Meanwhile, Antonio walked on the damp ground through the trees until he stopped at a fortress in the woods. He took out his laptop from his backpack and placed it gently on the ground. He heard from both sides of the coin, and after thinking about it long and hard, he decided.

I’m sorry, Uncle, but I’m not going back. He thought, while removing the tracking chip from his device. I got something else to do right now.

Antonio walked down the dark corridor that led to the entrance of the fortress. His eyes met with a pair of glowing purple eyes staring back at him. They narrowed in a foreboding manner.

“Who goes there?” The unknown voice asked. The woods fell deathly quiet.

“It’s me, Antonio. There’s something I would like to discuss with a certain someone.”

“I see, is that so?” A grin appeared along with mischievous eyes.

.-.-.-.

Back outside, Maggie used her phone as a flashlight to help guide the way to the village while riding on Ringo. She looked around to see where Riley and Tommy had gone off to when some insects buzzed around her. Maggie moved her head and tried swatting them away with her hands, but the buzzing got louder. She could hear them coming closer and closer from behind her; she turned as a swarm of locusts chased after her.

Maggie yelled for the dinosaur to run faster to avoid getting caught in the locust swarm, which it did just that. She hurriedly searched in her backpack for a fire crystal to fight back and drive them away. All she could find was a yellow crystal.

“Maybe I can use this to my advantage? It’s worth a shot, at least.”

Maggie rubbed the shard to emit a great big shock wave, but it vibrated violently in her hand, and she dropped it.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

A fireball shot out across the sky and collided with the crystal, exploding into a fire-lightning storm that attacked the wasps and nearly hit Ringo and Maggie. She turned to the source of the attack; it came from the chief of the Bear tribe. He commanded his troops to light rocks on fire before catapulting them toward the enemy.

“Ok, what is going on here?” Maggie asked, dumbfounded.

“Hurry and get inside,” The chief exclaimed, motioning towards the entrance, “We’ll take care of this!”

“All right, good luck out there.” She nudged the dinosaur to keep going.

“Thanks.” He replied. “Now, fire!” He ordered his soldiers.

.-.-.-.

Maggie and Ringo arrived in one of the bigger huts, where Riley and Ruth waited inside. Maggie laid down on the hay and noticed Tommy visibly shaking as he lied on the floor with his eyes closed.

“Hey, good to see you again.”

“Yeah, same here,” Maggie murmured, excusing herself as she sat beside the bear hybrid. “So, you know about...” Her eyes motioned toward Tommy briefly.

“Well, I know he’s in pain, but how did this happen?”

“He got bit by a snake. I can’t find any good herbs to use. Do you think you can help?”

“I’ll do what I can, but it might take some time to prepare.”

Ruth gathered some into one bowl to mix and brewed the healing concoction while Maggie waited beside Tommy. Ruth stopped what he did as his hands trembled.

“Uh, oh.” He muttered.

“What’s wrong?” Maggie asked.

With his eyes widened in alarm, he turned to Maggie. “To finish this Hyalugestin Amciprex, I’m going to need some rare herbs, some Viper Spearmint, but they’re hard to find.”

“Ok, we got rid of the locusts.” Ruth’s father announced as he entered the hut and clapped his paws. “How is our young man doing—?”

“I’ll go find it!” Maggie protested, standing up and raising her fist in the air.

“What?”

“I can’t just leave Tommy like this... I have to do something about it!”

“But wait, let me go with you,” Ruth interrupted. “I know where the Viper Spearmint is!”

“The Viper Spearmint!" That comment took Ruth’s father by surprise. “No, son, it’s much too dangerous for the likes of you!”

“But I remember where it is, father. You’ve taken me there when I was sick before... you know what I’m talking about, right? You didn’t forget, did you?”

The chief was about to say something, but quickly thought better of it and shut his mouth. He sighed and placed his paw on his son’s shoulders.

“All right. If you’re still content with going, then I won’t hold it against you. I’ll send in troops to aid you and your friend on this quest, but be careful out there.”

“I will, thank you.”