Chapter 3-2

A heavy air accompanied the trio as they rode the following day. Except for the smacks of the horse’s hooves against the dirt road, there was little noise. Anjanette was still upset about what she had learned last night, and at Leonas for never sharing it with her. Milly was feeling the familiar terror of not fitting in. And Leonas had been in a foul mood since they began the quest.

To amuse herself, Milly took to staring at the landscape as they passed. It was not a very good amusement. The plains of the Dutchies stretched on for leagues, ordinary farmhouse after ordinary farmhouse. From the distance of the road, she could see the farmhands and animals in miniature, always going about the same lives, every place and every day.

Leonas abruptly stopped, pulling back on the reigns sharply. His horse reared back but quickly calmed down. The girls stopped a little further down, noticing his haste.

“What?” snapped Anjanette.

Leonas dismounted and pointed at the ground. There, too light to see well in motion, was a giant footprint. The feet were round and had thick spiky claws.

“What... is that?” asked Milly.

“Some sort of dinosaur,” said Leonas. “They must be in the area.”

“Are we talking the friendly, peaceful type of dinosaur?” Milly asked.

“With our luck?” Leonas laughed. “Anyway, keep riding... but keep an eye out for anything large, reptillian and hungry.”

“I always do,” said Anjanette.

* * *

Milly felt the thorns piercing through her robe, and the cold dirt crushed up against her chin. Anjanette and Leonas were next to her, squashed even worse under the bush. Anjanette had ditched her oversized sword by the roadside, but still seemed to be fretting over getting dirt on her.

Fortunately, what lay outside was a much greater inconvenience – a triceratops, lazily chewing at tree leaves, stomping around like it owned the road. Which, in all practical terms, it did. The green-scaled beast was close to them, and seemed impossibly large. To try and fully think of its size was to cause madness. Leonas had a faceful of pulsing leg muscle, while Milly couldn’t stop staring at it’s horns, as large as a man, glinting sharply in the sunlight. The foilage vanished into a maw of swords, never to be seen again.

“What did I tell you,” whispered Leonas.

“I think this kind just eats plants,” said Milly. She scrunched her brow, trying to come up with certain information – but the one time her useless knowledge would have proved valuable, she couldn’t come up with it at all.

“Well he’s leaving our horses alone...” said Leonas.

“Yeah, can you guys be quiet? ‘kay, thanks,” snapped Anjanette.

The triceratops turned towards them. Whether drawn by their whispers or something else, it slowly ambled over to the bush the three adventurers were hiding under. Its movement was slow and deliberate, a rumble coursing through the ground with each step. Even the earth seemed frightening, shrinking away from its mammoth feet. With a gluttonous lunge, it swallowed the bush in one mouthful.

The three stared up at the dinosaur, surprised to be exposed to him. It looked down at them, equally suprised, although it was hard to read a dinosaur’s expression.

Their was a brief moment of calm, which is known in most circles as “oh shit”.

The triceratops roared, a deafening sound like a thousand waves at once crashing down on one’s ears, and flailed back. The three dashed off as fast as they could, a mad and formless scramble to get the hell out of there. Leonas had the presence of mind to mutter an incantation and shoot a stream of sparks into the triceratops’ eyes, blinding him momentarily. And then he, too, ran like hell itself was on his tail... because it was.

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