Chapter Eight
‘The Secret Tree’
“Stay here,” said Tommy.
Peko grabbed his hand.
“Where are you going?” he moaned.
“Just stay here, alright,” said
Tommy. He took a deep breath and
stepped out from behind the rock. With
any luck the Velociraptor would see him and charge.
Sure enough the dinosaur caught
sight of him. Tommy stood his ground as
it ran towards him, its’ eyes full of hate and rabid foam dripping from its’
fangs.
Just before the Velociraptor could
get close enough to attack it tripped over the vine. The vine broke and tangled around the dinosaurs legs but this
failed to slow it down. With one swipe
from it’s claws the Velociraptor was on its feet again. Panic engulfed Tommy, his feet rooted to the
spot with fear. The snarling dinosaur
quickly gaining on him. Peko jumped out from behind the rock.
“Leave him alone!” the little
dinosaur shouted. “Or you’ll be sorry!”
The Velociraptor now turned its
attention on Peko. What’s he doing?
thought Tommy.
“I’m warning you,” Peko told the
Myrite coming towards him, but it wasn’t listening.
All of a sudden a bright light shot
out from the stone around Peko’s neck.
It hit the Velociraptor in the chest, sending it off the path and down
into the pit below. Peko stared down at
his necklace.
“It’s never done that before!” he
gasped.
Tommy got to his feet and walked to
the edge of the path. Down below he saw
the Velociraptor motionless on the ground with a smoldering hole in it’s
chest. Peko came and stood beside him.
“Yes!” the little dinosaur shouted
with delight. “See what I did! That’ll teach those nasty old Myrites!” He giggled some more.
Tommy, on the other hand, wasn’t so
delighted. He was horrified. He’d never seen anything lose it’s life
before. Despite how he felt about the
Myrites, he had never wanted anyone to die.
He was pulled from his thoughts by the sounds of joyful squealing. Peko was jumping up and down and shouting
for joy. Tommy wasn’t the only one to
notice Peko’s fit of delight. Two more
Velociraptors had noticed also and were now pushing their way through the crowd
in the pit towards the path. Tommy
quickly turned around.
“Come on Peko, let’s go!”
But the little dinosaur wasn’t
listening. He was now yelling, telling
anyone within ear shot, about what he would do to the next nasty Myrite he
saw. Tommy wrapped his arms around the
dinosaur and lifted him into the air.
“Hey! What are you doing!” exclaimed Peko.
Tommy ignored his protests and
hurried up the path. Egbert who was
still cowering behind the rock hurried after them.
Three more figures stepped out on to
the path in front of Tommy. He heard a
familiar voice.
“Tommy!”
It was Jason! Tommy dropped Peko and vaulted at his
brother nearly knocking him over.
“I’m so glad to see you!” exclaimed
Jason. Then he saw the mark on his
little brothers face.
“What happened to your face!?” he
asked.
“No time to explain,” said Tommy
quickly. “We have to get out of
here. There are two Myrites coming this
way.”
Bonta picked Peko up and for the
first time she noticed Egbert. The dinosaur
had a way of sneaking up on people.
“What’s he doing here?” she asked.
“He saved my life,” said Tommy. “And I promised he could come with us.”
Bonta shook her head.
“No. Kypou will never allow it,” she said.
“What!” gasped Tommy. “But I promised. I can’t just leave him here.”
“No,” said Bonta again, then she and
Peko disappeared into the jungle.
Typhoo followed. Jason waited
for Tommy.
Tommy turned to Egbert.
“I’m really sorry about this,” he
said.
“Egbert says it is okay, he
understands. Tommy is still friend.”
“Tommy we have to go,” said Jason.
Reluctantly, Tommy followed Jason
into the jungle, leaving the Oviraptor alone.
Egbert’s’ mouth curled back into a
snare. If they were not going to invite
him along then he would just have to follow them. He strutted off in pursuit.