by C S » Sun May 15, 2011 12:54 am
"Aw...damn it" Aircrest thought just as he landed on a branch, his amber eyes spotting a large, jagged crevasse just a few yards ahead. One side of the gap was higher than the other, possibly due to an Earthquake in the past. The boulders were probably broken off from higher land from the event also. Thick vines grew over the edges and trailed down the rock walls, descending into the dark chasm. Not even the closest branches and the strongest jump the raptor could muster could've gotten him to the other side. Aircrest began to contemplate possible ways to cross the abyss. "Maybe I can head along it...it might get smaller as I go-" He thought, when the low, savage snarls reached his ears. Instinctively, he hunkered down and took refuge among the leaves. "Coward" He criticized himself. His train of thought was broken when two forms burst out from the undergrowth on the other side, two raptors. One had a dark red hide and the other had dull brown and white scales. Both had deep, bleeding slashes and bite wounds. They were just about exhausted when they came to the crevasse and their red gazes went blank at once when they saw the drop. They dropped to the ground, side by side to share their fate with mutual hopelessness. The green and black raptor could only stare as he saw other raptors emerge from the brush, malicious intent etched on their faces and glinted in their eyes. Their bodies were lean, slender, beyond anything he had seen from an ordinary raptor...and they all had a set of quills on their heads. "The others the elder was talking about...?" He wondered, but dismissed the thought. The rusty red elder would have found his colleagues by now if they were so near his home...so why did these creatures have quills?
They circled the two raptors, the wounded duo clasping their eyes shut as the four quilled dromeosaurs made their way around them. Their lips were parted into twisted grins, blood stained teeth and gums on full display. Aircrest's body was stiff as he watched the scene play out. The low grunts, hisses and growls the the quilled ones made as they scrutinizedd the fallen reached his ears and filled him with dread. Split seconds later, they were upon their victims, completely silent as they attacked. The only noises were the tearing of flesh and the cries of agony from the two raptors. Aircrest stared wide eyed as from out of the mound of raptors came crimson pools. The cries had stopped as quickly as they began, but the squelching remained as the quilled ones clawed at the bodies. The green and black raptor began to quiver as he watched the four creatures rise up from their mutilated victims with red claws,the flesh of the two raptors torn and shredded to the bone. Blood slowly poured out from punctured veins. As two raptors started to head back into the vegetation, the other two took the liberty of dragging the raptors to the edge of the chasm and then flinging their bloodied forms down into it. Aircrest managed to hear the faint sound of snapping vines as they fell into oblivion. Those two raptors then followed the others, grunting and hooting amongst themselves.
The green raptor remained on the branch, silent except for the shaky breaths that he took.
