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Chapter Text

The first one Grimora met was Magnificus. 

The sun was particularly unrelenting that day. Grimora’s clawed feet sank into the dunes with every arduous step she took, like she was trapped in a waking nightmare of walking against some invisible force pushing her back, and her vision swam from dehydration. It had been several weeks now since a velociraptor attack separated her from the rest of her flock and she hadn’t fared well on her own. Pockets of water and vegetation were not only well-hidden between the towering mounds of sand that dominated the desert landscape she called home, but they were also well-guarded by dinosaurs more desperate than she. She had been driven from the last such oasis by a pair of angry pinacosauruses and she counted herself lucky that she’d been able to evade their wicked tail clubs in her advanced age. 

Now she wandered the sands, guided only by a distant whiff of greenery and her own intuition, but she had little hope she’d find her salvation before she expired. The thought bothered her little. She’d lived a full life, raised a few clutches of young, and experienced all the thrills of narrowly escaping death by teeth and claws enough times to be satisfied. She either would find food, or she would become food for another. Such was the sacred cycle of life and death, and she was not one to bargain to escape it. 

So weary was she that it took her a long while to recognize the heavy vibrations of plodding feet fast approaching or the scent of stale blood that signalled a dangerous enemy. Grimora stopped and raised her long neck. Ahead of her, the head of a great theropod rose above the crest of a dune as it marched in her direction. 

A tarbosaurus, she recognized grimly. A rare and truly terrifying monster to come in contact with. There was no evading it out here in the open desert. Even fully about her wits and in the safety of a huge flock of fellow citipatis, Grimora doubted she could make it unscathed out of an encounter with the hulking tarbosaurus that was double her size and inconceivably more massive. Ah, well, it would be a quick death by those jaws. Not the worst way to go out. 

But there was something odd about the way it was approaching. It was moving at a quick pace, nearly a jog, but its eyes were not focussed on Grimora. In fact, as it drew near, it suddenly swerved to avoid her, and she caught a glimpse of its wide, terrified eyes as it passed her by completely with nary a halfhearted chomp in her direction. 

At that moment, Grimora realized what was happening. It wasn’t running towards her but away from something else. It was afraid. 

A shiver went up Grimora’s spine. What could possibly terrify an apex predator like a tarbosaurus? A flash flood? A sandstorm? Whatever it was, she certainly wouldn’t be able to outrun it in her condition. So she stood and waited for the end. 

Then her ears picked up on a strange, scratchy sort of squawking noise coming up from behind the dune. Moments later, what looked like a huge ball of ferns crested the mound, squawking angrily and flapping its arms. 

“Yes, cower in the face of my might!” it shouted after the retreating tarbosaurus. “An uncivilized beast like you is no match for the great Magnificus!”

Grimora stared at it, then looked back at the tarbosaurus, which was fast vanishing in the distance, then back to the newcomer. This was what had scared off the monster? A noisy, overfeathered green dinosaur shorter than herself? Perhaps being this dehydrated was making her see mirages. 

“And you!”

Grimora snapped back to attention when the fuzzy theropod addressed her. Now that she got a better look at him, he looked somewhat like a stunted therizinosaurus, what with his long muzzle, shaggy feathers, and large claws, but he was so ridiculously fluffy it was hard to make out any of the features underneath his feathers. 

But Grimora still had it in her to be gracious, even to such an odd-looking dinosaur, so she dipped her head to him and said, “I see I am in the presence of someone very powerful. I fear I am too old and weak to prevail in a battle against you. I only ask that you make my death quick and painless.”

The shorter green dinosaur remained at the top of his dune, eyeing Grimora curiously. “Do you have a name?” he asked in his raspy voice. 

“Grimora.”

“And what are you doing here alone, Grimora?”

“I’ve been separated from my flock for many weeks. I haven’t been able to find a trace of them ever since.”

The dinosaur continued to squint at her. She’d thought he had one eye closed, but now she noticed the scar running across one side of his face and she realized he might only have one eye. It was strange how he was so small for a therizinosaur yet displayed signs of being quite old. 

“Well,” the dinosaur spoke at last, ruffling his wings with a self-important air, “it would be most rude for the great Magnificus to simply leave you out in the desert alone. Without the protection of my magicks, you would be quite defenseless against that tarbosaurus should it return. I suppose I have no choice but to offer you my companionship until you are able to find your flock again.”

“When you put it that way, you make it sound as though it is a burden for you.”

Magnificus shook his head. “There is no burden greater than that of being a practitioner of ancient magicks.”

What an odd fellow. Grimora hadn’t the faintest idea what he meant by “magicks” and his inflated ego was somewhat irksome, but at least he didn’t seem to be a bad person. 

“Come along,” Magnificus said, turning around and beckoning with his wing. “My sanctum in these sandy wastes is open to you.”

Grimora followed him warily, amusing herself by watching the long feathers of his tail drag through the sand behind him. When she made it over the dune he’d been standing on, however, her misgivings about him promptly vanished. On the other side, rising above the endless mounds of sand, she spotted the numerous green fronds of conifers growing up from what must surely be a pocket of water. Her nose hadn’t misled her after all. There really was an oasis out here. 

With renewed vigour, she trotted after Magnificus until she was walking next to him on his seeing side. 

“You said your name was Magnificus?” Grimora prompted. 

“Yes, that is correct.” Magnificus scratched his chin with one of those long claws of his. “But I go by many names in this land. The Wanderer. The Great One. The Wizard.”

“‘Wizard’? What is that?”

Magnificus tilted his head up to look at her. “Ah, you are one who has not heard of wizards, I see. A wizard is one who wields magickal abilities—astounding powers unlike anything an ordinary dinosaur can perform; nay, even fathom. I may conjure lightning, create illusions of sights and sounds, and transport objects through the very fabric of time and space.” He smirked proudly. “And sometimes, visions of the future come to me in my dreams.”

Grimora offered him a mild-mannered smile. “That sounds very impressive, indeed. I would love to see a demonstration of these powers of which you speak.”

Magnificus gave an awkward cough. “You see, I would, but…I unfortunately depleted my energy on chasing away that tarbosaurus. Spellcasting is no easy feat, you see.”

“Ah, of course.”

“But permit me a day to recover, and I will show you magicks beyond your wildest dreams!”

Grimora chuckled. “I will be very curious indeed to see your so-called ‘magicks’ in action. Was it your spellcasting that reduced your stature, too?”

Magnificus shot her a sharp look and ruffled his feathers again, perhaps in an effort to make himself look bigger. “I will have you know, my stature is perfectly ordinary for one of my species!”

“Really? I recalled therizinosauruses were a tad…” Grimora raised her wing over her head. “...taller.”

“You dare insult a wizard? If I were a crueller dinosaur, I would have vaporized you on the spot!” He tossed his head with a contemptuous snort. “But you are not as worldly as I, so I will excuse your ignorance. I am a beipiaosaurus, and my kind far predates those slow-witted hulking buffoons.”

They were drawing near to Magnificus’s oasis and the scent of fresh water and lush greenery had grown stronger. It was only Grimora’s fascination with the strange dino she walked with that kept her from running ahead and eating her fill. 

“Beipiaosaurus? I’ve never heard of such a species. You must be from very far away, indeed.”

Magnificus tilted his head towards her again and this time there was a twinkle in his one eye. “My dear Grimora,” he said, “it is not only great distance that separates our birthplaces but millions of years in time. I am much, much older than you could ever hope to fathom.”

Grimora gave him a wry smile. What a fascinating little fellow. “I suppose so, Magnificus.”

Chapter Text

Winter had been long but more bearable than most Grimora had experienced. Even though she’d been without her flock, Magnificus had proved a valuable companion. He always knew where to find shelter from the elements and where plants hid buried under the snow. He wasn’t particularly keen on cuddling up for warmth, however, and whenever the air grew so cold that even he could feel the chill through his coat of feather, he instead would pluck a good beakful of his tail feathers, instructing Grimora to do the same, and pile them between the two of them and set them on fire. 

Yes, Grimora had learned, Magnificus could indeed perform magicks. Her respect for him had grown significantly since their first meeting. 

Despite his spellcasting prowess, Magnificus never was able to locate Grimora’s citipati flock for her. Whether this was due to a genuine failing on his part or was an intentional ploy to keep her around, Grimora didn’t mind one bit. His company made for a far more interesting life than the one she’d lived up to that point. 

It was one spring day, when the earth was lush with shrubs, horsetails, and blooming flowers that had sprouted up around the meltwater rivers that crisscrossed the sands, that Grimora and Magnificus came upon the ice blocks. 

“Curious,” Grimora said as she drew a claw along one of the huge chunks of murky white ice that dotted the landscape. “Where could these have come from?”

“A glacier from some higher altitude,” Magnificus said simply. “It broke up with the warming of the weather and the pieces were carried down by spring flooding.”

He always spoke with such authority that Grimora had to assume he knew what he was talking about. Even if she didn’t fully buy his claims that he was hundreds of thousands of lifetimes old, he at least seemed old and worldly enough to have become knowledgeable about a great many things. 

“It seems rather magical to me,” Grimora said with a teasing edge to her voice, “don’t you think?”

The wizard stroked his feathery chin. “You may be correct. Such an event is rather rare, and the constellations have been predicting a cosmic shift as of late.” He walked ahead of Grimora, beckoning to her with a swish of his tail. “Come, let us investigate further. Perhaps we shall find something of interest among the spikes of ice.”

Grimora smiled and shook her head but followed him regardless. At least the ice field was an interesting new environment for them to traverse. They walked on for a good while, stopping here and there to snack on the sweet flowers that bloomed together in clumps. Other dinosaurs milled about, largely hadrosaurs and protoceratops, but none of them bothered the pair nor did they bother them. As fellow herbivores, neither group posed a threat to the other. 

It was a few hours before Grimora and Magnificus spotted the odd ice block out. 

“Look there!” Grimora pointed out towards the glacial chunk. “There appears to be something inside that one!”

Magnificus squinted, following the line of Grimora’s wing to the strangely dark-coloured chunk of ice. “So it would indeed appear.”

They came up to the tall block and peered at the victim trapped inside. Though the distortion of the ice made it difficult to make out the finer details of the creature, it was clearly a theropod of some sort, though Grimora was sure she had never seen anything quite like it. Its brown coat of feathers was so short and fine it looked almost like the coat of a pterosaur or even the fur of a mammal, though the darker green feathering around its neck was long enough to give it a bush-like appearance, and it bore a prominent crest on its snout that was forked like a twig. If Grimora went only off its build and height, the latter of which looked to be close to Magnificus’s, she might have assumed it was a baby tarbosaurus. But tarbosauruses were far less feathered than this, even as downy hatchlings, and none Grimora had ever seen had borne such crests. This was something else entirely. 

“A carnivore,” Magnificus observed with a frown. He appeared to be deep in thought as he gazed into the ice. “And what remarkable preservation, too…”

Grimora looked to him in surprise. “You don’t know what species it is?”

Magnificus coughed awkwardly. “Er, no, not as such. For one as travelled as I to not recognize it, it must be from very far away, either spatially or… No, I shouldn’t make baseless speculations.” He traced a long claw along the side of the ice block. “I should like to remove it from its prison that I may study it further. Perhaps then I will attain a better understanding of it.”

Grimora frowned up at the frozen dinosaur. With its eyes closed like this, it looked almost as though it was asleep and could spring back to life at any moment. And if it had been frozen for a long time, who knew how hungry it would be when it awoke?

As if reading her mind, Magnificus spoke up, “Do not be concerned, Grimora, I am certain it is quite dead. Nothing could survive being completely frozen in ice like this.”

“I suppose so,” she replied slowly, not entirely convinced.

Magnificus added, “And should it somehow happen to be alive, I will handily fend off any attacks it may launch against us.”

Grimora smiled. “I’m certain you will.”

“Now stand back. I shall begin the process of thawing this sorry beast.”

After Grimora had taken a few steps back, Magnificus raised his wings and pink magick swirled at his clawtips before materializing into twin streams of fire that he aimed at the block of ice. No matter how many times Grimora saw Magnificus work his magicks, it was still thrilling every time, and she watched, mesmerized, as the ice began to melt under the heat of the flames. After several minutes of precise blasting, the ice had melted sufficiently for the pair to carefully pry the dinosaur free and lay it on the ground. It was quite heavy despite its small size and as stiff as stone.

“There we are,” Magnificus huffed as he shook out his wings, which were probably as sore as Grimora’s from the strain of pulling out the dinosaur. “Well, it is definitely a tyrannosauroid of some kind, but an ancient one indeed. I recall there were still some tyrannosauroids in my day who sported such crests, though few as lovely as this one.” He traced the subtle lines and whorls that streaked the beast’s two-pronged crest that made it look even more like it was made of wood. “A very handsome specimen,” he sighed, almost wistfully. “A relic of the ancient past, yes, but it’s quite tragic that none like this exist any longer…”

“I don’t think you’ll find much success trying to flirt with a cadaver,” Grimora commented with a wry smile.

“This isn’t flirting!” Magnificus insisted as he whirled around with his neck feathers fluffed up defensively. “It’s simple factual observation! This is—or rather, was—an objectively attractive theropod, even if its unfortunate lack of wings detracts from that slightly…”

Behind Magnificus, the theropod’s eyes opened.

Grimora took a half-step back, eyes wide. “Magnificus? It’s—”

“That’s not to say I find lightly feathered arms significantly less aesthetically pleasing,” Magnificus went on, seemingly mistaking her interjection for judgement, “rather that objectively, larger feathers on the arms allow for a greater variety of impressive dances and displays, and while some dinosaurs are certainly shallow enough to take it as a requirement for a prospective mate, I myself, as an enlightened theropod, am far more—”

He broke off when the supposedly-dead dinosaur suddenly kicked out at his ankles, sending him staggering sideways with a surprised squawk. Before he could recover, the theropod leapt up and kicked him to the ground, pinning his body down with a foot and snarling down at him. As soon as her initial shock wore off, Grimora sprang into action, rushing forward to whap the theropod with one of her wings, but as it crouched to dodge it seemed to suddenly lose its balance and fell back to the ground, hissing in pain.

“Good heavens!” Magnificus cried as he struggled to his feet and staggered away from the theropod. “The beast lives!”

“And it’s rather feisty,” Grimora said, keeping her eyes on the dinosaur as she slowly folded her wings back up. It appeared to have hurt itself in its attempt to attack Magnificus and was curled up on the ground as it coughed weakly. 

“How rude!” Magnificus huffed. “This is the thanks I get for extracting you from your icy tomb? Show a little more respect, why don’t you!”

The theropod squinted open its brilliantly orange eyes and glared up at the two of them, but it was still coughing up shards of ice and gave no immediate reply. It was strange; even though the poor thing was shivering, lying prone on the dirt, Grimora got the sense that it was a truly primal and proud animal. Perhaps it was the furious eyes, perhaps it was its rows of sharp teeth visible only when its mouth parted, or perhaps it was even less scrutable than that, simply an ancient energy it exuded. She suddenly wondered whether a creature this feral could even communicate.

But then the beast opened its jaws and spoke, in a rumble so deep and primordial it sent a shiver up Grimora’s spine, “Fine then, you have me. I cannot defeat you in my current state.” He tilted his head to the side, showing them his neck. “If you wish to end me, do not prolong my suffering.”

Grimora exchanged a glance with Magnificus, then the wizard cleared his throat and said, “Now now, there’s no need to fear us…”

The theropod scoffed. “Fear you? Why would I fear a pair of overgrown birds? I only cede to you because at present I’m not strong enough to fight off the both of you. Take your undeserved meal.”

Magnificus fluffed up his feathers, indignant. “Well, I never! After all the time and effort it took to free you from a block of solid ice, all the thanks we get is being viciously attacked and insulted? Do you really think I would go out of my way to expend my magicks just to eat stale, frozen meat when there are plenty of fresh plants around I could consume instead?”

“Plants? Don’t make me laugh. You’re too large to be plant-eating theropods.”

“Actually, dear,” Grimora piped up, “we are indeed herbivorous. I’m certain you must be rather in shock from waking up so suddenly after who knows how many years you’d been trapped in ice, so it’s understandable that you’re a little confused.”

The theropod looked from her to Magnificus, frowning. “But…you’re so…” His feathery brows furrowed. “What…are you?”

“Not birds, that’s for certain,” Magnificus said with a sniff. Then he hummed thoughtfully, stroking his chin with his claw. “However, if my suspicions are correct, you wouldn’t be faulted for thinking so…”

“What suspicions?” asked Grimora.

“It could be that he was frozen in ice for quite a long time, indeed. Long enough that dinosaurs of our appearance were not yet a common sight.”

Grimora blinked. “Was there really a time like that?”

“I myself have witnessed the rise and fall of many different species of dinosaurs over the course of my life, so the notion that there was a time before larger theropods possessed wings or consumed plant matter does not strike me as infeasible.” Magnificus waved his wing towards the theropod. “That would potentially make this specimen older than even myself.”

“What?! I am no specimen!” snarled the theropod as struggled again to stand and only succeeded in falling forward onto his snout. “I am Leshy, feared guanlong of the Eastern forests, and I will not be—”

He broke off in another fit of coughing, then tucked his limbs into himself like he was trying to conserve heat. Unfortunately, sitting in a loaf like this did not make him look any more dignified, and Grimora had to stifle a laugh.

“If you didn’t intend to eat me,” he said, “then why did you choose to help me?”

“Altruism, pure and simple,” Magnificus replied, puffing out his chest. “When I spotted such an unfortunate dinosaur trapped within the ice, I knew I had to help in the likely case that it still lived. What sort of wizard would I be if I did not put my talents towards the good of all theropodkind?”

Grimora did not refute his claim but she did give him a disapproving side-eye. 

“Bullshit,” said Leshy. “There is no such thing as altruism. You had ulterior motives.”

Magnificus’s aire of superiority quickly crumbled and he bent down to leer at Leshy snout-to-snout. “How dare you! You would accuse the great Magnificus of lying, even to an unevolved ingrate such as yourself?”

Leshy met his challenge with an easy smirk. “I would, when the words that roused me from my slumber came from an overfeathered freak of nature going on and on about how attractive it thought I was.”

That got Magnificus to stagger backwards with an embarrassed squawk; then he pretended he had to preen his wing so he could hold it up to cover his face. “Th-That was…merely objective observation, as I’m sure you heard me say…”

“We were curious about you,” Grimora said to Leshy to divert attention away from her flustered friend. “Truly, we did not know whether or not you would still be alive, but as neither of us had ever seen a dinosaur like you before, we melted the ice around you in order to get a better look. After all, it isn’t every day that one comes across a perfectly preserved ancient dinosaur frozen in ice.”

“Hmm.” Leshy closed his eyes. “I suppose that is a more reasonable explanation.”

“Now, then,” Grimora continued, “since we have settled that matter, why don’t we introduce ourselves? What did you say your name and species were?”

“Leshy. I am a guanlong.”

Grimora dipped her head to him. “A pleasure, Leshy. I am Grimora, a citipati, and this is Magnificus. He calls himself a beipiaosaurus, but he is the only of his kind alive in this time, much like yourself.”

“The last of our kind…” Leshy smirked, raising his eyebrows at Magnificus. “A shame we’re both male or we could have aided each other in preventing our respective species from dying out. I’m sure you would have liked that, wouldn’t you, Magnificus?”

Before Grimora could point out that wasn’t how it worked, Magnificus replied with a sneer, “Now now, don’t speak too hastily, meat-eater, for it is a wizard to whom you speak. If I inspire in you such desires, I know of an incantation that can make your woes about gender irrelevant…”

Leshy dropped his smirk. “What does that mean.”

“He’s teasing, nothing more,” Grimora cut in while shooting a stern glare at Magnificus. Magnificus gave no reply other than a contemptuous sniff. Grimora sighed. For being a pair of millions-of-years-old dinosaurs, these two were acting like such children.

“To return to the topic at hand…” Grimora turned back to Leshy with a gentle smile. “How did you come to be frozen in solid ice? Surely you didn’t intend to time travel this way.”

Leshy hummed, closing his eyes as he thought. “It was a cold winter’s day, the coldest winter I had ever witnessed. Even the swamp had frozen over, and massive icicles hung from every cycad, just waiting for any poor, foolish creature to walk under them at the wrong moment. In this chill environment, competition was fierce, and the sinraptor brothers were behaving especially callously to anyone attempting to hunt or scavenge anywhere near their territory, which was the richest source of congregating prey.” He snorted. “Well, now those bastards are dead and I am not. I hope their bones were picked apart by anchiornises.”

“What is the purpose of all this backstory?” Magnificus demanded. “Grimora asked you a simple question. Move it along, will you?”

Leshy leapt to his feet with a snarl and snapped his jaws in Magnificus’s face, making the beipiaosaurus hop backwards with an alarmed squawk. But Leshy collapsed to the ground a moment later, hitting his chin on the ground.

“Damn it,” he hissed, struggling back up into a wobbly upright stance, “my body is still so numb…”

“And you are lucky it is,” Magnificus snapped as he spread his long wings in a threat display, “or I would have already pulverized you for your brazen attack on my person. But I am too fair to retaliate against one who is so weak…” He narrowed his eye. “...unless he is foolish enough to attempt it a second time.”

“Magnificus, please,” said Grimora, exasperated. “But yes, Leshy, as lovely as your storytelling is, perhaps you’d like to skip ahead to the end?” When she got no reply from him, she prompted, “Leshy?”

Leshy, who had been staring, mesmerized, at Magnificus’s fanned wings, blinked and shook his head. “Er, yes, I suppose so. It was a, er, a yinlong, I believe, that I was chasing. I hadn’t eaten in weeks and I was desperate enough to partake in a foolish chase across some thin ice. Unfortunately, my prey was lighter than I, and…well, I hardly felt the cold of the water when I broke through the ice. I only felt myself falling, and then…then it was what felt like an eternity of darkness and vague wisps of dreams. And now I’m here.”

He surveyed the landscape, looking unimpressed. “So this is what the future looks like. Flat wastelands striped with pitiful trickles of water. Is there any way to put me back into the ice to allow me to travel ahead a bit further to see if things improve any? Or better yet, send me back to when I came from?”

“Well now, dear,” Grimora started, “I don’t think this is all so terrible. I quite enjoy the freedom of the open landscape myself, but this isn’t by any means what the whole world looks like, correct, Magnificus?”

“Oh, certainly,” Magnificus scoffed, “but I doubt our overdramatic friend here possesses enough curiosity to wish to see it. My abilities to send living beings through time are rather weak, but I can certainly flash-freeze you if that’s what you wish.” He raised his wings as if preparing to cast a spell. “Perhaps you will survive the dreaded meteor of the dark prophecies.”

“Please, your threats don’t intimidate me,” Leshy growled, assuming a low posture with his wingless claws brandished. “Do it. Put me back in ice. Then I won’t have to hear your insufferable prattling any longer.”

Magickal energy crackled at Magnificus’s claw-tips and Leshy flinched but did not back down. Grimora groaned quietly. The immaturity on display here was exhausting.

“If I may have your attention for a moment?” she said.

Both Leshy and Magnificus turned their heads to her. Magnificus dropped whatever spell he’d been preparing and Grimora swore she caught him sag in relief. Ah, good, he’d been bluffing. She couldn’t imagine he truly wished to be so quickly rid of the guanlong in whom he’d taken so much interest.

“Magnificus, you said you have the ability to transport things through time?”

“Well…” Magnificus scratched his cheek with a claw. “I’ve experienced only limited success with it thus far. It’s rather imprecise, you see, particularly across longer spans of time, and while simple objects such as rocks, bones, bits of plant matter, the like, fare sufficiently well across the jump, living animals…tend to fare a little more poorly. As in, they usually come out quite dead on the other side. Or turned inside-out.”

Leshy’s lip curled in horrified disgust. “What sort of horrific process is this? Are you saying the only things you can send through time are carcasses?”

“And rocks,” Magnificus reminded. “But that isn’t to say it’s impossible. I’ve successfully transported myself a few days, even a few years back and forth in time, and I only ended up inside-out one time. A very painful predicament, but a simple enough fix.”

Leshy stared at Grimora with wide eyes as if to confirm with her whether Magnificus was being serious. She shrugged and nodded. She had found that this was just what he was like.

To him, she asked, “Do you truly desire to go back to the time from which you came?”

“If it entails massive bodily harm or outright death, no.” Leshy paused, looking around the dunes, then added, “But if it can be done safely, I find that much preferable to remaining trapped here with—” He cut himself off as he glanced in Magnificus’s direction and appeared to reconsider his words. “—ahem, dinosaurs I don’t know very well quite yet.”

“Aha, now that I’m useful to you, you at last show me the modicum of respect I’m owed?” Magnificus turned his nose up at him. “Well, if that’s how it’s to be, I think I can certainly put in a bit more work practicing my time travel spells and see if I can’t eventually find a way to whisk you away back home.” Then he prodded Leshy in the chest with his claw. “But take care not to try my patience, beast, or I might reconsider my generous offer and return to your ice block suggestion.”

Leshy scoffed and brushed Magnificus’s wing away with his hand. “I’ll try to remember to put in an effort. For now, what is there to eat around here? You can’t expect me to hunt…” He squinted into the distance at the saurolophus herd grazing on shrubs by one of the rivers. “...whatever the hell those massive things are.” 

“I thought a carnivore like yourself would know how to catch prey,” Magnificus snorted. “Does this plant-eater need to teach you how to isolate a juvenile from the herd?”

“What, you expect me to wobble out into a crowd of ornithischians five times my height just so I can get immediately trampled to death? Brilliant strategizing there.”

“Of course we won’t allow for that,” said Grimora gently. She lightly patted Leshy’s back with her wing in at attempt to be comforting, but it only made him shy away with wide eyes. Right, he probably wasn’t used to theropods being friendly with each other, and Magnificus sure wasn’t helping in that regard. “I’m certain that Magnificus will be willing to help you hunt if you ask him nicely.”

“Do not speak on my behalf,” Magnificus huffed. But when Leshy gave him a skeptical look, he conceded, “I will help you only because it gives me something of minor amusement to do, and I would rather not watch you bumble out there like a fool.”

Leshy chuckled, showing off his sharp fangs in a grin. “Despite the fact that you two are herbivores, you have no reservations about helping me eviscerate a baby animal for lunch? Perhaps you are not as soft as I thought you were.”

Magnificus turned his head away, but judging by the way he kept readjusting and ruffling his wings, Grimora could tell Leshy’s words had flustered him once more.

They led Leshy through the ice field slowly to give Leshy’s half-asleep legs time to warm up and so they could continue asking him questions about his past while supplying information about the present. Despite his previous annoyance at Leshy’s wordy storytelling, Magnificus in particular was now eager to grill the guanlong for details about his environment and the animals that occupied it, and though he claimed it was purely to give himself an idea of the exact time period he would eventually be aiming to send him back to, Grimora detected genuine intrigue from him. One as worldly as he could never turn down the opportunity to learn even more information.

But before their group had come within striking distance of the protoceratops herd they’d decided would be an easier target, Leshy suddenly halted in his tracks.

“Stop. What is that?”

Grimora followed his line of vision to a small bush with large pink flowers. “What, the plant?”

Leshy approached it slowly with his tail down like he expected it to bite him. “These…pink leaves. They have an aroma to them…”

Grimora blinked in surprise. “The flowers?”

“Ha!” Magnificus laughed. “Leshy, feared guanlong of the forests, has never seen a flower before!”

“Shut up.” Leshy stalked towards the bush, sniffing, then stuck his entire face into the branches. When he pulled his head back out, there were leaves and twigs stuck in the feathery mane around his neck. “These leaves, they’re—they’re soft! What is this plant?”

“There’s nothing special about it,” Grimora started, but Magnificus, overcome with glee, jumped in, “I see how it is! You, who derided us for consuming plants, are yourself smitten by them! Is a simple flowering bush all it takes for you to expose your hypocrisy?”

“Oh, please, I’m not smitten with anything!” Leshy retorted, bristling. “But you’re a fool to take such beauty for granted. Are your forests filled with plants such as these?”

If Magnificus sneered any wider, his cheeks might split. “Ah, if such a meagre bush is enough to set your spirit alight, I ought to take you to one such forest and see how you react when you are surrounded by trees laden with flowers—and fruits! You won’t be so quick to deride a plant-based diet after you have tasted the nectar of fruits!”

Leshy let out a deep, rumbling chuckle. “You won’t turn me on to herbivory so quickly, but I will sample your so-called fruits, just to humour you. You won't be too afraid of having a terrifying carnivore following you around everywhere you go?”

“Give it a day or two,” Magnificus said with a shrug, “and we shall see which of us two is more terrifying. It is settled, then?” He looked to Grimora. “Would you object to us journeying northward into a deciduous forest? It would be rather different than what you are used to, and if it would bring you discomfort, I would not wish to force you into it…”

Grimora gave him a knowing smile. Who was she to deny Magnificus the opportunity to impress the theropod he was so obviously smitten with? “Of course I am alright with it. The change of scenery should make for an interesting experience.”

As Leshy went back to poking his head around the flowering shrub instead of running off to sate his hunger—interesting priorities, this one—Grimora leaned her head down to Magnificus and whispered, “I do hope you will indeed practice your time travel magicks instead of giving in to the temptation to keep this guanlong here forever.”

“What are you accusing me of?” Magnificus hissed back at her. “I wouldn’t dream of it. I want him gone as badly as he wants to be gone. That said…” He frowned out into the middle distance with a pensive look on his face. “There is that aforementioned cosmic shift afoot, and a beast from the ancient past reawakening may be part of the prophecy as foretold by the stars. It may be a good thing that developing my abilities with this spell will take some time, for this Leshy may prove important, and being too hasty with getting rid of him would be unwise.”

“And what exactly does this ‘prophecy’ of yours entail?”

“Ah, it’s all…” Magnificus waved his wing distractedly. “Well, it’s all vague…vagueries. Don’t concern yourself with it. It will either be fulfilled or it won’t be. For now, let us keep this unevolved tyrannosauroid by our side. Once I have sufficiently practiced my spellcasting, I will be only too happy to send him back to where he came from.”

Somehow Grimora doubted that, but she gave him a pleasant smile regardless and replied, “I’m sure you will be.”