Maggie, Tommy, and Antonio made it out of the cave and stopped near the edge of the overhanging cliff. Miletis stormed around the lower grounds in their view. They held more crystals in their hands as they tried to fight off Ringo, as it tried valiantly to defend his position. One humanoid threw a red shard out on the ground, making a small spark of fire pop up near the dinosaur’s feet. Ringo instinctively jumped back from the flame.

“Ringo, no!” Maggie screamed. She climbed down on the ledge and slid down on the cliff sides toward the dinosaur. “Hey, get away from him, you—”

“Maggie, wait! That’s too dangerous!” Tommy yelled out, but she didn’t listen to reason.

She made it to the bottom of the ledge and stood in between the Miletis and Ringo.

“How could you do something like hurting wildlife?” Maggie asked, forcefully poking at one of the guy's chests.

“Huh? But why do you want us to leave it be? It attacked us first.” The Mileti responded, genuinely surprised with her bravery.

“I don’t want to hear excuses, you probably scared Ringo, and besides, it’s a sweet dinosaur!”

Is it? And it has a name? The Mileti lowered his arms in disbelief.

“You should be ashamed of yourself! You’re just as bad as—”

“Hey, Maggie, look up in the sky!” Antonio interrupted, pointing upwards.

She stopped her rebuking and looked upwards; a white gem floated beneath the clouds. Everyone looked in the same direction and noticed it as well.

“Hey, that’s the thing from before!”

“After it!” One of the Miletis called out.

“Not if we get it back first!” Tommy exclaimed right back.

He and Antonio slid down the cliffside, and onto Ringo’s back, while Maggie rushed over to climb onboard. Before the three could ride off, another growling noise caught them off guard, a far nastier sounding one echoing through the surrounding valley.

Before they could even ask each other about that sound, Ringo grew into a mad panic over it. He reared back on his hind legs and knocked Tommy and Antonio off his back, running off in the opposite direction.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Maggie stood there with her arm thrown in the air as Ringo disappeared through the trees. Antonio and Tommy got up and dusted themselves off when they noticed the nearby trees shaking from the forceful impacts on the ground. Even the Miletis panicked and ran for the nearby hills.

Several trees fell to the ground in front of them, as a giant two-headed yellow dinosaur with orange eyes appeared in the clearing. Tommy and Antonio quietly asked Maggie if she knew what type of dinosaur that was, to which she replied it was Dilophotitan.

Before either of them could ask what that meant, she yelled: “Run!”

They all ran as fast as they could, but the yellow dinosaur followed close behind them. Their chests tightened as their hearts raced at an alarming rate. Tommy, Maggie, and Antonio stumbled through the thick forest until they reached a ledge with a significant drop below and a riverbed they could barely see near the bottom.

About to pass out from exhaustion, the group questioned how they could get to the other side of the ravine safely away from the dinosaur. Tommy pointed at a red-violet bridge attached by a sturdy rope. They had to keep moving a few more yards so they could traverse the wide gap. The group carefully walked across the rope bridge, one at a time.

None of them knew how much weight the old rope bridge would hold, so they figured it’d be best to keep a little distance between them. Antonio looked down as an uneasy feeling hit him in the gut as he tried to keep his balance. His eyes widened in alarm as he felt his legs loosen.

“Calm down; we’ll be there in no time...” Tommy reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Antonio still wasn’t so sure. He looked back over his shoulder toward Tommy and noticed the dinosaur’s two heads in the background. They turned to face each other and made a set of mischievous grins. One of them leaned down and munched on the left side rope. It snapped with a loud, audible crack.

The bridge swayed beneath their feet, shaking, and fell on its side. Tommy, Antonio, and Maggie frantically grabbed hold of the other rope as they hung in midair. The three instinctively moved hand over hand across the line toward the other side of the ravine. Antonio glanced back toward the dinosaurs just as the other head chewed on the other rope, sending the bridge and the group falling toward the cliffside.

As the rope bridge came to rest on the cliffside with a loud smack, they could see the ledge edge above them just out of reach.

“Oh, man, this sucks!” Antonio exclaimed. He clutched the ropes as his stomach turned.

“If only we can get to the top...” Maggie struggled to say and hold on at the same time.

“But how? They're no resting places for our hands, nor are there any way to climb!” Tommy cried.

“Well... um...” Maggie tried to think of a solution, but kept panicking.

“I… I can’t hold on any longer! “Tommy let out a cry as he lost his grip and fell.

Antonio tried to grab hold of his shirt sleeve but lost his grip on the bridge rope in doing so and fell alongside him.

Maggie tried to reposition herself on the bridge boards and lost her footing. She fell right behind the other two boys just as they plunged into the riverbed below.