Dam It

In Literature ・ By Cynderen

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The cold season had been harsh and freezing for all the creatures that inhabited the islands, much more than in previous years. Winter was slowly giving way to spring, with sunlight now present for longer hours and leaving the darkness of winter behind. Traces of the cold season could still be seen across the landscape, with the snow crystals from the morning still lingering, still covering the ground, trees, and bushes.

The Utahraptors emerged from one of the several burrows scattered throughout their territory, which they used on every occasion. The dinosaurs emerged, feeling the cold breeze and the warm sun upon them. Two females and a juvenile male stretched and shook out their feathers, still wearing a bit of their extra winter coat, and the youngster a bit of the down that would later be replaced by a layer of more fully formed feathers. The group looked toward the adult male who remained in the burrow; he had refused to come out just for another few hours of sleep.

Without further ado, the rest decided to go out to explore and patrol the new landscape brought by the change of season. Their territory hasn't changed much yet, but they can already see unruly grass beginning to grow on patches of ground and even emerging from where the snow still covers it, supporting themselves with the dry blades that were already there. Magallanes walks alongside Patagonia, followed by Craigleith as they make sure their territory is clear of any unwanted visitors. Craigleith goes ahead of them, following a flying insect; they allow him to do so as long as him stays within their line of sight until they reach a nearly dry streambed where the stream usually flows. Magallanes stops to drink some water, and Patagonia sniffs the nearby ferns for any traces of potential prey.

—“Don't you find it strange that there are fewer of it?”— Magallanes comments, seeing how the soil at the bottom of the almost nonexistent stream was translucent through the water. She snorts and follows the rest of the water source up the hill with her eyes.

—“No. I haven't noticed, honestly.”— She replies, leaving the ferns aside and briefly looking in the direction Magallanes is pointing, then looking for Craigleith.

—“Really? After all, you ran away during the coldest hours a while back…”— She sees how Patagonia only responds by shaking her head a little. —“Anyway.”— She sighs. —“Did you notice anything around you?”

They both turned their attention to little Craigleith when he made a sound as he found a tuft of stiff brown fur among some tree remains. They approached, curious to see him strolling around, holding the fur in his snout, and sniffed at it.

—“It's the same scent I smelled on the ferns. Let's go check it out.”— Patagonia nudges Craigleith with her snout to signal that they're moving, and he follows them closely.

The Utahraptors headed upstream, following the current and the meager trace of the stream; noticing with each step how the fallen and gnawed trees became more and more abundant, and that smell that seemed stinky to them, the typical smell of wet fur that mammals used to have. The smell became stronger and more present. They reached an area where there used to be many more trees, whose foliage formed a small forest where they sometimes spent the summer in the shade, and which was now reduced to just a few marked, gnawed, and fallen trunks. The source of the stream was blocked by a wooden structure created with the trees around the area.

—“I don’t like the way this looks… It’s a total disaster.”— Magallanes cautiously approached the wooden structure, Craigleith following confidently.

—“It’s worse than you think.”— Patagonia scaled the structure, leaping and grabbing onto it with her claws. —“It’s a mockery that they dared to do this. We’ll be a laughingstock if anyone else notices we allowed this.”— She looks down at her, indicating she should do the same.

—“Laughingstock…? Please, Patagonia, don’t tell me you care what others say, much less what comes from that Cryolophosaurus.”— She responds, somewhat offended and indignant, with a hint of mockery. She didn't like Patagonia showing her pride or selfishness, so she always tried to correct her in her own way. Magallanes waits for Craigleith to release the fur tuft before she grabs the little one in her jaws and then jumps up and climbs the beaver dam. —“It’s not like anyone else actively lives here besides us, other than that lone individual.”— She makes a low sound in her throat and sets Craigleith down on the logs beside them. She couldn’t deny that it was better built and much sturdier than the burrows Patagonia frequently dismantles.

Craigleith walks between their paws, scrutinizing and noticing the new texture of the stacked wood. He raises his head and looks curiously at the large mass of water that had accumulated behind the dam. Until now, he had never seen so much water, so much so that it seems like an enormous sea to his eyes.

The entire group walked over the wood, checking its firmness, scratching and removing the occasional branches, without success in dismantling it. They would undoubtedly have to return later to resolve this somehow. Furthermore, the entire time they were there, the place was completely silent except for the melody produced by the birds and the chorus of the wind in the leaves. Nor did they find the absence of the authors of said wooden structure strange; mammals normally flee in their presence, but never before had such a significant alteration been made to a part of their home. The dinosaurs weren't going to let this go, so once down below, with the small Utahraptor jumping and playing on their backs, they left this abnormality behind to go in search of support now that they had gathered information. They will later return with Ontario to begin a demonstration of the ferocity of their territoriality by dismantling the dam the beavers had dared to build until not a single branch remains standing.

Dam It

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In Literature ・ By Cynderen

1,016 Words

Originally written in another language, I was correcting as I pasted the paragraphs. Possibly the translator or I missed some grammatical errors.

Submitted By Cynderen for Dam It (Spring 2025)
Submitted: 2 weeks ago ・ Last Updated: 2 weeks ago