A Bone to Pick

Rime exhaled deeply, her breath billowing out from her nostrils in a glittering fog. The world outside of the facility had been almost overwhelmingly large, after spending her entire life in the increasingly cramped, cooped up confines of the laboratory rooms and halls. There were so many new sights, and sounds, and smells, and so much just...different. It was as though the entire world outside the facility was one sprawling, overgrown mass, like the greenhouses that the dacen had so jealously guarded. But it was frozen. As though the cold room had finally leaked out from its confines and poured out into this new world.

It almost...made her feel at home, in a way. She hoped that it would stay like this for a very long time. She was glad that Basalt had managed to convince her to traverse to the lands above. Once she had gotten that foolish sucho and his odd companion up to the first levels, she had left, travelling with Basalt for a time until they settled down in the land of fire and ash. It had not been much to her liking, so she had moved on, searching for something that suited her more.

And then it had snowed. Clouds gathering in the sky and blocking out the sun that she had just been getting to know (she didn’t like it, she’d decided, because it made her hide sting when she stood out in the light for too long). Frozen water had started drifting down from the sky. There were no slowly turning fans or frosted ventilation holes for the snow to fall from out here, just...clouds. The sight had made her stop in sheer and utter awe until the snow had stopped falling, and even then, it was miraculous. It had all but transformed the landscape, leaving a soft blanket of white over everything that it had settled over. It was beautiful.

But of course, all good things had to come to an end. As beautiful and serene as the world outside the facility was, as bountiful as the prey was, this “paradise” just couldn’t last forever.

There was trouble on the wind.

She had heard about it in passing. Disappearances of well-known and much-loved faces from across the island; vanished without a trace before they could bestow their “gifts” to the inhabitants of the islands. As peculiar as the custom was, their disappearance was clearly troubling. (How peculiar it was as well that the disappeared were apparently so well-known to so many dinosaurs, even across the islands. Such a large space, surely it wasn’t that unusual for someone to simply not turn up?)

But then, she’d heard something else. That they hadn’t simply disappeared, but had been stolen by a dacentrurus by the name of Krampus. The revelation had made her snarl and startle the cryos that she’d been walking by.

The name was unfortunately familiar to her. A monstrous, gnarled creature with an unnatural pattern of growth in his spines and a foul temper that matched his foul scent. Their paths had crossed before, several times, and she loathed him.

When she had come across his scent, she followed it. It wasn’t out of any love for the dinosaurs that had been stolen, nor for any want to help the inhabitants of the islands (after all, what did she owe them when they had ripped through her home and invaded sacred spaces without care or thought?). She simply had been given the chance to face off against Krampus, now that she was larger and stronger and they were on even grounds, and she was going to take it.

The scent had been easy to follow. He hadn’t bothered trying to hide his tracks, nor disguise his trail in the slightest. It was almost as though he wanted to be followed. It made the hunt all too easy. She couldn’t wait to finally be able to sink her teeth into his stinking hide.

But she’d need to be quick. Word was spreading like a plague across the islands, and she knew that she wouldn’t have much time before someone else tried to get to him first to “save the day” or whatever glory they sought. She simply wanted the chance to tear into a dacen - and he would do just fine.

Where a smaller dinosaur might trudge through the freshly fallen snow, Rime strode. She made no effort to quiet her steps. She wanted him to know that she was coming. The dacen’s stench met her before she could make out the distinct, ragged, spiny shape outlined in moonlight. He was taking his time, passing through the spindly trunks of sparsely packed trees.

Wrath built in Rime’s chest, and she bellowed a challenge to get his attention. Her challenge was made visible in the cold night air, spilling out of her maw as she charged forwards.

The dacen was so self-assured, so arrogant that he barely lifted his head to see her racing towards him. But he was in a poor position. With the tree, there wasn’t as much room for him to swing his tail - she could navigate around them and still get to him.

It was only when she grew close that she realised that the attack was going to be more difficult than she’d originally thought. Spiked armour framed his head and rose from his thighs and crested over his hips, and many more gnarled spikes protruded over his shoulders. It made it difficult for him to turn without them catching on something, but it made it difficult for her to get a good angle that wouldn’t cost her. She snarled in frustration, circling slowly while she searched for an opening.

His focus was entirely on her - until another sound split the night air. The bark of a utahraptor. An irritated hiss slipped between her teeth. She was going to lose her chance!

In the split second that Krampus was distracted by the distant bark, Rime charged. Her jaws crunched over Krampus’ forelimb, only for her to let go a moment later when he thrashed and a spike scraped at her nose and others raked across her cheek, narrowly missing her eye. There was a mighty crack as his tail whipped against one of the spindly trees, the trunk snapped with the weight of the hit. She backed off, wary now that he’d managed to clear enough of an area to get a swing in. But she’d gotten a bite in, and he was bleeding. His feathers and hide tasted foul in her mouth, but it was a sweet, small victory.

He snorted, his posture shifting as he prepared to swing his tail again if she grew too near. Her lip twitched as a growl rumbled deep in her throat.

Something beyond his jagged silhouette caught her attention. Dark shapes moving over the snow, and approaching quickly. She cocked her head.

It was enough of a distraction. Krampus swung his tail, the spikes gouging into her thigh and across her ribs. Rime reared back, roaring in outrage and pain. Krampus shifted, ready to swing again when he was assaulted from the opposite side. The utahraptors had made their attack.

“Pointer!”

A brown and cream utah with a thin chain of metal around her neck barked a name, and a scruffy khaki-coloured utah with a dark face obeyed. He darted forwards and nipped at Krampus’ wrist before darting away, calling to get his attention. Krampus rumbled a challenge, his head swinging to the side as he tried to keep track of the sudden influx of predators.

The same brown and cream utah joined another, an older and featherless female with half her face missing, and leapt up to claw and bite and gouge at Krampus’ ribs. He couldn’t turn fast enough to avoid them. Krampus bucked and shook, and Rime saw her chance. She surged forwards, stumbling slightly when the movement sent a spike of pain up her leg and across her body, and clamped her jaws around his throat.

Krampus twisted and bellowed as blood wept from the wounds, painting the white snow red in the moonlight that filtered through the trees.

“Diana, I found ‘em!”

Another utah barked to get their attention. Rime glanced up. Mostly brown, with a splash of yellow behind his head.

The utah with the necklace glanced at Rime with a critical look, her golden eyes more silver and icy in the crisp moonlight.

“Let’s go!”

She pushed off without another word, followed quickly by the scarred utah. Pointer didn’t waste another minute, darting off as soon as the coast was clear. Rime was left with Krampus thrashing in her jaws. It was painful to try to hold him still, the wounds on her leg and ribs jarred with every rough toss of his head and jolt of his body as he tried to wrench himself free from her grasp. His breathing was hoarse, but he was strong. She wasn’t going to be able to bring him down herself. It was a disgusting realisation.

Rime let go, jerking back before Krampus had a chance to take a swing at her again. He stepped back as well, his breath whistling in his throat as he gasped for air. The dacen shot her a venomous look, which Rime returned in kind before she stepped back. Roiling hatred filled her gut, but there wasn’t anything she’d be able to do about it today. Not while she had fresh wounds making her weak. Stupid. She should have planned this better - but she’d been blinded by her desire for vengeance against the years of malice between her kin and the dacen.

She growled low in her throat and retreated, glancing over her shoulder from time to time to ensure that she wasn’t being followed.

Krampus had evidently decided to lick his wounds and bemoan his lost quarry - whatever it was that the utahs had taken from him.

She cocked her head again, hearing their voices distinctly in the still night air, now that her heart wasn’t pounding in the pits of her ears. They had been going the same way, evidently.

It didn’t take long for her path to cross theirs. They had paused, briefly, to recover their breath and to allow their catch to find their feet. A white cryo and a vibrantly red theri stood amongst them, now. Snow Fellow and Santa Claws - the missing dinosaurs. A silence fell across them when they realised that they weren’t alone.

Rime stared down at the utahs, and for a moment, there was silence. Then, Diana spoke up.

“You ruined our hunt,” she hissed.

“I didn’t ruin anything,” Rime countered. “I didn’t even know that you were hunting him!”

“That was the point,” the older utah quipped. Shred turned her dead eye away so that she could better glare at Rime. “You’re lucky that we got there when we did, or he would have finished skewering you.”

Indignation bubbled in Rime’s stomach and she clacked her teeth angrily. “I was doing just fine when you showed up. If you had stayed on him for just a moment longer, I could have killed him!”

“No, you would have let go just like you did when we left, and now he’s going to be on his guard and we won’t get another chance,” Diana snorted. “You cost us a meal.”

“But she was a good distraction, right? We managed to find Snow Fellow and Santa Claws.” Timber, the male with the yellow splash on his neck, spoke up hesitantly, a cautious and light smile on his face.

“And we’re very thankful,” the cryo spoke up. He scratched at his neck with a hind claw. “Has anyone seen my scarf? It’s a bit cool tonight.”

Shred rolled her eyes.

Rime stared, incredulous. Now that they had found the disappeared, they were just going to let Krampus go? “That’s it?” She couldn’t stop the words from coming out.

The elderly theri’s eyes crinkled kindly. “There was no harm done, was there? Other than...well.” He tilted his head, observing the wounds that Rime had suffered. They did sting, but the blood had stopped oozing quite so freely, and the frigid night air dulled the pain.

Rime stuttered a breath. She couldn’t believe this. If the utahs had been cost a “meal,” then surely they’d return to the hunt - but the theri and cryo had been stolen and they bore him no ill will? What sort of characters were these?

The theri fluffed his feathers. “Come on, I think I know where we can find your scarf. I believe I also have some gifts to deliver…”

The cryo joined Santa Claws, chattering pleasantly about some sort of “wares” that he had apparently been taken from. The utahs regrouped and were apparently more than happy to leave Rime on her own - save for a glance over the shoulder from Timber.

Rime exhaled, her breath glittering fog in the moonlight. She was alone again, no further in her quest for vengeance than as when she had started. With her injuries, she might’ve even taken a step back. What had just happened?