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Part VII: Regrouping

All the dinosaurs looked at the final fading scene, many touched, some with tears in their eyes. Bron was watching with attention for the image of the horned sharptooth, now disappearing, along with Chomper. In the moment they heard her voice, they felt it strangely familiar, but they couldn't point out why.

They thoughts were interrupted by Balcan's voice "Nila, besides being one of the best healers of the order, was one of the most gentle and kind dinosaurs from the order."

"One of them?" said Minaple "She was the most, right Minnie?" Miname then answered "Yeah, she sure was Minnie." they both had a note of sadness in their voice. Chomper noticed it, so it wasn't hard to him to figure out what happened. Balcan continued "She was really very kind, she doesn't cared to suffer if it was for the good of others. And she was always willing to help anyone who needed, even if this dinosaur was cruel to her."

"Even that Sauron?" asked Blueye Miname snorted "I lost count of how many time she saved his miserable life." she said angered, and then Minaple said "And after all of this he never once ever cared being nice to her or even saying thank you. No, he was always a despising dinosaur."

Many couldn't help but share the anger of them. One dinosaur that was still having bad opinion about all sharpteeth, even owning his life to one, and even hurting this same dinosaur. Not even Threehorn was that prejudiced.

"He is still live in your Valley?" asked Lily, it was Balcan who answered "He died years ago. He got sick and Nila was not there to cure him, and no one else was close enough to help him. He made everyone go away of him with his ways, so no one was close to help him when he needed."

"He got what he deserved, in my opinion." said Minaple "Agreed." said Miname. Even Lily, being normally kind with others suffering, had to admit that it was a fate well-fitting for someone like this Sauron.

"But." said Balcan "Or story has not finished yet. Matter of fact, it is only in the beginning." That was when Yu talked "Excuse me. Who does this sharptooth has to do with the war or the things that happened in Fortress Valley?"

"Just be patient and pay attention." answered Balcan calmly "I'll answer everything in the right time." And so he turned back to the fog over the stone, that was spiraling as to create another images "Of course, as member of the order, Nila had to do works for us. Work that, until little time ago, consisted in basically searching and finding stones of could fire."

This called some dinos attention, between them Pterano, who said surprised "Stones of cold fire!?" Balcan turned to him calmly and said "Yes my friend, stones of cold fire."

"Oh, please!" said Threehorn in an annoyed tone "Not again with the talk about those damned stones. They do not exist!"

"I have to disagree." said Zeiran "I bet you would say the same thing about my species by yesterday, wouldn't you?" Threehorn remained silence and Zeiran continued "The stones of cold fire are real. They're the gift from the spirits to the world. Is from the material they're made, a manifestation of the spirits' power, that or amulets are fabricated. And one of your missions is to collect them when they come and have storage of the material for all the members of the order.

Some nodded at this. Littlefoot them asked "So, this Nila was sent to search for one of the stones?"Was Balcan who answered "Yes, in fact she was. It was a significant happening, not only because of the stone, but because of the thing that happened in this mission, and the events by it unfold." As he talked, the fog from the stone spiraled and produced light and colors, showing a scene from a distant past.

---

Nila was right in front of Zeiran with a serious expression. By her side was standing a crestless swimmer, one purple with green eyes, and black purple running down his back and his limbs, and a lighter shade of violet for his belly and chest, in his chest was glued a brooch with the symbol of the order, he couldn't be much older than a teen, it was Collin, a recent joined member of the order. Along with them was a light-brown sharptooth with a ring in his hand with the same symbol, and a blue spiketail with the same ring in one of his spikes of his tail.

Zeiran looked at them seriously one last time and spoke "I think its not needed to remember you of how much is important to retrieve this stone. And remember, be discrete and careful. We never were found out about by other dinos and it will not change today." the past part was a little sound of warning. But if the dinos noticed they hide it very well, as they simple bowed. They then put themselves together, and Collin closed his eyes and soon they all vanished in a puff of smoke.

---

The other looked back at Zeiran as the images faded, Shorty even said "Man, you're a nervous one, aren't you?"

Zeiran looked back at him and said "Well, in that time keeping secret about us was the most priority." he seemed a little kind of ashamed for admitting it, due to the recent events. "But, I guess that its past now."

"He is right." said Balcan "But, its in other past we are focusing right now. Now, if we must keep concentration..." he said, turning back to the fog, which again was spiraling, producing other images.

---

The images now showed the group walking in a distant wasteland. They all seemed to be searching, but at the same time having attention for their amulets. Collin was obviously anxious for this being his first real mission. The other two, being older, seemed more serious about all of this, due to being older and having more experience in this kind of mission. Nila was nervous, due to being this the first time she was in a mission like this, but by her countenance, some could say that she actually looked distracted thinking of something, something that was not exactly pleasurable.

Collin seemed to notice this, and turned to face her "Nila, is something wrong?" he asked in his young masculine voice. She was a little startled, but calmed down and looked to the ground "No, its nothing. I'm just thinking."

"About what?" asked Collin. Nila sighed, and said "My life has changed a lot since I was a hatchling Collin. I grew up, joined the order, turned into a healer..."

Collin stared at her "But, this is good, right?" he asked unsure. Nila was able to give a weak smile to him "Of course it was! I didn't wish my life to be in any other way." but her smile died down "But, is still there is a lot that seemed to not happen yet."

Collin stared confused at her, and she said "The world is still having misunderstanding between sharpteeth and leaf-eaters, there is still fight and prejudice, and there are still deaths." She seemed really sad about this as she talked "And the worse part is that this all could be stopped if we simply stopped hiding and did something about it. But we keep there doing nothing!" she seemed really sad talking about all of this "This just feels so wrong..."

Collin looked at her with sincere compassion. Yes, he shared of this feeling, and by what he got from other members of the order, they did it too. He placed a hand in her leg to reassure her, and then spoke "C'mon, don't let this bring you down. Things are going to get better. We can't keep in secret forever." He smiled at her "We will reveal ourselves to the world, and when we do, we will change it for the better. You will see."

Nila was able to give back a weak smile to him, but she said "Thanks, but, is not only that..." Collin looked at her "What it is so?" Nila sighed, and said "I'm not sure. It's just... This feeling."

"Feeling?" asked Collin, Nila then said "Yes. I keep having this feeling from sometime now. Its like... Its like there is something missing in my life. Like is something that I still do not have, something that I miss without having know what it is. Something to make my life complete. Do you understand?"

Collin nodded and looked at her, and said "No."

Nila was able to chuckle from him. She would have tried to explain it better, if their attention have not been called by one strong male voice saying "We found it!"

They both turned to the source of the voice, that was the light-brown bonecrusher sharptooth, David. He was holding his amulet with his hand; it was vibrating and emitting a low buzz and a faintly blue glow. The amulets had also this searching characteristic so they could react this way when near a lost stone of could fire.

Everybody understood it, and went after him. He was in the entrance of a cave, and as the others approached, their amulets were still manifesting the same traits. Collin looked inside "This is in there?", he asked, and David answered "Yes, I'm sure."

"So, what are we waiting for?" asked the female spiketail, Gabrielle, as she stepped forward in the cave, the others shared a look and followed her.

The inside of the cave was big, it was a faintly light that allowed Gabby and Collin limited sight, but David and Nila had no problem navigating, and also to guide them in this ambient.

They walked for a few minutes, and as they did, their amulets grew in the buzzing and the glow. They were coming closer.

They finally found it. It seemed made out of the same silvery material from their amulets. It had a faintly glow around it like blue fire, but it actually had not heat at all. They could safely approach and even touch the stone.

Their amulets stopped pulsating, and Nila held her and concentrated, it emitted another faintly glow as she thought Zeiran, we found it. Soon she received an answer as a voice in the back of her head saying Good, now bring it back.

She let go of her amulet, which stopped glowing, and turned to the others and nodded. David then said "Okay, everybody, I think this mission went really well. We got the stone and no one noticed us. Now lets get back with the stone to the valley and consider this case closed."

All the others nodded, they started to get together with the stone, getting ready to return to Valley of Leaf and Claw. But it was when Nila heard a voice, a weak and hurt voice saying "H-help."

She turned to the direction from where she thought she had heard the voice, it was no one in sight. But then she heard it again, and this time she was sure "P-please... Somebody... Help me"

Nila turned to the source of the voice, in the other end of the cave "Where are you?" she asked. The others looked at her, and Danny asked "Nila?" And then she heard it again "I-I'm here. P-please, help me. I'm gonna die."

Nila now was becoming worried, the others looked at her, and Collin asked "Nila, what is wrong?"

"There is someone hurt in here." she said "He is dying." was all she said before walking to the direction the voice came, ignoring the surprised looks in the others' faces.

"Nila, wait!" said Gabrielle, but Nila ignored her and kept walking, Collin went after her, and Gabrielle and David shared a look, before David rolling his eyes and too went after them, Gabrielle shoot the stone of cold fire one last look before following them while thinking Zeiran will not be happy for this.

Nila followed through the cave, with her friends hot in her hells, she finally get in another opening in the other end. She arrived in what seemed a clearing hidden in the other side of the cave. There were soft grass growing in the ground, with trees full of treestars in the branches. And the place was feed by water coming from a respectable sized waterfall that formed a lake of clean and crystalline water.

The others arrived right after her, Collin whistled at the sight of the hidden small paradise in that place. Gabrielle approached and talked to her white sharptooth friend. "Nila, what are we doing here?"

Nila looked to the sides and said "I... I don't know exactly." David raised an eyebrow to her, and she continued "I just thought I heard-" she suddenly trailed her sentence as she gasped and her eyes widened. The others followed her look and saw what she saw: in the shore of the lake, was a dinosaur, a brown longneck. He seemed heavily wounded as many cuts were all over his body, some with darkened and with greenish coloration around them, indicating that maybe was an infection, and the longneck had lost a lot of blood, judging by the amount of dried blood in his body and the pale color his brown body had.

"What the..." said David with widen eyes.

"By the spirits!" exclaimed a horrified Gabrielle.

"I'm gonna go sick." said Collin clutching his stomach and covering his mouth. He had weak stomach for things like that, what was the reason why he was left out of heavy training at least for now. He had went sick every time he saw a corpse, and yet in that conditions.

Suddenly, the body twitched and groaned weakly, startling them. It turned its head to them "T-there is someone in there?" it asked with a weak and pained voice "P-please, h-help m-me."

They stared at him for a few moments, Nila was the first to move, she went to him saying "I'll help-" but suddenly she felt someone grabbing her tail and an urgent whisper behind her "No, you don't!"

Nila turned around to see that was David holding her tail, she gave him a confused look "David, what are you doing?" she asked "Let me go, he needs help."

The others too were looking at him, David them let go of the tail and looked her straight in the eyes and whispered "Nila, we were send here to find the stone!" His tone seemed urgent "Find the stone and went back to our valley! Not be seen! Not call attention! Not be discovered!"

Nila looked over to the longneck, groaning in pain as he tried to move, and then back at David "But, David." she said desperate "He is going to die if we leave him!"

"And if you heal him he will discover about us!"

"He could come to live in our valley!" Nila defended "We could take him with us and-" David interrupted "This is not how it works Nila, and you know this!"

Nila then adopted a ferocious look, very rare to see in her face "David." he tone was a hint of threat "This longneck needs me and I'm not going to simply walk away and let him die, and you should know this. I really expected you to be better than this."

Collin and Gabrielle shared a look and David even retreated one step. He looked at Nila surprised. She took one deep breath and spoke more controlled "David, I know you don't think this way. I want to help this longneck, and you know that when is to help someone, no one can make me change my mind or stop me."

He gave her an evaluating look, he was very admired at her, and also, he actually shared her feelings, and would probably do the same thing in her place. He sighed and then spoke more softly "If Zeiran asks for you, we will have to tell the truth, and you know that as member of the council he will not exactly approve this."

Nila nodded "I can deal with him later."

He smiled at her, and turned to the other two and said "Okay, she made her mind. You two are witnesses that I tried. Let's go to the stone and carry that back to our valley." And with this he started walking away back to the cave, the other two shared a look.

"Oh, Zeiran will not be happy for this." was all Gabrielle said before walking after David, Collin gave Nila one final look and said "I'll be back later to see if everything is okay." And so he too went after the other two, leaving Nila alone.

Nila turned away and ran to the longneck. She came closer and knelt near him and brushed his cheek with her hand to reassure him. Truth to be told, the wounds seemed worse from close.

The longneck moved a little as he felt a small hand touch his body, wincing and groaning from the pain of his wounds. Nila assured him "Sshh. It's okay, I'm here to help you, don't be afraid, don't move, it's okay."

He moved his head to her, only then Nila noticed that his eyes were closed, and that were coming blood of them. His eyes had been catch and now he was most likely blinded. "P-please, help me."

"Shh. I will, relax and don't worry." She assured him once more, and decided to finally ease his pain. She placed her hands in one of the wounds, making the longneck flinch, and focused to make the wounds heal. But to her surprise, the wounds didn't closed as she touched them. She looked strange at that cut, and put her two hands at the wound, and focused more.

She then felt a strange feeling being coming of those wounds, a feeling that made her feel bad and inspired fear in her. She gasped as she removed her hands from the wound and stumbled back a little. The wound was smoking some kind of black fog. "W-w-what? What is h-happening?" asked the wounded longneck as if he noticed nothing of strange in his wounds.

Nila's eyes widened as she gasped at the fog Oh no. She thought Please, not this.

"A-are you still there?" asked the logneck, his voice sounded afraid now. Nila quickly crawled back to him and put her hand in his face to assure "It's okay." she faked her voice the best she could "Is only that... Your wounds are a little worse than I thought."

She looked back at the wounds that now had stopped letting out fog, and she asked tha longneck "What happened to you?"

The longneck expression became heavy and he spoke with a hint of anger "S-s-s-sharpteeth!" Nila looked at him as he spoke "T-they attacked m-me when I was alone. T-t-there must have be-een six or seven of them... They s-surrounded me, and some jumped in my b-back... They had waited... Until I was alone... The cowards... I... I still see that red glowing eyes"

Nila had a serious look in her face, and the longneck spoke again "They attacked me bad, even when I couldn't fight anymore... It was not for food... They wanted to see me bleed... I was able to escape by diving in a near river... The current carried me and-" he winced in pain again, Nila assured him again "Sshhh. It's okay. You're safe now. Ssshhh"

The longneck relaxed over her gently voice. Her sincerity making him feel better, but yet, he was still in pain and afraid "P-please..." He asked her "Don't leave me."

Nila looked sympathetically at the longneck. "I may have to leave you soon now and then." she said with sadness, but quickly added "But I'll come back. I'll be taking care of you and your wounds until you're better."

The longneck relaxed and laid his head in her lap, she gently brushed his head like he was her hatchling "My name is Nila." She said "And don't worry, because I'll not give up on you..." She trailed, as she noticed that she did not knew the longneck's name. The longneck seemed to perceive exactly this.

"Bron..." He said tiredly at her "My name is Bron."