[Trade] Not Quite Enough

The rays of the spring sun gently brushed against the treetops, causing bright streaks of light to filter through the thick foliage, creating intriguing patterns on the grass below. Bright, slightly orange patches moved to the rhythm of the wind, dancing in unison across the warm, damp earth in several organised groups.

Haze watched this spectacle with a hint of curiosity. Had she been younger, she would surely have taken great delight in this sight – she might even have chased those patches of light like an amused kitten. Now, however, as a teenager standing on the threshold of adulthood, she had become somewhat more serious. She knew it was unwise to waste energy on such childish games. The Archipelago did not forgive such foolish mistakes – it was far too brutal for that. A senseless expenditure of energy could mean she would run out of it just when she needed it most.

The female was hungry. All morning, her empty stomach had been making itself felt with painful, sporadic cramps. Haze was practically dreaming of a warm, nourishing meal. F-23 still had some meat left over from her last hunt – the acrocanthosaurus guarded the remains of her prey as if they were a defenseless clutch, never letting her property out of her sight. Haze knew she could no longer count on her foster mother’s mercy. It pained her somewhat that the support she received from F-23 was dwindling with each passing day, but deep down she knew it was for her own good. Haze was almost an adult. There was a good chance she would soon leave the place where she had grown up to explore new territories. Then she would not be able to idly count on her mother to save her.

Despite this, the older female was not cruel. She knew that something was troubling Haze. It was also obvious that her offspring was hungry, but she did not yet have enough skill to do anything about it entirely on her own. At best, she could stoop to the role of a scavenger, but that would not satisfy the nutritional needs of an almost-adult albertosaurus.

“Come on, let’s go hunting,” the calm but unyielding voice of F-23 snapped the smaller predator out of her reverie.

They didn’t have to bother with following a long, tedious track. The area was teeming with herbivores. There were only two problems – their potential prey were rather large and, as a rule, lived in herds. Both of these factors could make the hunt potentially dangerous. The females had to be careful.

F-23 decided to make this difficult task easier for her offspring. Once they had entered the territory often occupied by the parasaurolophus living in the area, the acrocanthosaurus took it upon herself to find a solitary specimen.

However, she had no intention of making the hunt a mere formality. She could have tried to find a young one that had been neglected, or some sick individual unable to keep up with the herd. F-23, however, had a different idea – she had set her sights on a solitary, impressively large male in his prime, who was calmly grazing alone in a fairly large clearing.

The older female led Haze as close as she could without scaring off their prey. She knew she didn’t need to repeat the hunting techniques – she’d explained them to her offspring many times before. Haze knew perfectly well that she should get as close as possible; attack by surprise and from behind the prey, so that it wouldn’t immediately realise what was happening; she knew she should aim for the leg muscles to slow the prey down, and then, when the right opportunity arose, lunge towards the exposed throat and finish the job. She had the theory down pat; all that remained was to put it into practice.

F-23 gave the young albertosaurus a reassuring nudge on the shoulder, as if to say “you can do it, I believe in you”, and then walked away, as quietly as she could, heading to the other side of the clearing. She intended to wait in hiding, behind the head of the unsuspecting herbivore, so that if necessary she could step in and tip the balance of this clash in favour of the novice hunter. She hoped, however, that she would not have to intervene.

Haze fixed her gaze on the male, covered in dark scales. The bright yellow stripe on his crest was like a provocative marker, signalling her target. The albertosaurus growled softly and completely unconsciously – she was gathering her courage.

Finally, when the inattentive parasaurolophus once again lowered his head to nibble some grass from the ground, Haze decided that this was the right moment to strike. The female leapt out of the bushes, reaching full speed astonishingly quickly. Before her prey could realise that his life was in danger, the young albertosaurus was already close. Close enough to hook her teeth into her prey’s hip, marked with a black curse patch.

The dark skin gave way under the pressure, and blood seeped out from between the densely packed scales. The parasaurolophus, feeling a sudden, searing pain, let out a loud cry. The sound, amplified by the crest on its head, was almost deafening. Haze winced, feeling her ears throb with the unpleasant noise. She couldn’t let herself be distracted, not now.

She lunged forward once more, clamping her jaws onto her prey’s body again, this time catching his side. Not the best choice – her teeth, though they cut through the skin and soft tissue, slid down the rounded ribs.

Meanwhile, the adult parasaurolophus finally grasped the nature of the threat and realised he had to oppose it somehow. He could, of course, have fled, as most of his kind would in a similar situation. But he was too proud for that. The male spun violently towards his opponent, sensing that Haze was unable to get a firm grip. The parasaurolophus charged at the predator without a moment’s hesitation. All three tonnes of his weight hurtled towards the young, inexperienced albertosaurus.

F-23 burst out of her hiding place with a loud, threatening roar, charging with all her might towards the herbivore. Just as she had thought, the sudden, loud commotion diverted the aggressive male’s attention away from Haze – only thanks to this was the albertosaurus able to leap back, saving herself from certain death. The acrocanthosaurus did not hesitate for a moment. In a matter of seconds, she reached her prey and immediately seized the parasaurolophus by the neck, clamping her jaws tightly onto the warm flesh.

First came a pitiful, drawn-out roar of pain and fear. Then that sound was cut short by a sudden, blood-curdling crunch as the spine snapped.

F-23 immediately loosened her jaws, allowing her dead prey to slump to the ground with a dull thud. The female fixed a gaze full of fear and fury on the albertosaurus, which was panting heavily from exhaustion.

“I’ve told you so many times – you have to do it quickly and precisely, not bite blindly, without any plan! You could have been killed!” The words poured out of the older female’s mouth in a torrent, without a single pause for breath.

Haze lowered her head, avoiding eye contact. She had made a mistake that could have had tragic consequences. She had failed. Having been raised by a huge, terrifyingly powerful acrocanthosaurus, she had forgotten that she herself would never attain such power… She still had much to learn to be even half as effective as her mother.

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