We Will Not Bow

     So... now what?

 

     Frostbite was never one to waste time on any sorts of negotiations, or... er... what the Atlantians called... poly-ticks. Thus, trying to understand such things, for the pachy, was like trying to count crabs on the beach - by the time a handful are sorted out, a dozen more had dug up out of the sand... and a half dozen others had decided to dig back down again. 

 

     To make things worse, she had just been informed by a well-meaning, if snooty, iguanodon, that she indeed WAS an omnivore like the dear sweet oviraptor scouts, not an herbivore like she'd come to believe, so... well, one could imagine what it might be like to have one's world turned on it's head. The idea of eating stinky fish, or... or worse, gnawing bones like some mutty thick-jawed carno...

 

     All in all, Frost had... no idea what to think, or what to do. For the simple pachy, the Atlantian life was... too extravagant. Too.... much. And now, after learning the Queen's plans... 

 

     She shook her head hard and the scowl plastered to her scales slipped even lower. With a grunt of mental pain, the pachy turned towards her constant partner in these Atlantian endeavors, and no doubt the brighter of the two - the tapejara, Melorin.

 

-

 

Who was currently lost in her thougts. They were walking toward the Queen's meeting room but the meeting they had planed made the little Tapejara more more and more nervous as they were progressing through the corridor. She was looking at those impressive walls protecting them from the water beneath her, but for how long... All of this was making her so anxious. To her, this underwater, so called, paradise didn't have a reason to exist, it was too opulent, too ostentatious. But more so, too dangerous. 

 

Melon felt the pachy's gaze on her and it was enough to pop the bubble in which she was lost.

 

"I'm sorry for my silence Frost, I promise you I'll be more talkative when we get there.. I can't wait for it to be over though"

 

She sighed. The corridor brought them to a tall door, for now close. And they stopped, as if none of them wanted to enter the room and have this conversation. Melorin felt like it was an already lost battle, the queen felt too stubborn, too proud of her kingdom to let it go, what was the point in trying to make her be reasonable. But they had to try, for the sake of the island. 

 

-

 

     "You and me both," Frostbite grunted, giving her head a shake. She had been lost deep in her own bubble, and wasn't burst out of it yet - Frost hated every moment of it.

 

      How does one even make a decision like this? Frost might not be the nicest pachy in the world, but, she wasn't cruel enough to wish a watery end on anydino. Yet, the alternative was what?  Atlantian domination of the world above? Her home? No. No, no, no, there had to be another choice. Death or... death, and likely servitude until death by vegetable on the side, judging by how these underworlders acted. It seemed to the pachy that they were kind.... only so long as they believed they would get what they wanted from the overworlders. When the Atlantians were opposed.... that was another story. The big carnivores... sure, they would last awhile. But these iguanodons - they were huge, and excellent fighters. Not to mention the unbreakable Euos, and the nigh-uncatchable Oviraptor scouts. Even the Acros would be plowed under eventually. No, they could not be allowed to take over the surface.

 

    But.... the seawater was leaking in. Frost saw the rising waters for herself in the lower corridors. The thought of all these creatures in here drowning..... so far under the surface, it made her sick to her gut.

 

    Frostbite feet faltered and haulted. She just had to stop here and get her thoughts together before she could force herself to go any further. It.... would have to come out. Her choice... she would have to give it, tell the queen what she would do if the queen insisted on going ahead with her plan of taking over. She would have to tell the queen she would fight, and fight until she would fight no more. 

 

    In a bout of abject frustration, the pachy snorted and slammed her rock-hard head against the floor. It... may have cracked the flagstones. But Frost didn't care, it felt better than trying to make these thoughts cooperate. But the alarmed Melorin didn't seem to like it all that much, so Frostbite forced her feet to continue along the long, stark corridor.

 

    A long groan softly blew through the pachy's snout as the long hall's end appeared before them. Her heart pounded. She turned her spiked head towards Melorin and took in a deep breath, jaw set. Whatever was going to happen... it was going to happen all too soon.

 

-

 

    The little Tapejara nodded to her companion with a serious face before opening the door to the Queen's office.

It was a large opulent room, with plants growing everywhere from floor to ceiling and many fancy decors, it was quite fitting to her image..

 

"What seems to be the disturbance ?"

Asked the queen, raising her neck from her desk.

 

"We..We came here to talk about a problem of an important matter" Melon stuttered as she stepped in.

The queen remained silent, waiting for Melorin to elaborate.

 

"We...We were informed about your plans regarding the soon-ending of your glorious realm and...We're worried... About your decisions"

The queen's face darkened as her jaw clenched 

 

"I..I know you're worried about your people and we do not wish to see you perish underwater, But maybe there're some other solution to be considered ?..."

 

"Then tell me little Tapejara, who seems to have a larger brain than me, how I could save my realm, but maybe your mute friends have the answer ?"

 

The tall Iguanodon curved her neck to stare at them from a shorter distance, her eyes were cold and intense upon the two little friends. Would Frost dare to speak.

 

-

 

   Frostbite was never one to back down, but this might be the first time she wished she could. But the pachy dug her toes into the fancy floor, and puffed out her chest, "We will help you fix your dome - just yesterday we spent from dawn til after midday helping your subjects repair a crack in the third south-eastern arch. We will help you survive, we will even try to find someplace for your people to live, not rule, if all else fails..... but," Here the pachy's voice strengthened, and her blue eyes blazed with hottest fire, "We will not help you take over our home. You cannot have it. We will not bow to a dictator, a queen, or any such ruler who claims our home as their domain."

 

     "If you had chosen your people over your power... if you had come without your invading plants, your dominating plans, there would have been a place for you...." The pachy's voice gained a pleading note, "Is that not an option? Put down your power to save your people?"

 

-

 

   The room remained silent, a cold wind made Melorin shiver. She didn't expected Frost to be this bold and honest. She stared at her friend, and then slowly drifted her eyes toward the queen? She was so fearful of her reaction but she seemed...Calm ? 

 

"You've been heard, you may leave now."

She simply said with a neutral tone.