Surface Skirmish

Kela scrublands were hostile and unyielding and that was only the environment, the dinosaurs that lived there were far, far worse. Tony, Brook and Drift had their heads on a swivel as they marched behind Kratti into the wide open plains. There wasn't cover for miles, meaning they could see something coming from a long way off but that something could see them coming too. Kratti had the full confidence of someone who had never set foot in the scrublands before, convinced that he and three surface dwellers were enough to scout the way forward for the rest of the Atlantean colonisers. They weren't planting this time, and they thanked every lucky star in the sky for that because digging one more hole might have caused a mental break none of them would've recovered from. Instead, they were just scouting, laying out a track for the others to follow and clearing the way if necessary. It became necessary close to the high sandy formations of rock that formed the famous ridges of Outlook Ridge. Wedged in between two of the tall walls of stone, a large dried out tree trunk blocked the narrow pathway forward.

"Let's go back and find a different way," Tony said immediately, "This is a trap."

"Nonsense, it's just some debris in our path," Kratti frowned, "I will clear it easily if you cannot."

"It's been left there to slow us down and make us easy pickings," Brook said darkly, his eyes scanning the ridges above them.

"Something's waiting to jump us," Drift whispered, turning to stand back to back with her brother. 

"An' waitin' most patiently, I must say." All four of them jumped at the sudden voice from above that echoed down between the steep canyons.

"Show yourself!" Kratti barked, drawing his spear from his back. It was a wooden handled and stone-tipped thing, primitive and worth less than a piece of kindling against anything with the sense to dodge the tip and snap the handle. 

"How crass of ya, to speak so boldly in my home," the voice continued. The four dinosaurs on the ground whipped their heads around, trying to locate the source of the mocking tone. From over the top of the ridge, the voice revealed itself by stepping forward. A gleaming snow white Carno stood above them looking down his short snout at them. His eyes were ringed with red and his horns were the same deep crimson, as were the horns of the Carnos that followed him steeping into view. From the ridges to the west another handful of Carnos stepped forward, and the winding canyon path to the east was blocked by another Carno emerging from around the corner where it had clearly been lying in wait. Tony looked to the Cryos, all three of them wondering how they would manage to talk their way out of this. At the very least it had begun with talking instead of an attack, they surely had a chance to talk this down.

"We are knights of the court of Atlantis," Kratti bellowed up to the white Carno, "We are seeking passage through this land." Drift whimpered, shrinking back and eyes darting for an escape route. It didn't seem like there were any of the pack behind them but the way here had been steep, if they fled too quickly they could end up falling down the slope and into the canyon below. 

"Passage denied, I've heard of your kind," the Carno rumbled, "You think  you're steppin' on our turf with your flowery abominations? Think again." He didn't say any kind of attack call but it was like a dam burst and the Carnos lunged forward en masse. They skidded down the cliffsides like it was nothing and were upon the four dinosaurs in an instant. Kratti swung his spear to bluntly connect with the underside of a Carno's jaw and on the backswing jabbed the end into the chest of another. Brook squared up to the only Carno he saw charging him directly and braced himself, ducking at the last second and throwing his full body into a shoulder check against the Carno's body. It was just enough to throw them off balance but another was upon him already and despite the height difference it sunk its teeth into the back of his neck as he recovered from the impact on the other. He roared in pain, sending the alert to his sister. Drift blindly turned from the Carno had been taking her attention, lashing her tail and striking it across the face as she rushed to her brother's side. The Carno wasn't going to let go easily so she sunk her teeth into the back of its leg and shook her head viciously to try and shred the blood vessel within. She had fought enough theropods to know that there was some kind of fountain of blood back there that would put the Carno on a countdown if she managed to rip it open. She leaned back on her haunches to pull backwards, feeling muscle rip under her teeth and the Carno finally let go of her brother to fight back. It tried to whip its head around to her but she kept herself positioned directly behind it, turning when it did and doubling her efforts to rip the chunk of flesh that she had in her grasp. The Carno Brook had knocked over was back on its feet and he had to shake the pain to ready himself to face it again. He felt his tail rub against the wall of the canyon and backed up into it, keeping his back covered as the furious abelisaur approached. 

Tony hadn't ,made it to adulthood without facing a few Carnotauruses along the way, but a pack this size was troubling even him. Kratti dwarfed them in size but their sharp brutal attacks were catching the Iguanodon off guard and the Pachy had had to intervene to keep their teeth from his throat several times already. He could hear the Cryos struggling but he knew Kratti was their greatest weapon despite his inexperience and he rallied to protect him instead, knowing the younger dinosaurs had the grit of an islander on their side. His skull collided with the leg of a Carno that was sinking its teeth into one of Kratti's forelimbs and he could feel the thud and crack of bone breaking underneath. A Carno with one leg wasn't much of a threat, he nodded to himself and hurried to the next. Kratti was currently crushing a Carno against the canyon walls, having given up using his spear and resorted to throwing his weight around. With the foe flattened he finally had a moment to look around and saw the Cryos wrestling two different Carnos and Tony charging at a third. Even as they fought valiantly, more of the attackers were pouring from the canyon walls like a swarm of insects. Kratti felt something tighten in his throat but he knew what had to be done. He ignored the ones approaching his flank and targeted the two that were squaring up to the Cryos instead. With a hefty swing of his forelimb he sent the one Drift was hanging out of flying down the side of the canyon into the shallow river below. With her attention freed she turned to face the other Carno with her brother and their combined force also sent it tumbling down the hole.

"Group up and fall back!" Kratti shouted over the chaos, pulling each Cryo close to him and waiting for Tony to rejoin them. With their group tightly bunched together and facing the onslaught, they began the slow, agonising process of retreating backwards from the canyon. As he looked up, Tony could see the white Carno still watching them from afar, his expression unreadable from this distance. Atlantis would not find a foothold here, even if they recruited islanders to the cause.