Bladefoot

by David Pratt

  Chapter 3

  It had been a week since Bladefoot had left his family. During the nights he’d been hunting small mammals, frogs, large invertebrates and lizards while keeping moving at the same time. Both tasks hadn’t always been easy. Sometimes, Bladefoot had to move through the forest by daytime, risky as rival predators would be out on boundary patrols. But now that hazard was behind him for a new one lay in front of Bladefoot.

  The forests that Bladefoot had grown up in were now giving way to open fern prairie. Around him were broken trees and felled logs with ferns and flowering plants growing in between them. Even the sounds were different. Bladefoot walked towards a grey tree trunk, hoping the shade would give him some reprieve from the morning heat. But then the tree trunk began moving. Bladefoot is startled at first. ‘Trees do not walk, not as far as I’m aware.’ He moved away from the walking tree trunk. He picked up a new and strong scent in the air. Whatever it was it smelt horrible. Bladefoot almost gagged as he looked up and saw a new kind of dinosaur, the largest one he’d ever seen in his life.

  It was an Alamosaurus. This dinosaur, which was sixty-nine feet in length and as tall as the trees is grazed, was part of the Sauropod (Long Necked Dinosaur) Family. Originally from South America, they came to North America around two million-years before Bladefoot’s time. Once North America had been home to many Sauropods during the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous eras, but they had died out in North America, surviving in South America, Africa, Asia and Europe. Now after a forty million-year gap, Sauropods were back in North America.

  Bladefoot had actually walked into the feeding grounds of the Alamosaurus and before he knew it the rest of the herd was all around him. The success of Alamosaurus was down to one thing: their long necks enabled them to reach the tall trees where many other dinosaurs couldn’t access.

  This herd had migrated from Mexico and were grazing the tops of the trees that bordered the forests and fern prairies, seeing as they were too big to manoeuvre through the denser forest. Very few hunters would try to tackle an adult Alamosaurus aside a Tyrannosaur and even then that was risky to the predator. The Alamosaurus was more than capable of defending itself: one sweep from that tail or the long neck could cripple any unwary hunter.

  There were about twenty individuals in this herd and Bladefoot ran as fast as he could through them to avoid being trodden on. Once he’d safely navigated his way to the herd’s edge he stopped to look back. As he watched the Alamosaurus, Bladefoot noticed that these strange new dinosaurs didn’t behave much differently to other herding dinosaurs he’d seen before. He couldn’t see any really young animals however, suggesting to him that they didn’t take care of their offspring. Bladefoot watched the Alamosaurus feed and after a while saw a feeding opportunity for himself.

  As the Alamosaurus grazed they flushed out a lot of insects from the ground or from the trees. Even their dung they produced drew in beetles that specialised in dinosaur droppings. Those insects lured in lizards that snapped them up on the ground and birds would fly amongst the Alamosaurus snatched any flying bugs in mid air. Bladefoot had no hope of catching any birds in flight, but those lizards were easy pickings as long as he watched his step. Carefully he made his way back into the herd, which had dispersed a bit more now, making life easier for him.

  Some of the Alamosaurus began to push the trees down so they could go deeper into the forest. Bladefoot had never seen an animal try to shape its own environment. Truly these long necked dinosaurs were bizarre by his standards.

  Bladefoot turned his attention back to the lizards and big dung beetles. Stalking a lizard too busy crunching up crickets to notice him coming, Bladefoot moved with silent effort. Now he was in striking distance as he approached cautiously but just as he was about to pounce, another new type of dinosaur snapped up the lizard from above Bladefoot. Bladefoot recoiled, taken by surprise. Apparently another type of dinosaur had the same idea.

  Bladefoot looked up at the tall dinosaur and this new creature looked down upon him. This dinosaur was known as Ornithomimus. It was fifteen feet long and around six feet tall. Mostly it resembled Bladefoot, asides the long neck, long running legs, toothless beak and orange plumage, again not used for flight.

  Bladefoot looked around to see that a flock of Ornithomimus had gathered around the Alamosaurus to snap up the smaller creatures flushed out by the Alamosaurus. He knew it was useless to hunt here as the Ornithomimus were out competing him. ‘I’ll have to hunt elsewhere.’ Bladefoot gave up. Things got even worse when a herd of Parasaurolophus showed up to feed on the downed leaves, fruit and berries from the foraging Alamosaurus. ‘This is just getting ridiculous.’ Bladefoot felt disgruntled. He preferred to hunt alone, without the noisy neighbours.

  The sun was high in the sky in the afternoon. The heat was merciless and Bladefoot panted in order to keep cool. ‘Need shade. Need water.’ His instincts kept telling him. But on the open plains, he found neither, just miles of ferns. Food wasn’t a problem seeing as he could snap up the cockroaches, bush crickets and katydids beneath his feet when the chance came. The occasional bush that had been stripped of leaves was the only other landmark.

  Bladefoot had no idea where he was going. ‘I’m far away from my father’s territory.’ That he knew for definite. He smelt the air, looking for evidence of other Troodons. ‘Nothing: there are just other dinosaurs.’ His nose couldn’t pick up any members of his own species. Then he knew why. It was the same reason he wouldn’t establish a territory here. Although there was plenty of prey he needed land that provided cover and concealment for a Troodon nest. The best thing to do was keep moving.

  Bladefoot didn’t feel any emotion about leaving home. The only emotion he had so far is that he felt alone. This was the first time he’d been by himself for as long as he could remember and he didn’t like it. Troodons were a social species. He had to be extra careful. It was strange watching his back. Although he didn’t miss his father he could really use Preston’s help right now. If his mother had actually been his step mother, not blood related, he could’ve made her his mate. All sorts of possibilities filled his mind right now. The logical path was to find a new female, but before he could do that he had to find a new territory which was becoming more and more remote by the second.

  He cleared his mind, trying not to let his instincts overwhelm him. Bladefoot approached a hill, hearing the familiar sound of dinosaur noises on the other side. As Bladefoot reached the top, he looked down to see another herd of Alamosaurus migrating across the plains. They were accompanied by dozens of Parasaurolophus. Bladefoot concluded that both species were travelling together for mutual protection. The Parasaurolophus were using the Alamosaurus as early warning systems with the Sauropods long necks and could use them as living shields against predators also. The Alamosaurus were using the Parasaurolophus’ superior hearing and sight as an alarm system. Plus, the Parasaurolophus had a secret weapon. Their head crests could also produce ultrasound sonic booms to scramble the brains of even a Tyrannosaur. Even a flock of Ornithomimus and the odd Edmontonia had joined this dinosaur convoy! Bladefoot watched the herd, looking for any members that could be dying of disease or wounded. If one fell to predators, the death would produce a bounty of carrion for Bladefoot’s table. Little did Bladefoot know that he was being watched himself, not from the ground, but from high in the sky………..

  Soaring high in the Cretaceous sky was the biggest flying animal of all time: Quetzalcoatlus! Quetzalcoatlus was no bird but part of a family of flying reptiles named Pterosaurs (Pterodactyls).

  Throughout the Mesozoic Era, Pterosaurs had ruled the skies with a variety of species. Now, Quetzalcoatlus was one of the few that remained. Climatic changes and competition with birds had whittled down the Pterosaur’s numbers, but during the late Cretaceous the most magnificent had evolved. Quetzalcoatlus had a thirty-nine feet wingspan and a skull eight feet long, but only weighed 250kg, thanks to a series of air sacs in its bones. This individual was named Sky Rider,
who was forty years old, elderly by Pterosaur standards but Sky Rider showed no signs of slowing down. He’d flown from one side of North America to the other in his time, crossed mountains, inland seas, coastline, forests and plains. Most of his life was spent in the air, but he didn’t use feathers like birds do. His wings were made of leathery skin connected to a single long finger. He could stay aloft for far longer than any birds, riding the thermal air currents. His kind was the more efficient flyers and it won’t be until the twentieth century when human beings invent aircraft that will rival his size.

  From up in the high altitude, Sky Rider saw everything. His binocular vision was of the same par as Birds of Prey in the twenty-first century. He not only had that, but special adaptations in his eyes enabled him to see UV rays down below. Vision was the main sense Sky Rider had to finding his favourite prey, the young, and the defenceless: baby dinosaurs. During the breeding seasons he would raid the nests of the dinosaurs down below and then take off into the skies before the parents could do anything about it. He even dared to raid the nests of T.Rexes. To him, it was all too easy, but this wasn’t dinosaur breeding season so he had to work a bit harder to catch decent sized prey to fuel his high metabolic needs. But on the open fern prairies prey was never far away.

  Sky Rider spied a young male Troodon hovering near a migrating herd of Alamosaurus with smaller dinosaur species in tow. Sky Rider had never seen him before and swooped down for a closer look. Sky Rider loved flying amongst the Alamosaurus for fun. While he enjoyed his game he took a closer look at the Troodon. Although he could technically swallow it he saw that the Troodon had some impressive weapons of its own, so it wasn’t worth the risk. Sky Rider swerved to avoid colliding with the Alamosaurus and flapped his wings to gain some altitude. Unlike birds that always flapped their wings, Sky Rider did it in a few strokes. Indeed, Sky Rider was the King of the Air.

  His stomach rumbled again. Irritated, Sky Rider knew he needed food, but he had an idea of where to get it. Flying towards a river, he startled a flock of Ornithomimus that had come down for their daily drink. The Ornithomimus scampered into the nearby scrub, their long legs enabling a speedy getaway. Sky Rider continued further up river, scanning for some tree cover, anything to conceal his size. Although he was a master of the air, his body was not adapted to taking prey on the wing. For that, he would have to land.

  The day wore on into the afternoon and Sky Rider had eventually found a place to land. He’d moved away from the river after all and found a patch of open forest with an ox bow lake right in the centre. Sky Rider was waiting patiently amongst the trees, trying to conceal himself the best he could. His skeletal design enabled him to walk very well on land on all fours as well as fly through the air. His height rivalled some of the giant dinosaurs and he shuffled backwards and forwards to ensure that he was perfectly concealed.

  He had been careful not to get too close to the water as giant crocodiles lurked in the still waters before him and they would have no problem overpowering a lightly built pterosaur. Sky Rider waited and waited. Nothing stirred in the afternoon heat. The only thing Sky Rider saw was a soft shell turtle coming up for air in the lake.

  Then, suddenly, Sky Rider’s patience began to pay off. A herd of Thescelosaurus approached the lake, at least two dozen or so. Thescelosaurus were thirteen feet long bipedal ornithopods, distantly related to the hadrosaurs. Their skin colour was grey. They checked their surroundings constantly for danger and Sky Rider knew to stay very still. As far as Sky Rider was concerned, if he could snag one of those he’d have enough fuel for the day. There was a mixture of ages, juveniles, sub-adults, adults and the elderly. Thescelosaurus society was ruled by a strict pecking order. The herd itself was led by an Alpha pair. They edged towards the water nervously, knowing that this was a good place for an ambush.

  Sky Rider waited. He knew how fast Thescelosaurus could be. Although they weren’t the fastest of dinosaurs they could still outrun him. Herd members took it in turns to keep watch and drink from the ox bow lake. Their keen senses were their main defence, seeing as they lacked horns or armour like many other herbivorous dinosaurs. After twenty minutes, the herd had quenched their thirst and were heading back into the forest. Little did they know that they had spread out so much that the ones on the edge of the herd were right in the sights of Sky Rider! This was his chance.

  Sky Rider waited, looking for any weakness in the herd. The Thescelosaurus were oblivious to his presence. Then as soon as a sub-adult Thescelosaurus got too close to Sky Rider, he brought down his large beak and with three blows had pecked the little dinosaur to death. The Thescelosaurus’ reacted quickly to what had happened and bolted into the forest sounding alarm calls. A soft shell turtle broke the surface of the water to see what all the fuss was about. Sky Rider picked up his catch in his beak and swallowed the dinosaur down whole. His beak lacked teeth of any sort so he couldn’t chew his food.

  Just as the Thescelosaurus tail slithered down his throat, he picked up new noises behind him. They sounded like giant footsteps and they were. Sky Rider spun his head round and realised that he himself was being hunted by a Tyrannosaurus Rex! This was a big female, at least thirty nine feet long. The T.Rex thundered towards Sky Rider but the Pterosaur was quick to react. His body began to spring forward and with a series of ‘push ups’ he leapt into the air, narrowly missing the jaws of the T.Rex! With a sweep of his wings he was quick to take off and was high in the sky away from the threat. This was why he hated hunting on the ground but Sky Rider knew he didn’t have much choice about it. He turned and taunted a whistling cry to the T.Rex down below, which roared back at him with frustration. Once again, Sky Rider was in his element and there wasn’t another animal that could touch him.

  Chapter 4

  Nightfall had once again engulfed the plains. A storm came that night. Bladefoot shivered in the cold as the rain bucketed down outside the burrow. His coat of feathers was his best defence against the cold wet storm. Bladefoot had been lucky to find shelter at all in the form of this twelve foot long burrow. Bladefoot didn’t know what had dug it and didn’t really care. All he knew was that this burrow was his shelter for the night. These burrows were colonised by a multitude of animals. Bladefoot was able to snack on some more invertebrates as he’d hunkered down. The sound of lighting filled his ears ever few minutes, as well as the nightly chorus of the bloodthirsty creatures of the night. Bladefoot heard the screams of a prey animal brought down in the valleys below, followed by the crunches, chomps and roars of predators eating. Bladefoot hoped that he wouldn’t be next.

  Another concern for him was the water dribbling down the tunnel from the rain outside. Stories of animals being drowned in their burrows as they slept were not unheard of. Bladefoot knew he had to stay awake. He had to keep his eyes open. Light occasional entered the tunnel from the lighting outside. Bladefoot expected to see another animal try to crawl in to escape the rain, but nothing came. As he concentrated hard on the outside, he couldn’t stop thinking about what happened during the course of the day. ‘I have no territory yet. I have no female yet. Dinosaurs out here are strange.’ He kept thinking to himself. Bladefoot could still hear the predators through the rain. He hoped his family was safe but then forced thoughts of them out of his mind. ‘That was then and this is now.’ It was the only way he wouldn’t succumb to his loneliness. The last thing he wanted was to be off the mark around here. Troodons who didn’t pay attention to their surroundings ended up as an easy meal on the fern prairies. The rain wasn’t easing up, neither was the thunder. This would prove to be a long testing night for Bladefoot.

  Bladefoot was in a place of tranquillity. A light was widening out before him. He wondered where he was. Then he realised the truth: his eyes were opening. He had fallen asleep during the night, despite the rainstorm. ‘I’d fallen asleep. I should have never fallen asleep.’ He counted himself lucky that he hadn’t been found in the night. He breathed, thankful to be alive. Then he felt a stinging sensati
on in his back. He scratched his back and found some ants in his claws. The ants were attacking him, or maybe they were scavenging his body, thinking he was dead. Despite the pain he was in, he knew he couldn’t just exit the burrow in a hurry. His arms and legs ached when he tried to move them, and his sides were suffering from cramp. ‘That’s what you get for trying to stay safe.’ He cursed having to be in the same position for ages. He checked his surrounding, hoping to pick up the scent, sound or sight of danger. Scrabbling towards the entrance, he suddenly stopped and paused to see if there was anything waiting for him on the other side. ‘Coast is clear.’ He decided to completely exit the burrow. His belly stung from hunger. He would have to feed this morning, without fail. The last thing he wanted was to weaken. He stood up, stretching out his tendons and ligaments. His eyes scanned for danger everywhere, but all there was were young trees and scrub, plus the odd insect. He rubbed away the remaining ants from his back. At least their attack was over. From the high ground, he had the advantage of being able to see the terrain around him. He made his way down the hillside, hoping that nothing else had spotted him there.

  The first thing Bladefoot needed to do was feed. However he also needed to find his own home range. Bladefoot kept to the high ferns that hadn’t been touched by any herbivores. He knew by staying in the tall ferns nothing would spot him easily. However as he trekked through the ferns, he had seconds thoughts. Yes, nothing could see him but he couldn’t look out for any danger either. He decided to move out of the tall ferns, but kept to its edges. The plains seemed peaceful and desolate, but Bladefoot was not fooled. A predator could be lurking anywhere. It wasn’t just predators that he was worried about. There were large armoured herbivores here as well that wouldn’t take too kindly to the presence of a Troodon. The skies above him held grey clouds that stretched out for thousands of miles, and he could feel the breeze on his face and the flies biting him. He moved further and further away from the tall ferns, keeping his wits about him in case of ambush. It would take a long time to get off the fern prairies and the going would be hard. For the moment this was easy, and he did make the most of it.