Sobek had made the central square his headquarters. He hadn't moved from there since the city was taken. Even after two days, he had not returned to the forest.

He wasn't the only one, of course. Many dinosaurs had built a bed inside the city. Although they disliked the hard, asphalted terrain, very different from the soft, comfortable forest ground, they understood that they would not go away anytime soon. Most of the dinosaurs had chosen to settle near Sobek, remaining in the central square.

Sobek was placidly sunbathing when a throaty sound called him back. The spinosaurus opened its eyes to see Apache land in front of him. "What news do you bring me from the front?" he asked him.

After taking control of the colony, Sobek had ordered all small pterosaurs to head into the mountains on the border and report any movement from humans. Some large pterosaurs such as Apache acted as spokespersons, using [Ambush] to avoid being noticed by humans. In fact, Sobek did not want humans to know in advance that there were pterosaurs with him.

Sobek had always been very careful about using his cards. He knew that Odaria's satellite systems could not be too advanced: if the nation had enough money to afford them, it could also have procured aircraft for its army, which it was unable to do from the information Sobek had (may God bless the Internet!). As a result, those satellites probably couldn't get images of the dark side of the planet. Since the assault on the city had taken place at night, humans still did not know what its actual strengths were.

To deceive them, Sobek had hidden much of his army in the forest before the sun rose. Furthermore, he had categorically forbade large flying reptiles from flying in the absence of [Ambush]. Furthermore, none of the dinosaurs in the city had weapons or armor: everything was well hidden under the canopy of trees.

Since he still needed the large pterosaurs to act as spokespersons, Sobek had a small tent built next to his bed. Seen from above it looked like a parasol, but in reality it was used to hide the pterosaurs, which deactivated [Ambush] only after going under it.

"Rambo reports that no humans have crossed the border yet. However, there have been movements over the mountains, and from their equipment it is likely that they are soldiers" Apache said.

"Mh. I understand. What are they doing?" Sobek asked.

"For the moment, they're just patrolling the border like us" Apache replied. "But it is likely that soon they will push towards us"

"As I suspected. He goes back and tells Rambo to check again. As soon as humans cross the border, let me know immediately"

"Yes, pack leader"

Apache activated [Ambush] and disappeared from sight of him. Even though he couldn't see it, Sobek knew by intuition that he had taken off.

He mulled over what the quetzalcoatlus had told him. As he had suspected, Odaria's leaders weren't willing to throw in the towel that easily. There would be a battle soon, a real one this time. It was time to get ready, and he already knew how. "Old Li!" he called him.

The ankylosaurus approached him. "What do you wish?" he asked him.

"Call Carnopo. I have an important task to entrust to him"

The carnotaur arrived shortly after; Sobek didn't have to wait long. Carnopo seemed eager to know his assignment, but Sobek was about to give him much more. And when the carnotaur noticed that near Sobek there was a bowl full of silver dye, he immediately understood what was happening.

Sobek had waited too long to give it a title. He didn't want to wait any longer. He had highlighted the situation from multiple points of view and made his decision. "Carnopo, come here"

The carnotaur advanced and stood before his lord. Even when lying down, Sobek was still taller than him. He had truly become a giant. "We fought together twice. The first time, thanks to your help, I managed to free the captive dinosaurs at the zoo. Without your acting skills, the task would have been a lot more onerous. Even if you got caught, you still quickly came up with a backup plan and masterfully executed it" the spinosaurus enunciated. "Then, we fought together a few days ago, at the quarry. Together with Buck and Al, you successfully led your soldiers to the other side of the quarry and successfully defeated the humans who foolishly came to face us. And not only did you get these big wins, but you also did a great job as my subordinate. This made me make a decision"

Sobek dipped his paw into the silver liquid and smeared it on Carnopo's forehead, forming a moon. "You have proven to be a great leader and an excellent strategist. Therefore I, Sobek, bestow upon you the title of army commander. You will be second only to me from now on, and only to me you will have to answer"

Carnopo bowed his head with his chest swollen with pride. He had donated his loyalty to Sobek, so he was thrilled to see that Sobek trusted him too. He felt like he could touch the sky with a finger.

Sobek drew back his paws and looked his new army commander straight into his eyes. "Now I have a task to entrust to you"

********

Two days later, Apache returned. "The humans are rallying their troops across the mountains! It is likely that they will overcome them by tomorrow evening!"

Sobek narrowed his eyes. "So it begins..." he whispered. "The great battle of our time!"

It was an old quote, but it was always there. The Lord of the Rings never got old. "Old Li, you will stay here" he ordered the ankylosaurus. "You will have a group of dinosaurs with you and you will stay with them to watch over the humans. Please, they must not understand that our number has decreased; they must continue to believe that we are still in town, or some hothead will try to unleash a revolt"

"I will do it. I won't disappoint you, pack leader" Old Li confirmed. He didn't mind being left behind: even if he never pulled back in the face of a challenge, he was still old and fighting wasn't something he was doing very well now. On the battlefield he probably would have slowed down the others. So if he could be useful in other ways he was happy to be able to.

"Send a messenger from Carnopo. Tell him it's time"Sobek said. "Then go to Buck and order him to gather the assault legion. We will show to the humans that they cannot win against us!"

*************

General Davies was in charge of Odaria's army. Since the wars were over long before he was born, Deavis had never fought a real battle, but he was well versed in military strategy and had conducted several counter-terrorism operations. It could not be said that he was a fool.

When government leaders ordered him to deploy his troops near the mountains, on the border line with the colony, and shoot anything he tried to pass, Davies had no idea what was going on beyond the mountains. Only after three days did the politicians (or rather, the rich people behind the politicians) made the decision to attack and informed him of everything. Initially Deavis couldn't believe that dinosaurs had suddenly decided to talk and attack a city, but the satellite photos didn't lie.

So he was gone. The government had given him nearly ninety percent of the national army and ordered him to retake Cartago at any cost. Davies did not know why the dinosaurs had suddenly abandoned the mud to give themselves to the conquerors (although he suspected there was some experimentation with chemicals involved) but he had one certainty: he could not and should not let them live.

Even though the dinosaurs had declared their offer to negotiate, it was clear as sunshine that humans had to get rid of them as soon as possible, before this thing spread. Dinosaurs had already proven that they could be very ferocious and if they multiplied enough they could have stood up to humanity as a whole. What if they decided at that point that they had to be the dominant species? They had to be stopped in the bud, before the lives of billions of people were placed on the edge of the abyss.

The desert was a great battleground: it was impossible to ambush there, which meant that whoever had numerical and technological superiority would win. The flat ground made it impossible to hide and allowed you to see tens of kilometers away.

In order to get a better view of the situation, Davies had the camp planted at the base of a small rocky mound and built a headquarters above it. His tent was there, where he could have a clear view of the whole surrounding environment, and with him there were sentries and means to communicate with the officers in charge of the soldiers. In addition, Davies had planted the jewel of the army on the mountain: the first real gas weapon.

The original plan was to use planes to spread poisonous gas, but unfortunately Odaria could not afford military planes without facing sanctions from the most powerful countries; therefore the scientists had opted for another solution. They had compressed a large amount of nerve gas, the most powerful poison in existence, inside a rather small sphere; after that they had built a rail gun. The rail gun was a tool dating back to the Three Hundred Years War that could fire a bullet, in this case the sphere full of nerve gas, up to 40 kilometers away; but thanks to the advanced technology of the modern era, this gun could reach a range of 120 kilometers. When it hit the ground, the sphere would shatter and the nerve gas would spread across the battlefield killing anything.

The mountain was the best place to place the cannon. If by chance every other strategy had failed, Davies would have turned on the car and would have thrown the gas into the midst of the challengers, annihilating everyone. His soldiers would also have died, so he did not want to use this method except in case of extreme necessity; but if all had turned out to be lost, he would have used it.

The camp was located about ten kilometers from Cartago; the city was clearly visible in the distance even at night. Nonetheless, Davies preferred to wait. Before moving and actually starting the battle, he preferred to wait until it was daylight so that he could have a clear view of the battlefield.

"The plan is simple" the general explained, showing the map of the territory to his officers. "When the dinosaurs see us coming, they will probably barricade themselves in the city. We will tear down the walls with tanks and attack them from above with helicopters; at that point they will be forced to fight directly. They will have to advance towards the army, but the tanks will fire at them in bursts and take down all the biggest ones. The soldiers will eliminate the rest"

"What if they choose to come and meet us?" his second officer asked.

"Then we will win even easier. There are no places to hide in the desert. We will see them from sseveral kilometers away and bomb them with tanks. We could wipe them out without losing a single man" Davies explained.

The officers were convinced. Davies' strategy seemed perfectly logical. As soon as the sun began to rise, the officers left the command post and went to get the troops moving.

Davies remained at the top of his post, observing the situation with a keen eye. The light bothered him (the sun was rising from the east, consequently he was appearing directly behind Cartago) but he could bear it. From there he watched the army advance. Although the troops moved for over a kilometer, they had barely moved from its elevated viewpoint.

But suddenly there was a noise. Davies was surprised to recognize the sound of a roar. Immediately, he ordered over the radio to stop the advance of the army. The sound came in the direction of Cartago.

A stain began to appear from a dune about three kilometers away from the army. Thousands of sizable figures advanced towards Odaria's army. Davies grabbed the binoculars and recognized dinosaurs.

"Apparently they chose a quick death" he told his he officers over the radio. "Prepare the tanks! As soon as they are in range, shoot!"