A group of lizardfolk were squish squashing through the marsh. A black scaled male holding up a torch was in the lead. He carried a short spear casually in his other hand and had a wicked look on his face. Looking around the twilit grasses he said, "Watch around you, little ones. You never know what might- Wah!"

Renal jumped back in faux terror, which elicited a jump from the slightly smaller deep green scaled male behind him and screams from the group much smaller lizardfolk that were cowering behind him.

"Haaaaahaha! Got you!" Renal exclaimed, unable to control himself.

Tali was a bit miffed. He'd been drawn into Renal's atmosphere almost as much as the hatchling clutch behind him. He'd get him back for this one, a plan involving copious amounts of mud forming in the back of his mind as a smirk played into his features. They were out here to mess with the younger clutch, having snuck off shortly before sunset to give the hatchlings a test of courage. Too focused on their joint prank, neither Tali nor Renal noticed where exactly they were going. There were some parts of the marsh you stayed clear of.

After awhile and a few more jump scares, the group found themselves approaching a tree line.

"We should probably head back now." Tali said with apprehension.

"Don't be a rabbit, Tali. Do you have less courage than the hatchlings?" Renal teased, which was followed by an "Ooooooh" in chorus from behind him.

"Of course not! But there are bad things in the trees. The shaman said so." Tali rebutted.

"It wouldn't be a test of courage if we didn't go where we weren't supposed to, now would it? Let's go." Renal said, turning to walk into the trees, completely ignoring the fact they already weren't supposed to go this deep in the marsh.

When the small ones started shuffling past him, Tali sighed and resolved himself to keep an actual lookout. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little curious. The shaman was always strict with him, and almost never got away from a gathering without telling everyone to stay out of the swamp. The adults would just nod in agreement, but no one ever told them why.

The ever present water got deeper as they passed the threshold. The young ones were up to their necks and could practically swim in the water, Tali and Renal able to walk but feeling the muck get thicker in the bottom. Before long there was a screech in the distance that even got a jump out of Renal.

"We go back?" one of the hatchlings asked, clearly unnerved by the sound.

"What? You're going to let one sound scare you off?" Renal asked, the crack in his voice undermining the incredulous tone he tried to use.

"I'll go back with you. Renal can keep testing his courage on his own." Tali said with a glint of amusement in his eye. He was also worried about that call, but couldn't help tease the older boy all the same.

"Fine, fine! I guess we've gone far enough. You've all proven yourselves quite admirably." he said, crossing his arms and nodding with his eyes closed and a self satisfied look. Tali rolled his eyes and started prodding the little ones the other way when they all heard splashes start from several sides.

In a panic, Renal held out the torch, waving it to and fro to find what was coming and completely forgetting about the spear in his other hand. The group of lizardfolk huddled together, Renal and Tali flanking the hatchlings protectively when the splashing stopped.

"Do you think they left?" Renal asked quietly.

"No." Tali responded, as he could see the faint glint of the torchlight in an eye ahead of them. He stared into those eyes with determination. He resolved to protect these hatchlings with his life if it came to it. Perhaps that resolve passed between them in those few seconds, or perhaps whatever was in the darkness decided they weren't worth the effort, but there came a lighter splashing sound as the things surrounding them backed away.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"Phew. I think I scared them off." Renal boasted, attempting to regain his confidence in leading this expedition. "Let's head back and scare the girls with this story, Tali!"

Tali took a few moments before he registered what Renal had said to him.

"Huh, uh, yeah. Sure." he said, noncommittally.

As the group made their way back to the village, jumping at sounds the whole way, a predator stalked them quietly.

----------------------------------------

"What were you thinking?!" Tumi shouted at the group as he rushed out to meet them once their torch had come within sight.

Renal and Tali knew this was coming. They saw the village much sooner than the village saw them. There were many gathered at the outskirts, the village lit up in the many torchlight.

"It was my idea." Renal said before Tumi could finish inhaling to go on a diatribe at them, Tali in particular, about the stupidity of going off on their own with hatchlings at night. While everyone was raised by the whole village, it was still common for parents to focus more on their own offspring.

"Oh was it now?" Tumi asked, his eyes narrowing. It wasn't. Not really. Tali had wondered aloud what was out there while they were watching the young ones. When they'd started shouting they wanted to go see, Renal took the initiative to start the test of courage after setting an ominous atmosphere of the creatures out there. It wasn't his idea, but oh did he run with it. Not that the adults would understand the nuance of a good scare. Renal felt it was his responsibility to keep them on their toes, like he did with Tali when they were younger.

It was his responsibility, so he took responsibility. Let it never be said that Renal ran from his actions.

"Yeah. We had to show them how scary it was out there like you always tell us. Even Tali didn't know what was out there!" he said defiantly.

"Oh course he didn't! You don't either! You all could've been-"

"NIGHT TERRORS!" someone shouted from the crowd.

It was then that the squashing of mud by many feet could be heard from the direction the children came from. Their forms couldn't be made out well in the dark of night, but the moonlight reflecting off the churning water could be seen by those further from the torches.

"Spears! Form a wall! Get the hatchlings back!" came shouted orders from Benal, the head hunter and drill instructor.

Scales flashed in the torchlight and shadows danced ominously across thatched walls as the lizardfolk of the village shuffled about, spears being passed around and the younglings taken further into the village. The spear wall was just forming when a scream rang out. A matte black scaled figure as tall as a lizardfolk and twice as long stood over a bluish green villager, its two long legs pinning it down as it reached its head down to take a chunk out of them.

All hell broke loose after that. Crude spears were brandished as more of the Terrors pushed into the village, Benal faced one down, determined in his spearmanship. Tumi had gotten his hands on one and was desperately holding back an open maw with the shaft. Renal had dropped his torch, bolstered by his father's presence. He'd taken to the spear well, and his meager skills were enough to back up some other villagers and allow them to land some blows.

Tali was behind Renal in the beginning, but he'd been pressed back with the others. Despite being part of the older clutch, he still found himself treated like a hatchling much of the time, to his chagrin. Not that he was complaining in this circumstance. He was under no illusion that he could fight off the Night Terrors they'd led back to the village. Instead, he scooped up a fallen spear with his tail and continued on with the hatchlings. If nothing else, he would help defend them.

He hadn't actually believed he'd have to, but when the villager that was assigned to watch over them fell by the door, not even able to scream with her throat ripped out, Tali found himself hunched in front of the younglings, a spear unsteadily held toward the door. When the head of the raptor shadowed the portal, he suddenly felt his few weeks of training to be inadequate to the task at hand. He felt he should've pushed to start learning to fight sooner.

The head in the door turned inward and sniffed it the air. Tali closed his eyes and tensed. He heard the footfalls step in tentatively and felt its presence coming closer. Feeling stupid, he steeled his resolve and opened his eyes, only to be met with the cold eyes of a predator right in his face. He started at first, but then leaned forward and glared, his grip on the spear tightening. The Terror huffed through its nostrils in Tali's face and turned to leave. Once it was out of sight and he heard it pad off, he sighed in relief and relaxed a little.

As quickly as it had started, the shouts and shuffling of battle abated after a few minutes. A few minutes after that, the figure of the shaman shadowed the door. She saw Tali tense up, spear in hand. She saw the hatchling clutch behind him, unscathed. Another villager squeezed by her, torch in hand, to check on the young ones and Tali saw her expression. A face conflicted. There was resignation on her face, but a confused approval in her eyes.

Tali didn't know that the shaman was thinking in that moment that perhaps the Fate she Saw wasn't as straight forward as she'd imagined.