Blind Leading the Blind

The pair of dark cryos walked together in near-silence as they approached Atlantis, not a word shared between them and the sound of their footfalls so quiet they might have been nonexistent. The depths of the ocean were a dark, cold place, yet they never once strayed from the path. Despite her lack of sight, Ghostlight effortlessly navigated around the debris and scattered clutter inside the tunnel. She was content to walk in this silence. She knew that Tobias’s mind was elsewhere, as it often was. He couldn’t help it.

There was only one tunnel that would eventually lead into Atlantis, yet there were so many paths. Oviraptors whose grand and vital task took them far from the carnivorous jungle that constantly threatened to encroach upon the heart of their home, euoplos and iguanodons who had chosen to abandon the life they had known in favour of seeking new glory on the surface. And, of course, the dozens and dozens of islanders who had come from above and walked and who would walk this same trail into Atlantis. Curiosity, anger, fascination, retribution. Their paths were all so strongly tangled together here that it almost felt like one, singular strand. One reason guiding them forwards, a tightly woven cord binding them together.

Dread shadowed them all. Something was coming, slowly but persistently.

Tobias blinked, drawn from his thoughts by the quiet sound of Ghostlight’s lantern creaking quietly as it swung gently from her jaws with each step that she took. A small bit of life glimmered in his eyes as he almost seemed to smile at her.

How long had they been walking? It was hard to tell. For her, time didn’t truly exist, and for him, he’d been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn’t realised they were approaching the glow of artificial daylight that encouraged Atlantis’s toxic growth on a perpetual timer.

Tobias had lead them this far, but as they stepped into the light, Ghostlight naturally surpassed him. Tobias had a tendency to walk into danger whether he intended to or not - for the sake of someone else’s life, or because danger happened to find him. It always got him hurt, or worse.

It was a blessing that thus far, his fratricidal brother hadn’t made an appearance.

Ghostlight paused, though only briefly, when Tobias glanced towards the ground. So many paths split from this point, the cord unraveling back into all those dozens of threads. He still wasn’t sure what had brought him down here in the first place, not sure which path to follow.

When the Alpha Lab had opened to the islands, it had been a welcome relief to those trapped inside. Salvation. Ghostlight doubted that the Atlantean’s release would be so glorious.

She lifted her head, her long-dead lantern swinging and creaking quietly. The scouts here that claimed to be guides were liars and snake-tongued fools. They would only lead islanders if it struck their fancy. A real guide would help anyone who had lost their way. Most of the islanders weren’t literally lost on their way to Atlantis, of course, but many of them were searching for something. “How” and “why” were popular questions amongst the islanders as of late.

The euoplos that patrolled the dome were just as bad as the scouts, or perhaps worse. Only allowing safe passage through the jungle to those that gave them some modicum of entertainment, or impressed them in some way? It was childish bullying at best and predatory recruitment at worst. There was the very real possibility that the warriors were collecting skilled dinosaurs to present to their Queen.

With the influx of islanders entering the dome - deserved, some might say, after the botanical invasion that the Atlanteans had launched in the first place - the warriors had their claws full. Patrols had been increased, leading to even shorter tempers and higher demands. Tobias felt a pang of something. What cruel games the courtiers made the islanders participate in for their own amusement.

Like that which they were running the young pachy through at this very moment. Deerlegs was alone this time, brought out into the jungle to test her mettle and let the guards have a bit of fun with their charge. Embargo was in too rough of shape to give much in the way of entertainment, but his fiery companion? That would be fun. 

Deerlegs panted heavily, her normally smooth feathers ruffled and disheveled. It was hard to find the time to care for her feathers properly when they were trying to run her ragged, and it was harder still to tend to her feathers in the dark with only Embargo’s glow to help her see.

Embargo… If she could prove her strength, they promised to give medicine to Embargo. His wounds were turning sour and with the amount of work that they were putting the both of them through to work off their “sentence,” he hadn’t had a chance to truly rest and recover. She had to do this for him. She owed it to him for getting them in this mess in the first place. She knew it had been his choice to stay, now, but it was her fault for getting them here.

Getting him the help he needed, though, was beginning to feel like a purposefully impossible task. Deelegs was used to the heat, living at the edge of the scrublands where rain didn’t often fall, but the heat inside the dome was oppressive and humid. She was tiring. She’d been running around for them for what felt like ages, and they were just toying with her. She had run, jumped, skid, raced, sprinted, sprang - done everything she could acrobatically to prove herself, but still they wore that same bemused and unimpressed look. And now they were being so rude as to chat amongst themselves, not even paying her any attention as she ran herself into exhaustion. It wasn’t her fault that she couldn’t show off her full agility here! She was made for jumping and racing along the cliffs, not trying to fight her way through the tangled undergrowth of a jungle full of plants that wanted to digest her.

“Is this not enough for you?” she scowled, though the fury in her words was lessened by the fatigue and desperation in her voice. “I am as fast as any of your scouts!”

Raya, a euoplo covered in metal armour of odd shapes, colours, and illuminated by bright lights similar to that which was on Halberd’s face and body, had an amused lilt in her voice when she replied. “You’re as fast as the scouts,” she mused, “that’s hardly exciting. I said to impress me.”

“What’s wrong topsider?” Halberd chuckled when Raya’s comment was met with silence. Deerlegs couldn’t see his eyes behind the glowing face plate that he wore, but she knew by the sound of his voice that he was smiling, taunting her. He was a stickler for rules but that didn’t stop him from agreeing to bring her out here simply because he was bored. “Is there no brain under that thick skull of yours?”

Deerlegs gritted her teeth, her feather crest and fin of feathers between her shoulders flared. This was humiliating. They had dragged her out into the jungle, knowing that they were her source of safety against the aggressive plants and other courtiers, knowing that she wouldn’t abandon Embargo, knowing that she didn’t have a choice but to do as she asked or risk extending her sentence. She was ready to explode.

Before she had a chance to, however, the warrior’s posture changed. Halberd noticed the newcomers first, his vision and hearing sharper than any other guard’s, but he was still alarmed by how close they’d gotten before he heard them. The euoplo’s head was lowered defensively, his body tense, and Raya wordlessly fell into formation just as she noticed his demeanour change. They were ready to show just what the weaponry they were born with was capable of.

Deerlegs was confused at first - she hadn’t even threatened them. She wasn’t sure she could do anything to harm them even if she wanted to. It wasn’t until she glanced over her shoulder that she, too, reacted in alarm. A pair of cryolophosaurus, standing and staring hauntingly in the shadows of the jungle. One carrying a lantern, the thin metal handle held delicately between her jaws, and the other looking slowly between the trio they now stood before.

Deerlegs’s feathers rose. The utah had been a nuisance, but they were in a heavily supervised environment where it would be difficult for him to cause problems if he wanted to. Out here… Deerlegs wasn’t sure that her guards would actually protect her, or just defend themselves.

“We’re not here to fight,” Tobias murmured. His voice was weak, the kind that Deerlegs would expect to hear from someone dying of hunger or thirst. The kind of voice that Deerlegs had occasionally heard from her home. Yet he seemed… healthy, if on the thin side. She didn’t like how blank his eyes looked. Like a dead fish that washed up on Highcliff’s shoreline.

She liked his companion’s gaze even less. Her pupils were blown out and almost as white as her irises, yet she seemed to be looking directly at Deerlegs. The pachy shifted her feet, distinctly uncomfortable, and only slightly less so when Ghostlight turned her snout towards the euoplos.

“You’re encroaching on Atlantean land, topsiders,” Halberd said. He was the first to find his voice. “State your business with the Court and be judged.”

Tobias still wasn’t sure. The reason for their presence would be revealed eventually.

Ghostlight spoke instead, the lantern swinging gently with her words. “We seek an audience with the Queen,” she said simply.

Raya snorted. Strangers to Atlantis, going to meet with the Queen? It was laughable.

“You are refused entry,” Halberd continued.

Tobias tilted his head slightly, seeming to only halfway be paying attention. He would follow the draw, one way or another. This might just… not be the path he was meant to take, unless they could be convinced.

“You gave this topsider the chance to prove her worth for what she wanted,” Tobias replied softly.

“We’d like that same chance,” Ghostlight continued. The lantern creaked quietly, punctuating her words.

The warriors shared a look, or as much of one as they could with Halberd’s visor in front of his eyes, and seemed to come to an agreement. He nodded, and Raya spoke, giving them the same order that she had given Deerlegs, which the pachy had thus far failed to fulfill. “Impress me.”

For a moment, it seemed like neither cryo was going to do anything at all. Deerlegs shifted her feet, ready to bolt if need be. All that they did, though, was speak.

“Halberd and Raya, children of Atlantis,” Tobias said. Ghostlight felt a glimmer of warmth for her companion when the euoplos immediately seemed uncertain, and allowed herself a secret smile. What did they hear in his voice, she wondered?

“Your vision started to go some time ago. They thought the visor would help,” he said, looking towards Halberd, “but they never anticipated how much. It’s overwhelming sometimes.” Tobias’s eyes were full of sympathy. It was like feeling everything all at once in the Alpha Lab again. He could hear, and see, and smell so much now. All the pain, all the hope, all the death and starvation, but rather than physical and mental hurt of an entire population, Halberd suffered this sensory overload all by himself.

Halberd took Tobias’s words silently, neither confirming nor denying what he said. Ghostlight stared ahead, simply listening. Her love was so scattered, yet he always knew so much more than anyone could say. He was the only one that would ever truly know her.

His gaze turned to Raya, seeming to see more through her than looking at her. “You have never been able to walk well without your armour,” he said softly. He could see it, from the moment she hatched she had struggled. Her hind legs had splayed out awkwardly and had no strength in them. Rather than be abandoned, she had been saved. Her legs had been splinted, strengthened, but, “even now you have an odd gait if you aren’t wearing it.” His eyes were full of pity. That was a hard hand to be dealt as a hatchling.

“That’s ridiculous, you can’t possibly know any of that!” Raya huffed. It was clear that what Tobias said had gotten under her skin. What he said of Halberd could have been an educated guess if he’d spoken to any topsiders that had encountered him, but her own history? No one but the Court of Atlantis knew about the condition of her hatching, and even then she had worked hard to make sure no one ever brought it up. It wasn’t a weakness, it was a problem that didn't even exist as far as anyone else was concerned.

“Then you must be impressed by his impossible knowledge,” Ghostlight prompted, a faint smile in her sightless eyes as she turned her snout towards Raya’s voice.

“And what about you?” Raya spat in return. “What could you possibly have to offer to the Court of Atlantis? How did you even make it through the jungle this far in the first place?”

“I have an impeccable sense of direction,” Ghostlight replied simply. “I cannot get lost.” Tobias felt the draw to this place, but she had always been the guide.

Raya scoffed, like it was the most preposterous and unbelievable thing she’d ever heard. Yet they appeared to not have an oviraptor with them nor scent of one on their hide and feathers, and no other warrior had spread word of the cryo’s welcome presence to the Court. Even the pachys, who had pushed far into the jungle, had to be lead the rest of the way to the Court itself.

“Welcome to Atlantis,” Halberd replied before Raya could protest further. She looked at him with sharp objection in her fiery gaze, but said nothing as he relaxed his posture.

Before either cryo walked on, though, Tobias glanced at Deerlegs, and the pachy wished he hadn’t. “What of the hen from Highcliff?”

Again, the cryo’s knowledge sparked surprise, but in Deerlegs this time. She was certain he had never been reported to be near Highcliff, and she certainly didn’t recognise him - so how had he known who she was?

“She’ll be returned to the jail when we’re done,” Raya snorted, irritated that the cryos were now threatening to encroach on their fun.

“You promised her something,” Tobias said quietly, looking up at the euoplos.

“If she managed to impress us, which so far she has failed to.”

“You’ve never seen another quite like a pachy,” Ghostlight mused, turning her stare towards the euoplos. “Their power doesn’t just lie in their speed.”

Deerlegs glanced at Ghostlight with surprise. Surely she couldn’t be suggesting what Deerlegs thought she was suggesting. Her suspicions were confirmed when Ghostlight continued, her lantern swinging gently with her words.

“I doubt you’ve encountered another who could survive a strike to the skull with your hammer, let alone stop it completely.”

Deerlegs’s heart was suddenly hammering in her chest, but not just from exhaustion. What Ghostlight was saying could kill her if the cryo was wrong. But the euoplos… were small, and the club was only about the size of her head. Halberd’s club grew to sharp points, emphasized by white markings that tipped it, but Raya’s… maybe Ghostlight was right. She still didn’t want to take a hit to her body from the club, but her dome? She’d cracked stone with her skull before in an effort to clear debris from the cliffs.

Raya noticed the hint of confidence in Deerleg’s eyes and snorted. If she wanted to try this to prove her worth and get medicine for her useless, glow-in-the-dark companion, then sure. It would be her funeral at the end of the day, and no Atlantean was likely to cry over a dead topsider.

Halberd backed up to give them room while Raya turned to her side, ready to face down against Deerlegs. The cryos watched on, waiting in what was a surprisingly ominous kind of silence.

The hot, humid air added another layer of stillness. Deerlegs glared at Raya, a fresh sense of determination adding intensity to her eyes. Raya looked back, her tail shifted back and ready to swing.

Deerlegs sprinted forwards without warning. The faster she got to the euoplo, the less time Raya would have to swing at her and the less power would be behind her club.

She was almost not fast enough.

The resulting CRACK of the impact echoed through the jungle.

It was immediately followed by a string of unfamiliar swears from Raya as she turned to look at her tail. Pain shot up her tail into her haunches, and the entire club was throbbing. “I think she broke something!” Raya shouted.

Deerlegs stumbled to the side, panting, blood beginning to bead and trickle into her feathers from a split at the apex of her dome. She was, much to Halberd’s surprise, very much alive, if a bit disoriented. A topsider who was as agile as an oviraptor, yet strong and sturdy enough to take a hit from a euoplocephalus club? That was certainly something.

“Is that enough for you?” Ghostlight asked, before she turned her muzzle towards Halberd. Raya was in pain, she would be useless to speak to now.

Halberd snorted in quiet agreement, the sound vibrating as it rushed through the grate in front of his muzzle. That was enough for him. Embargo would begin to get the care he needed.

Satisfied, Ghostlight turned away and started to lead Tobias elsewhere. They had been given welcome to the Court, now they just needed to find their way there - and to wherever else Tobias felt they needed to go.

Still panting, still trying to even stand up straight and still, Deerlegs turned her gaze sharply towards Halberd and Raya. “I would like to go back now.”