THE LAND OF THE ARK

The Artifacts

"Rehn." "Yeah Venessa, I know, I'm sorry about the bear." "I can mourn later, but right now, we need to get that saddle!" "Well how do you suppose we get it back, we go back there, and we'll end up like Bessie." Rehn stated. "How about we try a distraction?" "And how are we going to do that." "Look, it may be cruel, but thers a whole heard of stegosaurs that usually come around at this time. We let Whip chase, but then he sees those stegos, and eats them, then we get the satchel, and flee. So, you in?" "I'm afraid that I have to." "Well, let's get this over with."

"Since this is your idea, you get its attention first." Venessa nodded, and went nervously up the hill, towards the cave. She stood there, gulped, and then began screaming and kicking the side. Whip jolted his head around to look Venessa straight in the eyes. He roared, and she ran. Whip began speeding up to her, taking massive steps. Rehn began running too, holding his bag as to make sure Dill didn't fall out. Whip slammed his head to the ground, as Venessa barely manage to leap to the right. She scraped herself on the floor, then fumbled her legs around, quickly getting up. Rehn was infront of Venessa by a few feet, and he was able to see the stegosaurus, peacefully grazing off in the distance. "Found them!" "Good, now let's get to them, before we die!" The two jumped, as Rehn ripped the bag of his waist, and held it infront of him. He took more painful blows, not being able to catch himself.

They continued down the hillside, and then were smacked down hard onto the cold mud. The giga couldn't see them at first, but didn't seem to care anymore. Whip very soon lost interest in chasing them, as he too noticed the stego herd. They now, however, were not in the same mindless, calm state as before, they were stamped away. Rehn and Venessa were lying sideways in the mud. They quickly got up, covered in brown, mucky splotches of earth. They both ran forward, up the hill, there legs agonizing. Venessa had an arm wrapped around his shoulders, assisting him up as he limped. Rehn's legs were bruised, his arms and head were too, there were bleeding scrapes all over him, but he was a little glad Dill wasn't as badly injured as him.

Venessa was the first to snatch the saddle, it was covered in slightly wet and dry saliva, and had a few tear marks here and there. She didn't take anytime right then to examine the bag, but instead sprinted away with Rehn as fast as possible. Once they were in the grassland at the far side of the mountain, the three sat down with each other, and just sat there, panting. They were all sore, and in heavy pain, but they had to stop, for just a moment. "You good?" Venessa asked, taking long, heavy breaths. "Yeah I'll live." There was a sudden rustling sound. "Oh what now!" Venessa exclaimed. Bursting out of the forest came a little rex, Marla. "Phew, thank God it's only you, Marla." Rehn stated. Marla was on the pursuit of a pack of compys. Marla turned to look at the group.

The rex looked at Venessa, then Rehn, and then looked back at the compy pack, and chased them. "Well, it was nice to see her again, I guess?" A little bit later, Marla came back with a freshly killed compy hanging down in her mouth. She walked over, and drop the body infront of Rehn. "Well I be darn, she came back!" When Rehn didn't take the compy, Marla scooted it closer. Rehn picked up, and tried his best to stuff it in his pocket. "Thanks, girl." Marla came up, and stroked her head on his hand. Rehn rubbed her neck, and then soon after, Marla let go. "Thanks, Marla, nice seeing you again." "Ready, t-rex tamer?" Venessa said jokingly. "Yeah, I'm always ready." Rehn picked up Dill, put him in the bag, and followed Venessa. As they walked, Marla followed. "Not going back?" Rehn asked. Obviously she didn't answer. "Don't drive her away, she can be very helpful in the guardian fights." Venessa said. "I'm not." Rehn replied. "Hey, mind giving us a ride?" Marla stared.

Rehn decided to see for himself, he carefully went to Marla's side, and carefully climbed up. Marla didn't seem to mind. "Great, now we also got transportation." Venessa commented, before also beginning to climb. Marla didn't seem to like it, and quickly turned around, and roared. "Hey, calm down", Rehn said, softly rubbing the rex's neck. She seemed to relax, and Venessa finally got to the top. She held one leg, and pressed her other hand down on the animal's back. They rode off, with Rehn guiding Marla to the base.