Whisp's Journey: Distant Shores

Whisp liked to think of himself as a peaceful dinosaur. 

Yes, he was a carnivore, and yes he had large fangs, but that didn’t mean he actively sought to kill everything in sight. If Whisp ever were to do that, other more powerful predators would likely see him as a threat and chase him and his family away or worse.

He only hunted what he needed. 

Well that, and whatever Brambles, his loving mate, might be craving. He’d do anything for her, and she would do the same.

Despite their role as predators, they didn’t hunt herbivores all the time. How else were they supposed to overhear gossip from around the Islands if all of the herds ran off the moment they saw them? That and not all other cryolophosaurus packs were willing to have talks about the gossip amongst themselves.

Right now they were wandering around the coast of kela. Most of the time it was something within the herds, like a new leader, or some sort of unusual relic of the past.

Lately however, the gossip from all herds had shifted into talking about the same thing.

“I finally got the whole picture of the recent herd news,” Brambles told Whisp.

The pack settled on top of some smooth stones to sunbathe. The ocean gently whispered some distance away, the smell of the sea tinting the air.

“I overheard some styra herds talk about members of the herd passing away from eating the odd plants,” Brambles continued. “Apparently they’re poisonous.”

“That means that we can’t even scavenge their bodies, nor anything else,” Whisp realized with concern.

Bramble nodded in agreement. “Not to mention that they grow fast. It’s taken some time but a tape told me that they’ve been brought by some dinosaurs. An unknown species of dinosaurs.”

From behind, Whisp noted Powder’s head perking up, but he tried to not direct any attention to her.

“Why has it taken so long for us to hear about them?” Whisp asked.

“Because it’s taken this long for the herds to even catch one in the act,” Brambles answered. “They’re small, but swift. The subtlelest of movements and they dashed off, leaving only their footprints behind. But nobody’s been able to track down where they’re from.”

“Oh! Maybe we should help in the efforts of tracking the dinosaurs!” Powder said from behind excitingly, jumping on her feet from the rock she was sunbathing on. “I think I heard of some recent activity around the Tomb of Tomes and the Grand Arch-”

Brambles quickly got off her rock and gave a warning hiss, causing her sister to shut her mouth and crouch down.

“Sorry,” She quietly muttered.

“She does have a point,” Whisp reasoned, earning him a sharp look from his mate. “About tracking those dinosaurs. If those plants grow as fast as they do, then they might overtake all the edible vegetation. Then the herds and other wildlife will starve-”

“And we’ll starve,” Brambles finished. The cryo took a deep breath and lowered her head in thought.

“We can’t all go, that would put all of us in danger. But you can,” Brambles said, looking up at Whisp.

“Wha- Me?” The suggestion was enough to make him slip off his rock.

“You’ve always been the kind to make rational decisions, and unlike myself, you won’t be the first to try and take on something dangerous. And if I sent out Powder, I’m sure she’d get distracted by the first pretty shell on the beach.”

From behind, the cryo glanced to the side with a saddened look. 

Whisp loves Brambles, he really does. But sometimes he wished she didn’t act so aggressively around her sister. She did have the potential to do good things, but right now they couldn’t tell what intentions the new dinosaurs had.

And the last thing she needed was more scars…

“Alright… I’ll go,” he answered his mate, standing on his feet. “I’ll try my best to find these mysterious dinosaurs.”

“Try not to get any scars, okay?” Brambles asked. “I won’t be there to take the hits for you.”

“I don’t intend to. They suit you better,” Whisp said with a gentle chuckle. At that Brambles rumbled in agreement. 

“Better get going then,” Brambles motioned. “Grand Arch is the place that other dinosaurs are investigating, right?” The cryo asked her sister without turning her head.

“Uh, yes,” Powder said quickly.

“We’ll be waiting for you here, or closeby if the strange plants spread,” Brambles promised, stretching her neck to gently rub her forehead with his.

“I know you will,” Whisp said quietly.

⚜···—–—⚜—–—···⚜

Days later, Whisp was able to make out the Grand Arch. It was a sight to behold, the large sandstone structure hanging high above the water, surrounded by other cliffs.

It was somewhere in the middle of the morning. The sun was overhead, but not high in the sky, misty clouds covering dulling its shine but not completely. The water felt cold to the touch whenever it lapped at Whisp’s feet, so he stayed around the warm sands.

More dinosaurs dotted this part of Kela’s shores than usual. Carnivores and herbivores alike wandered around, none showing any signs of wariness to each other.

‘Perhaps part of the search effort for the unfamiliar dinosaurs that Powder had spoken about,’ Whisp wondered.

From the seas, the cryo could make out the heads of aquatic dinosaurs peeking out and chatting with tapes and tropes whizzing about their heads. Even they were curious about the newcomers.

‘It’s not hard to see why,’ Whisp mused as he spotted yet another carcass on the shore. Dotted with flies, it ranks the air with the bittersweet smell of death. Yet not even scavenging mammals would touch its body, the poison that killed it still inside.

‘They didn’t know any better,’ the cryo thought with a frown. ‘They just found out the hard way that the plants can’t be eaten.’

Whisp gently swept sand over its bodies, the flies moving in a buzzing swarm as he did so. The waters would wash over it in time, but for now at least it was covered up.

He soon left the site of the corpse behind, nothing but the sea and shorebirds making a sound.

⚜···—–—⚜—–—···⚜

Noon had passed, and yet Whisp had the strange feeling of being followed.

There weren’t any dinosaurs in sight on this particular stretch of the Grand Arch, but there were signs that someone was close by. An occasional shuffle of the sands, a tiny snicker, the start of a laugh. And curiously, he kept picking up on the scent of a styra.

Whisp just couldn’t figure it out. No corpses laid about from the species, and he hadn’t been able to hunt any dinosaurs anyways, just fish and shorebirds.

But something else did catch his eye: the remains of a boat.

At least that’s what he heard a raccoon call them. Odd wooden structures that humans made long ago to travel the waters without having to swim. He didn’t quite understand how, but maybe the raccoon forgot all the details.

It was small compared to himself, the edges of the hole on the side worn by the tides. A stick was in the middle, but he couldn’t see why it was put there in the first place.

“Can I fit my head- oh, yes, I can peek in here,” Whisp said to himself as he checked the inside of the wooden structure.

There were tracks inside, but smaller than he’d expected. Apparently whoever made them was here for a while.

The only other thing around were some odd looking seeds. One of them had managed to sprout in the sandy soil. Whisp stretched his neck to take a cautious sniff at it-

“RAAAAR!” Said a tiny black blur that appeared on his snout.

“AH!” Whisp bumped his head against the top of the hole as he rushed to pull his head away.

“You can’t come in here!” The tiny voice shouted.

“Wait, why not?” Another equally small voice asked.

“You know why!”

It was at this moment that Whisp hazard another careful peek inside with his eyes. Two hatchlings stood by the front of the hole. One a young black and white styracosaurus, the other a sunny carnotaurus.

“Uhh, is it because he’s really big?” The carnotaur asked.

“No!” The styra explained, stomping on the sand. “It’s because he doesn’t know the password!”

“Ohh.” The carnotaur curiously gazed at the pile of seeds. “Well someone came by earlier without knowing the password.”

“Yeah, and I hate that! So big mister,” the styra said, gaining Whisp’s attention, and a slight flinch. “Do you know the password, or do you not!?”

“What are you doing here?” Whisp asked. “I haven’t seen anyone else for a while. Does your herd or pack know where you are?”

“That’s our business!” She replied.

“Magpie What’s a pack?” The sunny carnotaur asked the hatchling.

“It’s like a herd but with meat eaters like you,” Magpie answered her.

“Well we haven’t seen those,” the carnotaur explained to Whisp. “We just been under this boat for a while cause we got lost.”

“Tilly, you weren’t supposed to say that,” Magpie hushed her friend. “Stranger danger, hello?”

“Hi!” Tilly answered back, much to her friend’s exasperation.

“Um, look, you two are too young to be out by yourselves,” Whisp interrupted. “So is someone you know nearby, or not?”

Both hatchlings looked at each other. Tilly had a worried look on her face, which seemed to push Magpie to sigh. “Okay, fine,” She relented. “We got lost a while back. We’ve been fine so far, but someone’s been coming into our hideout every night.”

“The same someone who’s been leaving the footprints and all of these seeds here?” Whisp asked.

“Yep!” Tilly answered.

“I keep tossing them out because I know what my elder told me about them,” Magpie went on, “But then they keep coming back every night!”

“Yeah, and it’s hard for us to figure out who because we can’t stay up that late,” Tilly said with a sad expression. “They keep taking all the neat stuff we’ve found on the beach.”

“Except her red bucket, but that’s because she sleeps on top of it every night,” the styra added.

“Can I see it?” Whisp asked.

“Okay!” Tilly answered, her tail perking up at the suggestion. She went somewhere inside of the boat, and not long after came with her bucket. It was a nice shade of red with a few drawings of flowers decorating outside. The white handle fit perfectly inside her jaw.

“It’s my favorite thing in the world,” she grinned.

“It is very nice,” Whisp agreed, smiling back. “What do you put in there?”

“Mostly rain water when it comes down. The sea doesn’t taste great,” Tilly added with a sour expression. 

“Mmm, I see.”

Whisp took a moment to raise his body to glance around, and take a much needed stretch. He hadn’t talked with small hatchlings in a while. 

‘No one else is around, much less their own kind. And I don’t know if the newcomers will stop leaving them alone…’

He glanced down at the tiny hatchlings. Tilly had gone back to put away her bucket. Meanwhile Magpie was nudging away the seeds outside the boat.

“Why are you here, anyways?” Magpie asked. “I’ve been watching you walk around the beach all day.”

“Oh, so you were the one following me,” Whisp guessed.

“Yeah,” the styra answered. “Tilly also followed after she ate a rat. She’s not very sneaky, but she’s very good at following me.”

“She’ll learn with time,” Whisp said, right as Tilly came back outside. “And as to why I’m here, it seems that a lot of dinosaurs are dealing with the same species that’s leaving those odd seeds.”

“Really?” Both hatchlings asked at the same time.

‘Oh goodness they’re so cute,’ the cryo thought to himself.

“Yes. It’s not good for my pack, we don’t want to eat anything that’s been poisoned,” he went on. “So, I want to help you out. I’ll keep watch and make sure nothing comes inside of your hideout.”

“They’re def- definini- they sure are sneaky,” Tilly stuttered through.

“And then what?” Magpie asked. “You’re a huge predator, how do we know you’re not going to eat us?”

“I’ve got a few reasons,” Whisp explained. “One, I was sent by my mate to find the strange dinosaurs. Two, I promised not to get any scars, and I’m sure you would find a way to give me one despite your size. Three, I don’t want to hurt you two, especially if you’ve got someone out there looking for you.”

The tiny styra frowned in thought. “Give us a moment,” she said, nudging Tilly back inside of the boat.

Both scuttled inside. He could hear them loudly whisper inside, and an occasional giggle from Tilly.

“Okay, fine, fine,” Magpie said before both came back outside.

“I’m listening,” Whisp said, sitting on his back legs.

“We’ve decided you can stay outside, but not inside,” she stated. “We don’t want you to wreck the boat if you’re just as tired as Tilly is in the morning.”

“It’s hard waking up,” the carnotaur argued.

Whisp gave a light snort and a smile. “It’s alright, my mate Brambles is like that sometimes,” he said understandingly.

“Oh, one more thing,” Magpie said. “Do you have a name?”

“You can call me Whisp,” he said to both hatchlings.

A loud growl interrupted the late introduction, causing both hatchlings to shout in panic.

“What was that?” Tilly asked.

“Where the heck did that come from?” Magpie asked, immediately scanning the beach for the source.

“Oops, my stomach,” Whisp said sheepishly. “I better go fishing. Do you want any, Tilly?”

“Wait, you can fish?” Tilly said in awe.

“Yes! You’re free to watch. Magpie, do you mind making sure she stays on the shallow waters?”

“Yep! Come on Tilly, let’s watch here.”