Fake Jewels

The third day of servitude brought something new for the trio- the first two days had been interesting with them trapped inside of the compound of Atlantis, doing various tasks for the court. And while the first two days were filled with fear and awe at the circumstances they found themselves in… it quickly wore off. This place was pretty boring when you were trapped there as a “guest”. The walls might have been pretty, but once you looked past the neatly kept walls, you found the rot and poison that did not come just from the jungles.

Guerilla was their guide and escort again today- and Mintee, Mary, and Oboe had long ago figured out why. It was clear that the court had purposely assigned him to this job to neutralize them should they seem too big of a threat- the hide of the dark grey iguanodon was littered with scars and proved his combat experience. Because of this, the trio did their best to avoid his bad side.

And today, he was escorting them to the gates. With a nod of his head the two warriors pushed the gates open, revealing the vibrant jungle. Guerilla turned to the trio. “You know your job.” He paced in front of them, rearing onto his hind legs to seem even larger. “You are to go out and gather gemstones from a nearby digsite, and bring it back for the oviraptors to make into jewelry." With a stomp of his foot an oviraptor ran up, dropping a large bag at Mintee's feet before running off. “Any questions?” The three shook their heads, before a pointed look shooed them off. The gate closed behind them, finally- leaving them to face the jungle alone.

Mary lead the other two a bit further away before daring to speak- still worried she would be overheard. “Lovely.” She quickly turned her head to help Mintee with the bag, draping it over the green herbivore's shoulders. “Now we’re running to get gemstones. I'm not sure how they expect us to dig them up or even grab them.”

Mintee sighed. “At least we got out of that awful place. Sure, it's not nearly as gross as… this.” She shook mud off one of her back legs in disgust, shivering. “But at least its straightforward here.”

Oboe chirped in agreement, flying above their heads. She soared higher for a moment, before diving back down and latching herself onto Mary. “The pits that way!” She pointed with a wing. “It's pretty big, but not that steep- we should be able to get down easily enough!”

Indeed, it was. Their quarry was, well, a quarry. Deeply dug into the ground by clearly non dinosaur means, rocks and mud and dirt were scattered all across the ground. The jungle abruptly stopped right where the rocks began, granting Mintee, Mary, and Oboe their first truly open area since descending into the dome. The area felt eerie- but they had a job to do, so Mary led them into the pit.

The parasaurolophus had to carefully scramble down the side- their hooves made it much easier, but it was clear only the oviraptor would be able to come down here in the first place. Oboe had no trouble, being a flyer. “This place must be man-made.” Mintee mused as she kicked a pebble around. Stopping and rearing on her hind legs, she stomped down onto the oddly soft ground. After a few attempts, she made a deep enough hole to expose a few gemstones. They were… strange looking. Oddly large and perfect, Mintee frowned when she struck one with her hoof and it didn't even crack. “Its not right.”

“Nothing here is right!” Oboe crowed, grabbing the bag off of Mintees shoulder and rolling the gemstones into it. They were varying colors, and oddly light- but Oboe was no geologist. She didn't care. “I mean, we’re in an underwater dome filled with strange, dinosaur eating plants and rude assholes!”

Mary strayed off from the duo, venturing in what seemed to be some sort of tunnel. Gemstones were far from rare- every few steps a new one showed up. Oboe was right. It was extremely strange- but the humans who had made them had already proved that, she supposed. Who was Mary to question them when they are the sole reason she existed? “Over here!” She called, voice echoing. “Plenty to fill the bag up.”

Mintee and Oboe were quick to arrive, bag clutched in the green herbivore's mouth. “Ugh.” Oboe grumbled, not a fan of being even more underground. “Let's do this fast.” Mary and Mintee were of a similar mindset- while it was nice to be out of the prison they had found themselves in, this was not any better.

It only took about an hour for them to fill up the bag enough for Mary to deem it acceptable- the gems were certainly easy enough to find, but they were still small compared to the size of the bag. By the time they were done, the trio were coated in a huge amount of dirt and dust. They already had little chance to bathe and clean during their days of service, and old mud still stuck to their feathers. 

“Do you think we could stop at a water source on our way back?” Mintee mumbled through the bag in her mouth. “My feathers feel terrible, and I doubt they’ll let us leave again for a while.” Oboe sent big pleading eyes towards Mary- no doubt she was feeling it just as bad.

Mary smiled. “I suppose we should wash the gems off.” She snorted, leading the way up the steep walls with little difficulty- reaching back to grab the bag from Mintee so she could make her own way up. “Really, it saves them the effort.” 

The trio began to chat as they made their way towards the nearest salt and fresh water river- not noticing the shadow on the other side of the quarry, red eyes narrowed at them. With nary a sound they slipped back into the jungle, on the trail- these outsiders were the chance they had been waiting for. They would not let the opportunity slip away again…