Soulfire Fruits

Nathan's POV:

Wow... Leo just killed two of them with a single swing! That was impressive. And all the others as well, seems like everyone here can fight.

"Another one!" Miguel screams out, pointing towards the trees. A Raptor appears and looks at us, evaluating the situation. He turns around and leaves at full speed into the forest.

"That bastard!" Silva says, and starts running towards the Raptor's direction.

"Don't! Focus on the mission. Let's help the wounded Triceratops now." Leo shouts, and Silva immediately stops.

Indeed, Captain Zlodey told us to tame these dinosaurs, we've protected them, now treating their wounds should make them like us even more. One of the Triceratops is badly injured from when all of the Raptors attacked at once. I still have some of the medical plants, guess I can use them now.

I slowly approach the injured dinosaur, he's making some weird noises, perhaps he's in a lot of pain.With a gentle touch, I start rubbing the blue plants on the open wounds, causing a bit of pain. He can barely move so I have no trouble in applying the medicine, otherwise he would probably be running away by now.

"There you go, all good now." I say while gently patting him. After a while, he seems to have calmed down a bit, and the other Triceratops are no longer on guard for more enemies.

"Good job everyone, I'm very impressed." Captain Zlodey reveals himself and comes to us.

"As a reward for your exceptional performance, I'll make this a bit easier. Here, each one of you take one of these."

He reaches for a small bag hanging on his waist, similar to the one I use, and takes out what seems to be some weird looking fruits...

"Give one to each Triceratops, they'll fall in love with you."

We do as he says and take the fruits from his hand. They have a purplish color with some weird texture to them, a few spikes as well. To they really like this?

And so, we feed the dinosaurs the strange fruit. Nothing happened at first, but after a minute they simply laid on the ground and grunted.

"So, what exactly am I seeing?" Filipe asks, wondering what the fruits did to the dinos.

"Those were Soulfire Fruits, the best thing an herbivore can taste, and it also makes them relax."

Where did Captain Zlodey get that? I never even heard of such thing...

"I wonder what happens if we eat one." Miguel speaks to himself, clearly wanting to taste one.

"Here have one more. Don't eat it now though, wait for dinner and have it as dessert."

"Oh... Thank you."

Somehow I have a bad feeling about this... I hope Miguel doesn't get a stomach ache.

"What should we do now? Do we just wait for them to get up again?"

"Five of you can chose one Triceratops and feel free to mount them. The other one will have to go on foot."

"Our first mount... this is exciting." Leonard says.

"I'll go on foot, don't worry about me." I'm not sure if I'd even be able to properly ride a dinosaur... Either way, I really don't mind walking.

My companions slowly mount the Triceratops so they don't get scared. Not like they can get scared... they seem to be having a great time after eating those Soulfire fruits.

"Good, now tell them where to go, let's head back to base." Captain Zlodey says, and begins to walk.

"Urmmm, let's go Trixie, follow that huge guy." Daniel orders his mount, guess he named his Triceratops already... The dinosaur does as he says and starts to follow our Captain.

The others quickly do the same, and we all go back to base with our new tames, five Tricerstops. I wonder if I'll manage to get one as well.

Katherine's POV:

"How are you guys feeling? Are you hungry?" I question Allen and Nick, wondering if the new apple they got today was really enough...

"A bit." They answer.

I've been doing my best to make them comfortable, but it will only get harder as we go further north. Once we get past the mountains, into the snowy region, I'm afraid that many here will die of cold and starvation.

"Kat!" A voice comes from behind me.

I turn around, looking for whoever has called me. I look to another carriage being pulled by a Triceratops, and my felt my heart stop for a second... Jason... He got captured.

"Jason! Where is my son?"

"If he's not with you, then he managed to flee to the Warriors base. He should be fine."

"He better be, if anything happens to him, I will end your life before these Dark Clouds bastards do."

"Listen to me, I'm sure he is fine. I will be sent to the stronghold up north, I'm not sure if I'll manage to live through this. Whenever you get to your son again, tell him to ask his captain for the Endwalker's diary."

"What are you even saying? I didn't understand any word that just came out of your mouth."

"Please, just tell him that. I will make sure to cause enough distraction for you to escape when we stop for resting again. Trust me."

...

I've trusted this man in the past, and lost my husband because of it. Well, I guess I don't really have any other options right now, and I want to get Allen and Nick to safety as soon as possible.

"Is there anywhere I should go?"

"You can follow the trail back to Warriors territory, I've heard most of their plans through their conversations and there are none of them eft behind for now, so you should be safe. Will you take those kids with you?"

"Yes, their mother is... missing."

"I see. Don't worry, everything will be fine. Good luck."

The carriage Jason is in makes a right turn and because of it I can't talk to him any longer..

Deep down, I'm happy he is alive.