The loud chirping of birds caused an odd looking bird with white feathers to stir slightly. White tip slowly opened her eyes and was greeted by a small Chickadee. White tip looked the little bird curiously; something about it reminded it of herself. She just couldn’t figure out what.
The soft crunch of footsteps on snow alerted White tip of someone else’s presence. White tip curled her tail in slightly, making her slightly more spherical when she heard the footsteps move onto stone.
There was a sigh from her left, “You’re surprisingly lucky.”
White tip’s eyes darted around her, only to the clawed feet of whoever was speaking with her.
“Everyone said you were dead. But, I knew you weren’t. You just don’t go and die in the cold after you’ve survived your pack being killed twice. You just can’t do that.”
The being chuckled softly, “I was close to giving up myself, but then I remembered something important.”
“You’re a Raptor.”
The sounds of birds stopped. The frigid forest became utterly silent, besides the occasional shriek from Frost, Pounce or Pod.
White tip raised her head to look at Red Claw. Despite not being missing for very long, White tip had mostly forgotten what Red Claw had looked like. She was bigger than her, but still quite a bit smaller than Pounce and nearly miniscule compared to Frost. White tip’s eyes met her fellow pack members.
“Do you know what that word means?” asked White tip quietly.
Red Claw made a chirping sound, which was the equivalent to a nod, “Thief, egg stealer and my personal favorite, bird of prey.”
White tip got off of the cool cave floor and stared at her North American cousin. She stared at Red Claw, a faint glow of anger in her eyes.
“…Have you ever had a clutch of eggs before?” asked White tip finally.
Red claw shrugged, “This is my third Cold, so no. No eggs and definitely no mate for me.”
White tip sighed, “My last pack was my first clutch. They died in a falling dune, just like my last one. They were only hatchlings then.”
Red Claw nodded slowly. Eggs were a rather large part of their diet if there wasn’t any prey around. Of course, since all the prey that they had discovered here had been mammalian, there were no eggs to be found. Well, at least not any that would be large enough to be considered a meal.
The quiet of the forest engulfed the cave, making the sounds of the other predators in the distance echo like gunshots. Suddenly, there was a sharp, high pitched sound, then silence. Red Claw glanced at White tip. Even though they were originally thousands of miles apart, every member of the Dromaeosaur family knew what that sound meant.
It was the sound of them being challenged for territory.
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Frost’s eyes flickered between the pack of strange predators before Pod, Pounce and himself. He slowly waked up to what appeared to be the leader of the opposing predators. He rose up to his full height and glared down upon the opposing hunter.
Unbeknownst to Frost, Pounce and Pod, the creatures they were facing was none other than a pack of Timberwolves. They had never faced anything like them, as Late Cretaceous Earth lacked large quadruped carnivores, especially ones that were made from wood.
Not too many days before Frost had recovered White tip, Frost had claimed the title of Alpha of the pack of four, now five raptors. He was unopposed, as the next raptor that would have tried to run that position was half his height. That didn’t faze Pounce the slightest, she knew Frost knew what he was doing. His massive height was an added bonus, as he kept larger, rival predators away as well. None of the larger predators they had encountered gave them much trouble, none except for the Timberwolves.
Frost stepped forwards, challenging the rival alpha. Pounce and Pod watched one of the Timberwolves, a larger one with a scar across its left eye walk up to face Frost. The two stared at each other, the glowing green eyes of the Timberwolf staring about four feet up at the midnight blue eyes of the Utahraptor.
All of a sudden, like an invisible switch was thrown, the two began to fight. Frost charged the wolf as the wooden predator made a jump that should be impossible for something of that body type at Frost. The Timberwolf managed to bite Frost’s right forearm, which caused him to shriek in pain and bite at the wolf’s neck.
There was a sickening crunch as Frost managed to crush the outer layer of bark on the Timberwolf’s neck (and breaking some of his weaker teeth in the process) and nearly tore his arm off as he ripped the Timberwolf away from his arm and flung it into the snow. The wooden wolf crashed into the ground, bouncing off of it twice, and rolled in an attempt to shake off the injuries it contacted during the fall.
Meanwhile Frost paused for a moment to look at his injured arm. Blood was flowing like a stream from the bite, which made Frost turn his head back to the Timberwolf, who was standing on it wooden paws again, preparing another charge when the wolf suddenly froze and began to whimper softly.
Frost tilted his head in confusion and turned back to Pounce and Pod, who also had looks of confusion. Then the wolves began to whine loudly, as if scared for some reason.
‘Something isn’t right,’ thought Frost, ‘They can sense something coming, but what? And why can’t I ether?’
Frost turned back to the wolves, who his astonishment, had completely vanished. Frost grimaced in the way only an Utahraptor could and crouched down like he was hunting something. He noticed that Pounce and Pod had walked closer and had taken similar hunting stances.
A branch snapped nearby, causing Pod to jump slightly. If the situation wasn’t so serious Pounce probably would have snickered at Pod. But, it’s essential that predators make absolutely no sounds when unseen danger could be around.
The wind slowly began to pick up, making Frost hiss quietly in pain where the wolf bit him. Another branch snapped, this time even closer than the last one. Frost suddenly tuned his head to the left and his eyes widened in shock and terror.
Standing there, in all of its three meters tall and six ton glory, was a Tarbosaurus Bataar. The Tyranosaurid was covered from the back of its head down in black and purple feathers that reached all the way to the tip of its tail. It’s giant, menacing eyes sent chills down the three raptor’s spines.
How they had managed to go this long without encountering it, they may never know. All they knew now was that they had to get the hell out of there.
“W-what do we do?” asked Pod. He’d never seen a predator as large as a Tarbosaurus before, and frankly, he never wanted to.
Frost sized the predator up for a moment, before responding.
“Run like hell.”
The mighty predator bellowed a horrible, alien sound throughout the frozen forest and charged after the three retreating raptors. The beast chased after them until the three were swallowed by a maze of large, frozen roots and tunnels that Frost and Pounce could barely fit in. the beast roared again, making snow fall off branches and striking terror in all of the nearby hibernating animals awakened by the bellow.
There was a new king of the Everfree.