down into the river. Aliwal chuckled evilly, "Let the river..., or I have to say..., let the fall do it," he said and continue a chuckle as he saw bunches of red bubbles popped up from where he last saw Sotara.

    Finding himself under water, Sotara struggled to the surface. But the more he tried, the deeper he drowned. Finally he gave up; his fate now depend on the mercy of the wild river. Aliwal, then, walked away soon after that.

    "Sotara!" Nebbia, who followed Sotara, and had just arrived the river, screamed out as she saw Sotara in the raging water. She ran out to the riverside after she's sure that Aliwal was gone. Sotara, in fact, heard his friend calling his name, yet, unable to answer. The cold water and the hurling stream was draining his life out of him.

    Nebbia ran after Sotara in the river by the riverside, still tried to call his name. A call started to become a yell, but it didn't work, either. After a while of running, Sotara reached the fall. Nebbia looked in panic at the red trail showing where the river had taken Sotara's body to; it took some time for her to be calm enough to start a safe way down the fall after her best friend. Along the way, not a second went without Nebbia calling Sotara's name; her face are now full of tears that, somehow, resembled the fall behind her.

    Sotara fell down to the bottom of the fall. In order to keep his nostrils over the surface, he had to painfully bend his own body. Time slowly ticked by, Sotara now found it very hard to keep himself curved in the condition he was in. Just before he gave up, a grey foot appeared; he couldn't see the foot clearly, but he didn't care whether whose it was, or what would it do to him. As soon as he was lifted from the water, he felt just safe enough to let himself fall asleep....

Chapter 9 : The Triassic Tracking Dog

    Nebbia spent almost half of the night tracking up and down the river, but her effort was in vain; it was as if Sotara just simply disappeared. Besides, the unexpected winter thunderstorm blocked all the left chances. Without either morale or energy left in her, she went back to the cave, where Aleu was now pacing around worriedly. When Aleu saw Nebbia came back, soaking all over, she ran out to ask her for Sotara. Nebbia didn't say anything, she walked straight to her corner in the cave, with tears on her face.

    Aleu heard her crying to herself, "It is all my fault, I should have stopped him. Why didn't I? Why...? Why...?"

    "No, Nebbia, it's not your fault. Tell me what happened," she said.

    "Sotara..., he... he was in the river; if only I was brave enough, he wouldn't fall off the fall like that. And now..., I... can't find him. He's dead, Aleu, he's dead, and I just stood there looking," Nebbia cried.

    Aleu, not knowing what to say, just move closer and so Nebbia let it all out. The feeling of Aleu's soft fur was a great comfort to her.

    That was a long quiet moment without them saying anything at all. Finally, it was Aleu who first spoke up, "Well, you said you had looked everywhere for him, are you that sure?"

    "I walked by that river for many hours and I couldn't saw him. The night was so dark, and the rain made my search even harder, I hardly saw anything at all," she said. Her voice was still shaking from the great sorrow.

    "Maybe, we should go back. There must be some hope if you take me with you," Aleu advised.

    Nebbia asked in surprise, "But, Aleu, how? You see the rain, it's impossible to even see where you are going."

    "Just let me try, Nebbia. I think I can follow his scent," Aleu pleaded.

    The female Herrerasaurus was still unsure, "His what? His... scent?"

    "You may not know this, but each animal has its own unique scent. And noses of my kinds are capable for following these scents," Aleu explained.

    "But what if he finds out that I let you go out with me? He...," before Nebbia could continue, Aleu cut her off, "I'm not afraid that he will know about this, I am afraid of him dying out there in the storm."

    With that, Nebbia and Aleu wandered off to the river in the cold winter rain. Aleu had never use her sense of smell as seriously as she was now. Because of the rain, she missed the trail twice, but she could quickly got back on the right way every time. As the thunder grew wilder, Aleu found it very hard even to keep on sniffing; finally the two reached a small branch of the river, Nebbia hadn't come to before. "Sotara was here, that's all I can tell. But his trail just disappear, I cannot tell you where he went next," Aleu yelled through the sound of thunder.

    "Aleu, there is a print here," Nebbia told Aleu as she could figure out a print similar to her kind's, she asked further, "Do you think he has gone back?"

    After spending some hard time examining both the print found and the one Nebbia made on the way, Aleu concluded, "I don't think so. This print is a lot deeper than yours, this should means someone had rescued Sotara."

    Not seeing what they can do more about it, and the thunder are growing almost too bad for them to handle, they went back to the cave, praying in their minds that Sotara was still alive...

    Two days later at Topaz's cave. Topaz was hitting the cave wall with his head, "Come on Topaz, think. What could that dream mean? Why is this dream so hard? They're coming today, and you can't answer them with an 'I don't know,' Topaz."

    Balto and Glace were on the way to Topaz's cave, when they heard his mumbling. "Do you really think this Topaz can help? It has been three days already, and it seems like he is still looking for an answer," asked Balto; it wasn't that he didn't want to meet Topaz, in fact, he need every help in reach, but he just wasn't sure this time.

    Glace spoke up, "Come on, Balto. You aren't going to go all the way back without an answer, are you?"

    Balto sighed, "All right. This is all I can do now." They both walked into the cave.

    Topaz was still talking to himself without noticing the two coming, "Great, this must be what the dream said, I am sure now."

    "I'm more sure that if I were a hunter, he would be definitely dead by now," Glace whispered to Balto, with an attention to let Topaz hear that too.

    Topaz quickly turned and said, "Glace!?... Balto! I'm glad to see you, two, here. Oh, oh, and I'm more glad to tell you...,"

    "The meaning that you just discover within a second ago?" Glace asked sarcastically, but still, with a smile showed.

    "Well... yeah, yes it is. Do you want me to tell you now?"

    "Yes, I dreamed it again last night! So, as you said, it shouldn't be a normal dream," Balto said, his voice really did show his tiredness because he hadn't slept well since Aleu disappeared.

    "All right. Your dream is telling you that finding your daughter now is impossible, because she isn't anywhere to be found. She is, now in a different world, and a different place. Aleu was destined to be a part in the history you can never imagine, she will come back when she finish her duty there," Topaz explained.

    Balto asked more, "And..., what about me got eaten in the dream?"

    "Oh! That's so simple. It means that you're not meant to be worried, or the worry itself will eat you up," Topaz answered almost as fast as the question was asked....

    "So you break your promise with me," a familiar voice echoed from somewhere. "Uncle Boha? Uncle Boha, where are you?" Sotara asked, though he knew that his uncle wouldn't be so happy, he himself was more than glad if he was able to talk to his beloved uncle for just one more time. "I am always with you, just turn around," the voice said. Sotara did as he was told, and he saw Boha, not like when he left, but in a perfect condition, standing upright in front of him.

    "You disappointed me, Sotara," Boha said, his eyes showed anger in them. Before Sotara could make an excuse, he continued, "I always thought you were a fighter who fought for justice. But I was wrong," after saying he turned away from his child, not even his gaze was on Sotara.

    "Uncle Boha... I..., I was...," Sotara was out of words, he was so depressed that he felt like a child again, a child who needed his uncle to comfort. He walked to Boha.

    "Don't you dare come to me!" he roared.

    When he didn't hear any more words from Sotara, he couldn't help looking back to see his only son on the ground, sobbing. What he saw completely emptied the anger in him. He slowly walked to where Sotara was, gently lifted his head up, "Sotara, I'm sorry. Hush now, my son, hush. I didn't mean to hurt you."

    "I'm sorry, father. I just couldn't help myself. I just..., I..., I don't know," Sotara was now not able to control himself, his body quivered with all the emotions that rushed through him. He was indeed very sorry for what he had done, at the same time, so happy that his uncle had now forgiven him, he even accepted his call as father.

    After a