The Cold Bite of Winter

“Wake up! C’mon, Layla’s been away for ages and I’m bored.”

Dullahan nibbled on Callahan’s cheek feathers, purposefully trying to annoy her so that she got up and paid attention to him. The joke was on Dullahan - she was starting to lose her hatchling feathers and they were slowly being replaced by a more protective layer of feathers and it itched terribly sometimes. It made her look patchy and rough. The nibbles felt quite nice, loosening the down feathers and breaking the hard keratin shell on the new feathers.

Dullahan pulled a face when one of the down feathers stuck to the tip of his snout. He shook his head and just noticed Callahan giving him a mischievous look. She wasn’t sleeping at all anymore!

Dullahan gave a delighted shriek when Callahan sprang up and pounced at him, her fledgling arm feathers giving her a jagged silhouette when she spread her arms wide and threw her feet forwards to grab at him. She was ever careful not to scratch his hide with her claws, but they were a little bigger now, his scales a little stronger, and she was slightly less worried about hurting him.

He was even less worried, nipping harmlessly at her feathers and rolling her and jumping to grab her with his feet. Tiny, delicate down feathers blew into the air with all their roughhousing, drifting away on a gentle breeze and catching on twigs, bark, and leafless shrubs. Winter was in full swing, and it was little moments of energy that kept the pair of them warm when Layla was away hunting for them. Especially Dullahan - Callahan got chilly sometimes, with her patchy feather coat, but Dullahan had to rely Callahan, the weather, and his own self to keep warm.

Dullahan landed on the cold ground with a huff when Callahan stood over him triumphantly. “Give up yet?”

Dullahan lais his head down dramatically. “I give up, you win, you’re the stronger twin and I should have just let you sleep so that I didn’t have to suffer this defeat.”

“That’s what I thought,” Callahan chirped, looking smug. She let Dullahan up, only for his eyes to sparkle with devious intent. He kicked her away - her feathers dampening most of the blow, he only wanted to move her - and scrambled off in a mad dash. “You’re 'it!'” he crowed as he raced away.

“Hey, no fair! You didn’t say we were playing tag!” Callahan protested, but she was already running after him as fast as her little legs could carry her. Neither of them had grown up to be as big as a utahraptor their age really should be (a likely side effect of the nature of their hatching) but the length of their legs did nothing to slow them down.

“Layla’s gonna get mad if we run too far!” Callahan called.

Dullahan shot a teasing look over his shoulder, not slowing down for even a moment. “Then you better catch me so we can be back before she is so she doesn’t find out!”

Callahan chased him with new determination, running and jumping over shorter obstacles and diving under taller ones. Their breaths came out in puffs of fog as they panted, their claws kicking up frozen detritus and bits of compacted snow that hadn’t melted since the last time the snow had fallen.

Dullahan started to scramble up a tree to get away - but Callahan was faster. Her claws hooked into the bark as she propelled herself upwards and gently mouthed his tail-tip, just enough to let him know that she’d caught up to him and now he was 'it.' She sprang away, laughing and forgetting her earlier worries about being gone from the nest while Layla was away.

The pair chased one another through the bare winter forest until they were both exhausted and fell into a panting heap against each other.

“I win,” Dullahan teased, laughing breathlessly.

“What?” Callahan’s mis-matched feathers fluffed up. “No way, you can’t win at tag!”

Dullahan laughed again, knocking the back of his head against her neck. “Sure you can!” He paused for a moment to catch his breath. “You were still ‘it’ when we stopped, so you couldn’t catch me again, so I win.”

Callahan snorted. “I’m touching you now, so you’re ‘it’ again.”

“No, we stopped! You’re still ‘it!'”

The pair bickered back and forth, riling them both up into another game when they had energy again - only for Callahan to pause with her claws over Dullahan’s snout, holding it shut.

Dullahan glanced around as well as he could with his head still smushed to the ground. “‘S wrong?” he asked, voice muffled.

Callahan let him up, her feathers slowly rising as she sank into a crouch. She didn’t know, but something felt wrong. “You hear how quiet it is?” she asked, still looking around the winter-bare trees.

Orange eyes watched them from between the tree trunks. Kana was hungry. The cold had frozen over lakes and streams, and driven away the fish into deeper, harder to hunt waters. It had forced her to search for alternative sources of food. A couple young utahraptors that walked deliberately into her path were a welcome winter meal for a massive suchomimus who was always hungry. Her pale colours didn’t immediately make her stand out in the dull surroundings, which had let her get very close while they chirped and called and ran through the forest. She was so close now. If she could creep forwards just a bit more, she would be within striking distance and she could snap them up.

Dullahan flinched when a familiar voice barked a warning. Layla had returned from her hunt to find the nest empty, and followed their scent to a terrifying scene. The little ones she’d decided to take care of - and even come to love - almost within the jaws of death.

She called again, even more urgent and insistent when the twins didn’t initially move from their crouched position. Layla raced forwards, calling out the danger as she barked for them to run. She couldn’t watch this happen again.

Callahan and Dullahan finally sprang into action when the danger suddenly became apparent, with Kana lunging forwards. Her bulk made her slow and clumsy on land, but her long neck gave her range. Her jaws snapped shut - and caught nothing more but Callahan’s downy feathers. She shook her head and spat them out, bellowing as she charged after them.

Layla joined Callahan and Dullahan, guiding them through the forest in a route that might shake Kana from their trail. Over and under obstacles, through trees that grew together so tightly the suchomimus would have no choice but to go around. When there was enough distance between them, Layla urged Callahan and Dullahan up into the trees, out of sight and far out of reach. She would lead their pursuer away while they got to safety, and come back for them when she had lost Kana. The hungry suchomimus roared, her voice echoing through the bare forest.

Dullahan threw himself up a tree, clinging desperately to the bark and scrabbling for purchase. Callahan climbed the other side, the claws on her hands catching occasionally on Dullahan’s, making him squeak in pain. They clung to the trunk, their hearts hammering as they watched Layla disappear from view, Kana thundering after her.

Their ribs heaved as they took gasping breaths, their lungs burning with how fast they had run. When their limbs started to shake from the exertion of clinging to the tree and the sound of Kana’s heavy footsteps retreated far enough away, they skidded down the trunk to perch on lower, stronger branches that could better support their weight.

Dullahan huddled up against Callahan, shivering, as close as he could get. Scratches on his hands beaded with fresh blood and Callahan felt her heart ache. She turned her head into his chest and whispered frantic apologies, which Dullahan forgave immediately. She hadn’t meant to hurt him, he knew.

They sat there, shaking and huddled together in terrified silence while they waited for Layla to return. Every twig snapping, every quiet plop of snow falling from a height could have been Kana coming back to pluck them from the tree like ripened fruit. But there was no sign of the suchomimus.

There was no sign of Layla, either.

Not until the sun was just sinking past the horizon. Callahan straightened up when she heard muffled footsteps crunching through the partially melted snow below. She nudged Dullahan, who was just falling asleep cozied up beside her. He roused in an instant, wobbling as he caught himself from slipping off the branch.

The pair hunkered down on the branch, crouched as low as they could be as they watched for whatever was approaching.

It was Layla’s voice that called softly to them. Callahan peeped quietly, catching their adoptive mother’s attention. Layla’s muzzle turned upwards and her heart flooded with relief to see the pair of them safe and unharmed. Mostly unharmed - it was sad to see that there was dried blood on Dullahan’s hands.

She called them down from their perch. They could go home, now. There was a freshly caught deer carcass waiting for them.