped left as the Sharptooth started to sniff. She found some rocks and threw them away from her. The curious Sharptooth mother went off after them. Orni smirked. She came back with the eggs to her group. “Dinner.” she said, as if this didn’t bother her one bit, which it in fact didn’t.
They were walking away, having eaten more eggs. Then they heard a snarl. The mother Sharptooth had come back, not finding anything but a rock in her search. Orni knew that she might find herself being a meal if she wasn’t careful. But Orni was very great at dealing with Sharpteeth. She had had to deal with one at a very young age.
Her own mother, unhinged by her mate’s betrayal, had, realizing that her daughter might slow her down when the Giganotosaurus had appeared, taken off to save her own skin and that of her nearer children rather than risk her own life to save Orni.
Orni had thought that she was going to die that day, but she had, by the greatest of luck, fallen into a crevice. The angry and hungry Sharptooth, seeing what he thought was an easy meal, had decided to go for her instead of her bad mother and her siblings. The Sharptooth had snapped and snapped at the entrance, getting closer and closer. She had been so terrified that she had wet herself.
She often recalled how her mother had said that she was slow and would never amount to anything in life. Orni believed that her mother had believed that she was responsible for her father leaving her. She knew that that was nuts. She had known that her father was cheating and had told on him.
Her mother and father had had a big fight, which came to clawings and blows at the end of it. At last, her father had left. Her siblings, devastated, had started to blame her for it, as she had told and they reminded her that if she had kept her mouth shut, that their father would still be with them.
Her mother hadn’t exactly gone and blamed her, but she was no longer kind to her and she knew that she too wanted someone to blame and had picked Orni for a scapegoat.
Orni had been in luck. The Sharptooth had reached rock that he couldn’t get through just a short distance from her. He tried to reach into the hole to get her, but she was just out of his reach. After a few hours, he finally left.
Orni had come out, very scared and white, and also parentless and without a family. It seemed that a part of her had died that day indeed. The Sharptooth may not have eaten her physically, but the old Orni, whatever seemed nice in her, had gone away. Orni had decided to first get revenge on the Sharptooth.
She happened to find him and went to his nest. She waited till he and his mate were asleep and took his eggs. She now had to make it on her own. It seemed only fair to her.
Orni’s thoughts returned to the present. Otis slipped. Claudius, another Egg Stealer, a Struthiomimus, said to her “Shouldn’t we go and get him. He’s part of our group?”
“No. It’s everyone for themselves. That’s how my mother left me.” stated Orni without feeling. Claudius shook his head at the Ornithiomimus.
They left Otis behind. The others wondered if he had died, but Orni just kept urging them on. They were relieved to see Otis come a few minutes later. He was dripping sweat and very frightened, but still alive. “Ah, glad you’ve joined us again.” said Orni, not mentioning one bit any relief that he was still alive. The group continued on.
They came near the Great Valley. Orni had heard the stories of this place. Big walls and a united group of Flatteeth. Still, this place would serve them well if they could get into there and get to eggs undetected. It would be much easier than in the Mysterious Beyond, provided that they didn’t get caught.
She knew that the inhabitants primarily feared Sharpteeth. A Sharptooth, which would go after grownups, would attract attention to itself sooner or later. An Egg Stealer, which only went for eggs, could easily slip in unnoticed.
“We camp here for the night.” she ordered her group in a stern and commanding voice. Nobody dared argue with her. She was hoping for an opportunity to get eggs from the Great Valley.
