Dragon Cave Mountain

by Scott Ferrell

  Zookie ran from the savannah and through the woods as fast as his four legs could carry him. He didn’t stop until he was safe inside Dragon Cave Mountain.

  Zek laughed at him. His mom scolded him for going onto the SwayGrass Savannah alone. His dad shook his head in disappointment.

  “Wait,” Lena said, confused. “You don’t know where the hyenas are?”

  Zookie sighed. “Not where. Were.”

  “What?”

  “A were-hyena is a human that lives on savannahs,” Zookie explained.

  “I knew a Savannah once,” Lena said. “She was weird.”

  “They live a feral existence,” the dragon said, ignoring her, “and they’re cursed. Every night, they change into a monster, half human and half hyena.” As if humans needed to become more monstrous, he thought.

  “A hi-na.” She mispronounced with a snort. “Well, that ain’t nothing. When I was stuck out in the desert all alone, I was chased by a giant sandworm. It could have swallowed me whole. Almost did, too, but Tim showed up.”

  Tim grunted and this thick brow lowered over his one eye in confusion.

  “He picked up that sandworm, swung it around like a lasso, and then slurped it right up like a noodle.” She made a loud slurping noise, drooling a little as she did.

  “Did I mention my mom nearly squashed me?” Zookie asked.

  “I was chased by the Grootslang while trying to cross a river.” Lena held her head higher like she had won an argument or something.

  “Un,” Tim said.

  “No, you’re not. Hush,” Lena snapped.

  “A bunch of will-o’-the-wisps got into the mountain once,” Zookie countered. “They tried to lead us all out so that a hoard of fairies could take over the caves.”

  “Fairies?” Lena exclaimed. “Who’s afraid of fairies? Let me tell you about the time Brownies washed all the dishes in the village and then demanded we give them all our corn.”

  At the mention of a human village, Zookie’s mood darkened beyond irritation. Even if he couldn’t blow fire, he was sure his glare was hot enough to catch the little girl on fire.

  She didn’t seem to notice, though. She went right on with her outlandish story.

  ***

  LT rolled his yellow eyes. He had trouble deciding if the two young creatures were more amusing or annoying. They were both clearly boasting of stories that were half-truths or outright lies. It was all silly, really. Even if they were true, none of it compared to the adventures he’d been on. He would add his own tales, but he didn’t want them to stay up all night whimpering with fear.

  Maybe he should tell them a tale or two. Like the time he…Well, he couldn’t think of anything at that moment, but the thought of them cowering made him snicker with amusement.

  Something flashed across the ground next to him making him jump. He froze and stared at the spot he thought he had seen it. There was nothing.

  Had he imagined it or was it real? What was it? He thought it was a flash of red light but couldn’t be sure. It was probably just a trick of sunlight filtering through the trees. He was about to hurry to catch up with the others, who hadn’t noticed him stop, when the dot of light zipped across the ground again.

  LT tensed. His back haunches lifted higher into the air as his muscles coiled for the pounce. He didn’t know what it was, but he knew he had to catch it.

  The dot of light wiggled and danced right in front of him. The dumb thing must not have known he was there or it would have run away. Oh, well. It couldn’t escape LT!

  The tiger pounced! He slapped his large paws onto of the tiny creature.

  With a smirk that showed off his large, sharp teeth, LT slowly lifted his paws to see what he had caught.

  Nothing. There was nothing but the forest floor there.

  Confused, LT looked around, but the light creature reappeared right where he thought he had jumped on it. He swatted at it, but it moved out of the way. He tried again. It moved again.

  Growing frustrated, his attempts to catch the thing grew wilder. Every time he thought he had it, it would just dart out of his grasp. He scrambled after it, but the light creature just zipped across the ground away from him.

  The thing ran up Zookie’s tail. LT jumped on it, causing the dragon to flinch away in surprise.

  “Hey!”

  LT swung his eyes around, but the creature was gone. “There was a thing. Didn’t you see it?” He backed away and lowered his body, his eyes darting around. “It was just here. Don’t move and it will come back.” He fell quiet, his striped tail swishing back and forth.

  “What are you talking about?” Zookie asked. “Come on, we need to go.”

  “Didn’t you see it?” LT demanded.

  The light popped back into existence right in front of him. He lunged, but it jerked out of his reach and scurried into the bushes. LT left the path, crashing in after it.

  ***

  “Wait!” Zookie cried after him. “Don’t go in there. It could be a trap.”

  The dragon followed LT into the forest but lost sight of him. All he could hear was the sounds of the tiger crashing around in the woods.

  Before he could try to follow, Lena yelled. “Help!”

  He galloped back onto the trail in time to see Tim standing on wobbly, hairy feet. His eyelids drooped and Zookie saw six little darts sticking out of his neck.

  “Uh?” the cyclops asked before tipping over. He crashed to the ground with a thud.

  “Tim!” Lena cried. There was a tiny thip sound and a dart stuck in her neck, too. “Hey! That was ruuu…” Her voice trailed off as a sleepy smile spread over her face. “I feel funny,” she drawled before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell over.

  Zookie stiffened, listening to every noise. There was another thip sound and a dart sped at him. Luckily, it hit him in a spot where he had grown some scales and bounced off. Three more flew in from different directions but hit the scaly spot down his neck and couldn’t penetrate the hard scales. He had grown old enough to start growing his scales in last year. His body wasn’t fully covered like older dragons, but they did offer some protection.

  Thinking quickly, he fell over and grabbed one off the darts off the ground. He wedged the tip between his scales, careful not to touch his skin with it. He closed his eyes to slits and lay still.

  The surrounding area fell silent and nothing moved for long moments.

  After what seemed like forever, a bush to his left rustled and a little creature stepped out. He stood only about as tall as one of Zookie’s front legs. His skin had a green tint and looked rough like tree bark. He had long, pointy ears that hung down to the side and little wings that arched down his back. His nose was long and his small eyes sat too close together. He carried a stick with a tiny, sharpened rock tied to the end like one of the human’s spears.

  Zookie recognized the creature from stories he heard as a hatchling. A wood elf.

  The little thing stopped just on the path and stuck the butt of his spear on the ground. He surveyed the area. Satisfied with whatever he saw, he turned and whistled just like a bird.

  Almost immediately, dozens of wood elves burst into the area, chatting away in their funny language. It sounded like a cross between a tinkling bell and a hissing cat.

  Zookie thought about jumping up and chasing them off but decided against it. There were way too many of them and they were everywhere. He continued to play possum.

  Chapter 6

  The wood elves went to work wrapping strong vines around the cyclops first and after dragging the tiger out of the woods, they bound LT. They didn’t bother to secure the scrawny girl. Some of them moved to tie up Zookie while a large group gathered around Tim and wedged their tiny hands under him. With a collective grunt, they lifted the cyclops off the ground.

  Zookie let his head and tail hang limp when a small group picked him up. He regretted it because his neck started to ache within minutes, but he was committed to pretending he was o
ut cold.

  The elves chatted happily as they carried the four into the woods. Well, all except the ones stuck carrying Tim. They puffed and gasped, their little, round faces turning red from the effort.

  Zookie tried to concentrate on which direction they were heading, but the occasional shooting pain in his neck made it hard. He quickly lost all sense of direction and knew there was no way he’d be able to find his way back to the path.

  At some point, LT began to stir and moan. A nearby, unburdened wood elf thunked him on the head with the butt of his spear and the tiger went quiet again.

  LT wasn’t the only one, though. Tim started to shift causing those carrying him to stumble. That frightened the elves more than the tiger. The little creatures carrying Zookie dropped him and ran to help with the giant cyclops.

  Zookie didn’t hit the ground very hard, but his tail slapped a sharp rock. A small cry of surprise more than pain escaped from his snout before he could hold it in. He peeked between his eyelids, hoping they hadn’t heard him.

  They had. In fact, his small cry had attracted all of the wood elves’ attentions. They turned to look at him, dropping their burdens where they stood. They pulled spears and blowguns from their backs, ready to take on the dragon.

  Zookie considered his options. He knew the blow darts couldn’t penetrate his scales and he doubted the crude spears could either, well, where he had scales, anyways. He thought his odds were pretty good against a few dozen wood elves.

  Against a few hundred? That was another story. More of the little creatures appeared from behind trees and under bushes. They materialized out of nowhere. Hundreds, he was sure, though there were too many to count. All of them armed with various weapons.

  Zookie scrambled to his paws and bared his teeth. He spread his wings to make himself look as big and menacing as possible.

  It didn’t seem to impress the wood elves. They held their ground. One of them even stepped toward the dragon and leveled the point of his spear in Zookie’s face. The wood elf jabbered at him in their language. It sounded a lot like that time Zookie had accidentally stepped on a cat’s tail. The elf seemed just as mad, too. His floppy ears twitched in agitation.

  Zookie snorted and a puff of white, fluffy smoke poured from his nose.

  The wood elf squealed and dove to the side. He landed hard on the ground and lay flat on his stomach, covering his head with his grubby hands. If Zookie could blow fire, that wouldn’t have provided much protection.

  The dragon stepped away from the elf on the ground and turned to blow more smoke at the rest of them closing in on him. It was enough to make them hesitate.

  Before Zookie could think of what to do next, a wood elf flew out of a tree with a mighty war cry that sounded like a high-pitched bird call. It hit Zookie’s back, bounced off, and landed with a thump somewhere in the bushes.

  Hoping to drive the elves away, Zookie turned in a circle, roaring as loud as he could.

  The wood elf cowering on the ground had picked that moment to cautiously lift his head to find out what was going on. He squeaked at the loud roar and buried his face back in the dirt.

  More darts bounced off Zookie’s scales as the elves closed in around him. They yelled and waved their spears around.

  Not sure what else to do, he spun and snatched the cowering elf off the ground. “Stop or I’ll eat him!”

  They stopped advancing on him but didn’t back off. They shook their little weapons at him.

  “Stop!” cried a high, squeaky voice from somewhere in the trees.

  Zookie swung his head in the direction of the voice. “Show yourself.”

  The wood elves went quiet, leaving the forest silent. At first, nothing moved other than the elves brandishing their spears as they shifted from foot to tiny foot. Then a vine dropped from high up in the branches. It hung still for a long moment before it started to vibrate and twitch.

  Curious, Zookie stepped closer to the vine and growled softly. He jumped back when a squirrel burst out of the trees and climbed down the vine upside down. It wasn’t an ordinary squirrel, though. It was at least three times larger than a normal one and had ears with large tufts of red fur sticking out. Its fluffy tail was a spectacle of auburn fur magnificence. It bared its large, square teeth at Zookie.

  Chapter 7

  The squirrel stopped about halfway down the vine and stuck a paw out dramatically toward Zookie. His makeshift rope wobbled. He grabbed hold with all four paws until it settled. He stuck out his paw again.

  “You…”

  Whatever he was about to say didn’t come out. He lost his grip and fell the rest of the way down. He landed on his back with a thump and wheeze.

  Zookie tossed the wood elf he was holding aside and lowered his head toward the squirrel, making sure to flash plenty of sharp teeth. “What do you want with us?”

  The squirrel stared at the dragon with wide eyes before finding his brain. He flopped over to his paws. A twig stuck out from his magnificent tail. He looked around to make sure he still had the backing of the many wood elves and puffed up. “Do you think you can invade our lands and try to eat us?” he demanded. “Eat one and three more will take his place. Watch!”

  The wood elf Zookie had discarded stood brushing dust from his pant legs. He looked up just as the large squirrel launched himself onto the tiny creature. The squirrel proceeded to gnaw at the elf’s head with his large, unusually flat teeth.

  “Ow! Ow! Ow!” the elf cried.

  Fed up, Zookie roared as loud as he could.

  The elf stopped running around and the two creatures looked at the dragon with the squirrel’s two front teeth perched on top the elf’s head.

  “We were just passing through on the way to Dragon Cave Mountain,” Zookie growled. “You really think the four of us are an invasion?”

  The squirrel climbed down. The elf rubbed his head.

  “In that case, you must pay the toll to pass through our lands.” The squirrel said like it should have been common knowledge.

  “I’m pretty sure you don’t own the forest,” Zookie countered.

  “You have no choice, for I am Chitchitchatterchitty, the Great and High, Bright Protector of the Shadowed Forest!”

  “Never heard of you,” the dragon said.

  The squirrel’s mouth hung open in disbelief.

  “Besides, I am ZooClaw FireWing, son of SlyClaw FireWing, ruler of the FireWing dragon clan of Dragon Cave Mountain,” the dragon hissed. “I don’t have to pay some stupid toll to walk through any forest.”

  Undeterred by Zookie’s status among the dragons, Chichitchatterchitty’s tail flicked and twitched angrily. “I am the Great and Mighty, High and Powerful—”

  Chitchitchatterchitty didn’t get to finish whatever titles he was going to add to his name. Tim, who had recovered from the sleeping darts, swept the squirrel up and stuffed him in his mouth. The magnificent, fluffy tail stuck out from his lips.

  “Tim, no!” Zookie cried. “Don’t eat him.”

  The cyclops looked at him for a moment before puckering his lips and spitting the squirrel out with a pew. The glorified rodent hit the forest floor with a splat.

  Zookie watched Chitchitchatterchitty for a moment, but the creature didn’t move. All the wood elves stared in horror.

  “Is he dead?” The little dragon crept closer and poked at the slime covered body.

  The squirrel’s eyes snapped open. He hopped to his paws and ran around. His fur was matted to his body with spit and dirt. He chattered angry nonsense in a high-pitched squeal.

  A wood elf stepped forward and stuck the butt of his spear out as Chitchitchatterchitty ran by. The squirrel tripped over it and flopped to the ground. The sudden, unwanted ground hug seemed to snap him out of his fit. He climbed to shaking legs.

  “I have never in my life been treated in such a manner,” he exclaimed.

  “He was just trying to protect us,” Zookie said. “It’s your fault for darting him.”

  The s
quirrel glared at the cyclopes surrounded by armed wood elves. His nose twitched. “Are you evil?” he asked Zookie. His eyes widened as another thought occurred to him. “Have you come to steal our store of nuts?”

  “What? No. Do you really think any of us eats nuts? No, wait. Lena might,” Zookie said thoughtfully.

  As if on cue, Lena let loose a snore that was almost loud enough to rattle leaves from the trees. Several of the wood elves lowered their spears at her sleeping form. Others took a couple steps back in fear.

  “She’s possessed by a demon!” Chitchitchatterchitty exclaimed.

  Zookie sighed. “No, she’s sleeping. Apparently, she snores. Like an ogre,” he added under his breath. “Look, we don’t want your nuts. I’m just trying to get home.”

  The squirrel glanced at the sleeping girl, uncertainty in his eyes. “I think you’re an invasion force. Where’s the rest of your army?”

  “Like I said, we’re just passing through. There is no army.”

  “Hmm.” The squirrel sat up taller, his drying fur poking out at odd angles. “Then, you must pay the toll. Five nuts per creature. Ten for the ugly one.”

  “Un,” Tim grunted.

  Zookie looked at the prone forms of Lena and LT. “Can I at least wake them up so we can talk about it?”

  “What’s there to talk about? A toll is a toll,” Chitchitchatterchitty declared.

  Just then, a squeal cut through the forest. Lena burst through the ring of wood elves surrounding her, sending bodies and spears everywhere.

  “Squirrel!” she yelled in excitement. She snatched Chitchitchatterchitty off his paws and wrapped her skinny arms around him in a bone-crunching hug.

  “Get it off! Get it off!” the squirrel yelled.

  “Lena, he’s not just any squirrel,” Zookie said. “He’s the leader of the wood elves. Put him down.”

  “He’s so soft.” She rubbed her face in Chitchitchatterchitty’s fur. She stopped and wrinkled her nose. “Ew, he stinks.” She dropped him on the ground and rubbed her nose.