Tyrant Lizard

Chapter 17

In the bushes, Jimbo and Styx watched Rey and Saline embrace. Jimbo felt completely disgusted by this, forcing down the urge to throw up. Here they were, enjoying life together with no rules and no worries. They were bachelors for life, not needing any love interests to tear them apart. It was just him, Styx, Rey, and the other animals in the forest, and nothing would change that. 

Of course, that was until she had to come along. With Saline coming into the picture, it looked like the paradise of Nulla Curae was coming crashing down. 

"I tell ya, Styx, this stinks!" he grumbled. 

Styx blushed, as much as a reddish Stygimoloch like him could. "Oh. Sorry." 

"Not you, them!" Jimbo snapped. He pointed to where Rey and Saline were standing, as they were now leaving. "Him. Her. Alone." 

"What's wrong with that?" Styx asked curiously. "It just seems like they've finally found each other as two soulmates joined across the years by the bonds of true love." 

Jimbo face-palmed and shook his head. "Sweet, innocent little Styx...you don't see what's wrong with that? She's gonna put a stake right through the heart of our Nulla Curae, that's what's wrong! If they fall in love, here's the bottom line: our trio's gonna go down to two!" 

"Oh. So...maybe we should follow them?" 

"Nah, that's a stupid idea. Let's just follow them," Jimbo said, ignoring a grunt from Styx. "We gotta be quiet, though. We're not gonna do anything drastic." 

"Like prick their feet with thorns?" 

"Nuh-uh." 

"Drop a spider on them?" 

"Nope." 

"Throw a beehive at them?" 

"Never." 

"Trip them?" 

"Maybe. I'll have to think about that one." Jimbo gave his own face a little slap as he ranted, "Never mind all that! Styx, we gotta make sure that they don't feel the love tonight!" 

He leaped over the log and started running where Rey and Saline had left. Styx pondered over whether to join Jimbo in spying on them or watch the Tyrannosaurus enjoy their evening. In the end, though, he tagged along with Jimbo for the ride. 

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For the rest of the day until night, Rey had shown Saline around his forest home. She could definitely see why Rey loved it here so much: the forest was lush and green all year round, with plenty of water. If she had been in charge of Tyrant Mountain, she would have brought everyone here until the dry season was over. 

In the late afternoon sunlight, Rey looked much more regal, the sun turning his scaly skin a golden brown. Saline knew that he was different not only in personality, but also in looks. He looked strong, confident, and powerful enough to take care of himself. In fact, she saw that Rey looked very much like his father. 

The sun was setting when Rey and Saline arrived by a waterfall by a lake. Unlike other waterfalls in the forest, this waterfall split off into smaller sections that fell into ponds that hung over the lake. They lumbered among the smaller waterfalls, each daring each other to see who would go over the rocks the fastest. Once the two Tyrannosaurus reached dry land, they lowered their heads to the water to drink. 

There's a lot of things to tell her, Rey thought as he lapped up the cool water. He wanted to tell her about what he had done, opening his mouth, but then decided against it. Nah, that's impossible. She'd turn away from me.