Tale:Fogwalkers: Chapter 1 - The Paladin and The Basin
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Monty the Guanlong awoke from within the log he called home, to the sound of the early morning chorus, just as he did every day. Monty's eyes flitted open, and he rolled over onto his back, stretching his limbs with a yawn, before rolling into a sitting position on the bottom of the log. With another yawn, Monty stood up and stepped out of his log into the cool and damp morning air. His log was surrounded in all directions by towering evergreens, making them one of the first things he saw everyday, and today wasn't any different. Monty looked around, breathing in the moist air, before starting down the trail that led from his log to the nearby lake. Stopping only briefly to make a basking lizard into his breakfast, Monty found himself at the lakeshore in no time at all.
Monty wasn't the first one there, since when he got there he found several of the local residents already there.
"That was a rock nimrod!" Barnum, a Polecanthus shouted at Lynus, a Pelicanimimus who was currently adamantly denying Barnum's claims.
"What's this about now?" Monty asked Barnum as he sidled up besides him.
Barnum snorted, "Oh just Lynus being a numbskull like usual." he replied. "Thought this rock we saw from atop a hill yesterday was some sort of strange giant tortoise. I can confirm that it was in fact just a rock."
"No it wasn't!" Lynus shouted insistently.
"Yes it was you dumbass! You made me walk all the way down there and check well you stood crouched on the hill ready to turn tail at a second's notice!" Barnum yelled back.
"Can you two both just shut your damn beaks for once?" a voice from behind asked. Monty and Barnum turned around to see who the owner of the voice was, finding the looming form of Bethy the Plateosaurus behind them with a mildly annoyed expression on her face. "Way too early for this." Bethy remarked before b-lining for the nearest tree and beginning to devour its leaves.
After that, Barnum and Lynus stopped their argument, not wanting to face the wrath of Bethy when her breakfast was being interrupted. A sudden cry of fury and splash of water from behind him announced the arrival of Zetina the Saurornitholestes to Monty. Monty turned around to see Zetina hauling herself out of the water, a dead frog hanging out of her mouth from one of its back legs. Zetina dropped the frog onto the ground and began eating without a word.
Monty sighed. Was this really what his life had come to since he went off on his own? Was he really going to spend the rest of his life standing around by a lake in the Foggy Basin for the rest of his life?
"Well," Monty said, "I'm gonna go for a morning run."
The cool air ruffled through Monty's feathers as he ran down an old dirt path that wound through the woods of Foggy Basin. Insects buzzed around his head as he ran between the towering evergreens. This was always one of Monty's favorite parts of the day.
He rounded a bend in the trail, looking behind him as he did. Monty turned his gaze forward again, and instantly froze in his tracks as he saw the Allosaurus staring him down.
Monty nervously smiled and waved at the Allosaurus, who looked very confused when he did that. However, the last thing Monty expected to see was the old and frail looking Anzu who hobbled onto the path right in front of the Allosaurus.
“Whatchu looking at son? Never seen an elderly Dino before, huh?” The Anzu asked Monty in a raspy but standoff-ish voice. The Allosaurus sighed and rolled her eyes when the Anzu said this.
“Ignore him, he’s a little… odd.” she told Monty, getting her a glare from the old Anzu. Monty just stood there in confusion for a few seconds before opening his mouth.
“Wh-who are you?” Monty asked warily. The Allosaurus smirked in mild amusement before responding.
“My name’s Charla, and the old guy is Cobb.” she told him.
Cobb frowned in disapproval, “Don’t just go around telling everyone who you are! Who knows who this… character is associated with?!” he squawked.
“Cobb, I really don’t think this guy is a threat.” Charla replied flatly, “and plus, this is Foggy Basin, none of the lords give a single hoot about this place.”
Monty, who had just stood there as Charla and Cobb argued, decided to introduce himself.
“Well um, my name is Monty…” Monty told them awkwardly.
“A Guanlong, are you?” Cobb asked probingly, as he scrutinized Monty.
“Uh, yes?” Monty replied, tilting his head. He assumed it was pretty obvious since his kind were one of the more unique looking species.
“Hm… tyrannosauroid…” Cobb muttered, prompting Charla to roll her eyes again.
“I am sorry about him.” Charla said to Monty apologetically.
Monty couldn’t help but chuckle at this, however, “Trust me, compared to the nosyness of everyone else around here, this is pretty tame.” he told Charla, who smirked in amusement again.
“Glad we’re only passing through then, I think if I had to live here I’d go insane.” Charla replied.
“Trust me, I often question if I already am.” Monty retorted, making Charla laugh. This was interesting, Monty thought. He hadn’t really considered that larger theropods weren’t much different from him until now.
“Anyway, would you happen to know where the nearest body of water is?” Charla asked, “I fear Cobb here is gonna drop dead if we don’t find one soon.”
Monty nodded somewhat enthusiastically. He liked being able to lend a helping claw whenever he could, especially in the case of travellers like these two were.
“Sure do, I’ll take you there!” Monty responded enthusiastically.
“Thank you, uhm, Monty was it?” Charla replied with gratitude. Monty nodded before gesturing for the two to follow him.
The pair closely followed Monty back up the dirt trail that led to the lake. Beams of sunlight cascaded down to the forest floor from between the branches of the towering evergreens as the trio walked. It didn’t take long for them to reach the lake, and when they did, Monty noticed that Barnum and Lynus were still bickering by the lake. They both froze and slowly turned to stare at Charla once she emerged from the treeline. Charla glanced at them briefly, with that seemingly being enough to send the two running wide-eyed back into the woods. Cobb nearly collapsed forwards into the water with how fast he knelt down to drink from the lake. Charla sidled up next to Cobb to drink as well, though not as desperately as Cobb was.
After a couple minutes, Charla sauntered over to Monty, a curious expression on her face. “So what's your story, Monty?” she asked.
“My story?” Monty asked. Charla nodded, “Yeah, what’s your backstory?”
Monty paused for a moment to think. “Well to be honest it’s nothing special. Grew up in my family’s grass hut, and then when I grew up I went off on my own and wound up here.” Monty explained.
“That’s it?” Charla asked, “sounds to me like your story ain’t even started yet.”
Monty stopped to consider this for a second. “Maybe you’re right. I hope you’re right.” he said, making Charla laugh again.
Monty looked up at Charla, “And what about you?” he asked, “Ain’t everyday you see an Allosaurus travelling with a geriatric Anzu.” Monty pointed out, earning an offended “Hey!” from Cobb.
Charla snorted before lowering her voice. “I’m not sure Cobb likes me telling folks about myself, but I don’t care honestly.” she said. “Tell me Monty, have you ever heard the tale of the Great Paladin?” Charla asked Monty.
Monty’s eyes widened. Of the many stories his mother told him as a chick, that was by far his favourite. The tale of the Great Paladin was an ancient legend about this heroic paladin and her four compatriots who accompanied her to defeat this tyrannical dark lord. Monty had always imagined himself as one of the Paladin’s compatriots when he was younger. If he remembered correctly, the story ended with a cryptic message saying that ‘when the time is right, the Paladin and her compatriots will return to once again liberate Lauridia from tyranny.’
“Do I?!” Monty blurted out, “That was always my favourite story as a chick!” he said excitedly.
Charla raised a brow in intrigue. “Oh? And you remember the message at the end of the story? About the Paladin returning someday?” Charla inquired.
Monty tilted his head, “Yes of course, why do you ask?” he asked.
Charla chuckled, “Well, because the Titanosaur council of elders,” she explained, “Thinks I’m the new Paladin.”
Monty was silent for several seconds as his brain tried to process the lore Chats just dropped on him.
“You’re- what? R-really…?” Monty stuttered.
“According to the elder’s prophecy.” Charla replied.
“It’s true.” Cobb interjected from Monty’s flank. “The Titanosaurs gave the egg to me and the others to raise her as the Paladin.”
Monty furrowed his brow. “Others?” he asked Cobb.
“Other caretakers,” Cobb answered. “Used to be four of us, but as you can imagine the guys raising the chick that is supposed to bring down all the tyrants, aren’t very popular amongst those tyrants. So now there’s only me.” Cobb explained.
“Oh…” Monty replied, “I’m sorry to hear that…”
“Don’t be.” Cobb responded. “We knew the risk of doing this.”
Charla opened her mouth to comment, but suddenly paused. Monty and Cobb both turned their attention to her.
“Issue, Charla?” Cobb asked gravely. Charla remained silent for a few more seconds before she turned to Cobb and Monty.
“Something doesn’t feel right…” Charla said vaguely. Monty was going to ask her what she meant by that, but that thought was instantly stomped out of his head when something large erupted out of the water.
Charla whirled around with a snarl as Cobb and Monty leapt away from the waterline. Taking a look back, Monty saw a full grown male Irritator standing in the shallow water, staring Charla down.
After a short standoff, the Irritator suddenly lunged at Charla, who responded just as aggressively. The two began clashing, scratching, biting, and shoving at each other, the Irritator’s short legs proving to be a bit of a hindrance for him.
“Look out!” Cobb suddenly shouted, pointing back at the treeline. Monty turned back around just as three more theropods crashed out of the treeline. From what Monty could tell, there was a Marshosaurus, a Monolophosaurus, and a Deinonychus. The Monolophosaurus and the Deinonychus charged at Cobb, while the Marshosaurus b-lined for Charla.
Monty could feel the sudden rush of adrenaline in his veins, putting him in full fight-or-flight mode. It seemed that Monty’s body had already chosen to fight before his brain had even considered its options, as he flung himself on top of the Deinonychus. The Deinonychus tumbled hard into the sand with an “Oof!” as Monty landed on him.
“Bastard!” the Deinonychus hissed as he grappled with Monty. The Deinonychus tried to stab at Monty with his toe claw, but Monty had managed to position himself in such a way that he wasn’t able to. The two rolled around in the sand, snapping and scratching at each other aggressively.
In the meantime, the Marshosaurus teetered over into the sand after being tail slapped in the face by both Charla and unintentionally by the Irritator for the third time in a row. The Irritator had managed to latch onto Charla’s flank, but due to his relatively weak jaws she was able to shake him off. Nearby, Cobb ducked and wove around the Monolophosaurus’s head as he tried to snap at Cobb. Cobb did manage to get a good flanking maneuver on the Monolophosaurus, kicking him in the head with a grunt.
Monty was still tumbling through the sand with the Deinonychus, but the Deinonychus was beginning to get the upper hand. With a quick maneuver, the Deinonychus was able to break free of Monty’s grasp and jump on him, pinning Monty down. Adrenaline pumping, Monty’s first response was to throw a handful of sand in the Deinonychus’s face, causing him to snarl in pain as he rolled off Monty and hopped away, talon on his left eye. Standing up, Monty looked over at Cobb to see how he was doing. The old Anzu surprisingly was holding his own pretty well against his Monolophosaurus foe. That was of course, until the Monolophosaurus slammed his body against Cobb’s kick, causing the Anzu to stumble. Before Cobb could leap away again, the Monolophosaurus ferociously slashed at Cobb’s sides and chest, causing him to cry out and keel over.
Hearing his cries, Charla knocked the Irritator aside, and turned ninety degrees to face the Monolophosaurus, who was standing over a badly bleeding Cobb, ready to make the killing blow. Without hesitation, Charla charged towards the Monolophosaurus, plowing into the Marshosaurus and knocking him aside once more. With a ferocious roar, Charla clamped her jaws around the Monolophosaurus’s neck and thrashed violently. Monty couldn’t help but recoil as he heard the tearing of flesh and crackling of neck vertebrae as Charla’s razor-sharp teeth and strong neck muscles tore and thrashed the Monolophosaurus’s life from his body.
When the Monolophosaurus finally went limp, Charla let go of his neck and let his body fall lifelessly to the sand. The Marshosaurus, Irritator, and Deinonychus all just stared at Charla in shock, their eyes occasionally flitting down at the lifeless and deflated corpse of their former comrade, and then back up at Charla. Completely in shock by the sight, the three unanimously turned tail and ran.
Monty ran over to Charla and Cobb, standing besides Charla. Cobb inhaled and exhaled laboriously, as he continued to bleed profusely from his wounds. Charla crouched down next to Cobb. Cobb coughed up a bit of blood before he spoke.
“Don’t worry about me, Charla…” Cobb began, “Leave me and fulfill your destiny. Take Monty with you… he seems like a good companion to keep around…”
Monty could see the tears in Charla’s eyes as she listened to Cobb’s words. To be honest, Monty could feel tears welling in his own eyes, despite the fact he hadn’t known Cobb for long.
“You know I can’t leave you, Cobb.” Charla replied with sorrow. Cobb chuckled lightly, despite his condition.
“It's okay, Charla… like I said, I accepted this risk all those years ago when I agreed to raise you. And at least now… I die… knowing with the wholeness of my being… that you… truly are the next Paladin, Charla…” Cobb said weakly, but with a genuine smile on his face. Cobb took one more raggedy deep breath and spoke, “Remember… how the tale goes…”
With that, Cobb closed his eyes, and was gone. Charla stayed by his side for a long time, gently stroking the feathers on his neck until his body started to go cold. After that, Charla stood up and turned to Monty.
“Go gather some flowers,” she instructed him softly, “I’ll get the grave dug.”
As the evening set in, Monty found Charla standing atop of a hill in one of the small meadows within the forest. Standing next to her on the hilltop was a single evergreen tree, and under it was a patch of freshly dug and packed dirt. Monty climbed the hill, a bunch of flowers in his right talon. Once he reached the top, Monty held them out to Charla.
“Got the most beautiful ones I could find. Mostly tulips, and lilies.” he said. Charla smiled at that and gently took them from him. “Thank you,” she said, “Cobb did always love lilies.” Charla laid the flowers on top of Cobb’s fresh grave, and the two just stood there in silence for a long time, until the sun sank below the horizon.
“We should get some rest, I guess.” Charla said. Monty nodded.
“I agree,” he replied. Charla followed Monty on the walk back to his log. After a long silence, Charla turned to him and spoke.
“Y’know Monty, I’ve been thinking about the last thing Cobb said.” she told him. Monty nodded, “You mean the ‘remember how the tale goes’ part?” he asked. “Yeah, that.” Charla replied. “You know that going by how in the original tale went, the Paladin finds her first compatriot as a ‘small, but altruistic and kind hearted dino? Call me crazy but… that description fits you…”