Backbone

Elisia woke with a startled snort in the dead of night. She hadn’t intended to fall asleep so soon in her new home, but it was encouraging that nothing had happened when her guard was down. She stretched her limbs and shook herself out, feeling refreshed from her rest. She slipped into the cool early morning waters and swam out into the main body of the river. The current was as gentle as it had been the previous day and Elisia let herself float along with it. The waves she made as she moved made the bright white reflection of the moon scatter into ripples on the pitch black surface of the water. She watched it as she went, enjoying the peace of the night. It suited her, a nocturnal lifestyle, she thought to herself. Perhaps with a bit of luck and some strategic night-fishing she could avoid conflict with others entirely? She felt something stir in the riverbed and dove beneath the water, coming up with her jaws full with a wriggling catfish. She tossed it back down her neck and savoured the taste that ghosted over her tongue. 

This was her perfect home, and she couldn’t believe how lucky she was to have found it.

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The days, or nights, passed peacefully at Elisia’s new nest. Sometimes she heard other animals passing by during the daylight hours but the night was hers alone. She could noodle for catfish with her tail and savour each hard-earned meal on her own time, keeping a sedate pace much like she had enjoyed as a hatchling. All good things come to an end, as her mother would say, and her peace was shattered one balmy night a few weeks into her new home.

She was watching the slow of her tail back and forth in the river, trying to peer into the dark and see if anything was taking the lure. She was incredibly focussed, as she always was when hunting, but it didn’t stop her from hearing the disturbance of water further upstream. Something big was coming her way. She quickly whipped her tail out of the water and stood upright just as a blue rippled Suchomimus appeared around the riverbend. He saw her instantly, a clicking, threatening rumble coming from his throat. He swam up to her before standing at his full height, looming over her.

“Isn’t it past your bedtime, little one?” the Suchomimus asked, his teeth bared in a cruel sneer. Unlike herself, her mother and her siblings, this Sucho’s skin was bereft of feathers. Something about the lack of plumage made his enormous outline even more intimidating.

“It certainly is,” Elisia squeaked, “I’ll be going now.” She didn’t wait for a reply and scurried off to her cave. Hopefully her lack of resistance would convince the Suchomimus that she wasn’t worth the fight. A pang of nauseating fear struck her dead in the chest as she realised she was being followed. She made haste into the hollow and found solid ground before turning to face him again. He pursued her at a leisurely pace, looking around her home like he was sizing it up.

“Nice place,” he remarked. Something in his voice betrayed the fact that it wasn’t just a simple compliment of her home decor. 

“It’s my home, I live here,” Elisia said redundantly. The older Sucho gave a derisive chuckle.

“Nah, I think it’s mine now,” he said, rising from the water and assuming his threatening posture again. She opened her mouth to protest but his face suddenly twisted into an expression of pure malice and he struck at her, clawing her face and sending her skittering backwards in surprise. Elisia couldn’t tell if she was bleeding, the trickles of river water still dripping from her feathers not allowing her to tell. “My home, I live here now,” the blue Sucho gloated. The anger was rising, boiling like a rank bile in her throat and making her eyes water. The older Suchomimus was crowding her still, his face right in hers and making Elisia’s skin prickle with discomfort. She realised with a start that she was feeling more angry than afraid for the first time in her life. When the Sucho next raised his arm to claw her again, the young adolescent snapped. She bellowed as loud as she could, startling the adult into reeling back. While he was on the back foot, Elisia seized her opportunity and lunged at his throat. He managed to dodge but he was unsettled at the sudden turn in attitude from the younger dinosaur. He tried to compose himself but Elisia was already upon him, swinging her claws wildly. 

“Get!” A left hook. “Out!” A snap of her jaws on the other Sucho’s arm. “Of!” Right hook. “My!” She raised a leg to kick her claws into the Sucho’s belly. “House!”

The kick sent the older dinosaur flying backwards, already off balance from the flurry of strikes from Elisia’s claws. He landed in the water with a hefty splash, sinking to the bottom before pushing back up with a swift movement of his tail. He looked at the young Sucho with disbelief when he resurfaced, his face inscrutable. Elisia simply curled her lip and showed him her teeth in a cocky sneer. Without a word, she turned tail and swam away. Elisia waited until the sound of swimming faded into the night before allowing herself to relax. “Goodness me, what a mess,” she remarked, somewhat ashamed by her outburst. 

She began the menial process of rearranging her nest of reeds, now more woven into a shape that mimicked the one her mother made. She wondered if Ophelia would be proud of her now, making her own home and fending off an opponent much larger than herself. She hoped she would be, she hoped that one day she could find her again and tell her all about it. It would probably be the most words she’s ever spoken at once. The thought made her laugh as she settled into bed, tucking her head into her chest with a smile on her face.