“Yeah, what did you dream?” Lena asked around a yawn.
“I don’t remember all of it, but I was standing on a cliff overlooking a large plain…” He trailed off. “I’m not sure I know why, I just know it wasn’t good.”
“I wish I was looking at a plain,” LT said. “Tigers aren’t built for all these rocks and cliffs.” He licked at a sore paw. “Not that I’m complaining. I can handle it.” He sniffed.
The wood elf snorted, still asleep.
“Un?” Tim asked.
“Yeah, where to next?” Lena said. “I’m starving.”
“Can you eat rocks?” LT said. “Because that’s all I see.”
“Maybe I’ll eat you!” Lena jumped up, ran over to the tiger, and jumped on his back.
“Ahh!” LT screamed. “Get it off! Get it off!” He bucked up and down until Lena hopped off, laughing.
Zookie watched them with a grin. “Maybe I’ll eat him.”
LT growled. “I’m too hungry for jokes.”
“Who’s joking?” the little dragon asked, but he couldn’t make the grin go away.
“Un!” Tim flopped to the ground and scrambled over the rocks on his hands and knees. He slapped at the ground.
“What is he doing?” LT asked.
The cyclops slapped one last time with both hands and yelled a triumphant shout. He pushed himself to his knees and held out a hand. A tiny, wiggling mouse hung by its tail between his fingers.
“Looks like Tim found breakfast,” Lena said.
“I thought you don’t like hurting creatures,” Zookie said, eyeing the mouse.
“I don’t! We need to find something for me to eat,” she said. She wrinkled her nose. “I’m not eating a mouse, though.”
“Un.” Tim shrugged and flung the mouse over his shoulder. It flew out of sight with a tiny squeak.
“What!” Zookie said. “Why did you throw it away? I would have eaten it.”
“Gross,” Lena said. “Come on, let’s get out of here and find something to eat. I’m not eating rocks or mice.” She walked by LT and slapped his rump.
The tiger growled as Tim followed her.
“Somebody wake Woody!”
“No need to wake him,” Zookie said. “I can carry him.” He pushed eased his paws under the elf and lifted him up, laying him on his back between his wings. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 20
Cliffs rose raggedly over them, blocking the sun as they walked. Their stomachs growled as the day wore on closer to noon, but they found no other living thing. No critters, plants, or even insects. LT complained about it nonstop for nearly an hour.
“LT, how about you shut your jaws,” Zookie growled the tiger. “We’re all hungry.”
“How about the little dragon with his little wings put them to use and fly up there to see where we are. And maybe find something to eat while you’re at it,” LT sneered back.
“Be nice to each other,” Lena chided.
“Well if you guys didn’t need me to lead you guys everywhere I would try to fly” Zookie snapped, ignoring Lena. Smoke drifted from his nose.
“Great job leading, oh Fearless Leader. Right into a great vacation spot of rocks, boulders, cliffs, and, oh yeah, more rocks. If your goal was to get us lost, congratulations!”
“It’s not my fault we were chased by trolls,” Zookie screeched. “How about you lead, Furry Head.”
“Maybe I will.” LT pushed past the dragon. “Oh, this is hard. So many choices.” He mockingly acted like he couldn’t figure out which way to go even though the path they followed only went forward or back. “I’m starting to sweat trying to figure out which way to… go” His voice trailed off as he rounded a bend, coming to a fork in the ravine. “Whoa.”
“I’m going right,” Zookie snorted, storming down the trail. He didn’t know why you picked that direction, but it just felt right.
“You lead fearlessly,” Lena said as she passed LT, patting his striped side.
“Un,” Tim grunted.
LT grumbled and followed down the right fork.
Zookie walked further and further ahead of the group, the wood elf snoring on his back. His irritation was getting the best of him. He didn’t even look back to make sure the others followed, so when he finally looked over his shoulder his, friends had disappeared. Zookie stopped and sat down to wait. “Well, this is a mess.”
The elf snorted, rolled over, and fell off Zookie’s back. He landed with a soft thud but didn’t wake up.
Zookie poked Woody, hoping he would wake up. “Get up now, Woody”
The wood elf moaned softly, rolled over and grabbed the dragon’s paw. He snuggled his face into Zookie’s scales and went on sleeping.
Zookie leaned down and blew smoke in the wood elf’s face. “Get up, now.”
The wood elf opened his eyes and looked sleepily up at Zookie. His bushy little eyebrows drew together and he started chattering at the dragon in his language.
“You know I can’t understand you unless you say troll,” Zookie said, pulling his paw away and rolling his eyes.
Without breaking the stream of chatter, the elf stood and paced back and forth, gesturing wildly with his hands. Finally, he cut off midstream and looked around. He turned back to the dragon and said something. The tone in his voice indicated it was a question.
“I don’t know what you’re saying but we moved and I carried you,” Zookie said checking the trail behind for the others.
The elf repeated the same words of the question, waving around. He clicked his mouth closed. He looked around with an overly comical questioning look on his face. He then held his hands out at the waist like he was holding up a dress and skipped around. He stopped, hunched over and said “un.” Lastly, he ran a finger over a dirty rock and rubbed a lightning bold onto his shoulder, strutting around to show it off. He turned to the dragon and repeated the question.
“Are you asking where our friends are?” Zookie said, giggling at the dramatic show.
The elf nodded so vigorously his hat flopped off.
Zookie laughed again and said, “I kinda got ahead when I was mad.”
The wood elf talked again, nonstop for a full two minutes. When he stopped, he turned and started walking back the way they came.
Zookie stood to follow. “If you’re mad I don’t blame you,” Zookie said following behind the little wood elf. “LT was being loud and annoying and I snapped at him.”
The elf started up another string of talking, barely pausing to take a breath. He chattered as he walked.
“Woody, wait,” Zookie said stopping and watched the cliff tops on either side of them. “Someone’s here.”
The wood elf stopped and scanned above them for a moment, then shrugged. He flapped his arm and let out a very loud “Caw!”
“I haven’t seen a bird this whole time we’ve been here, Woody,” Zookie said, “We got to get back to the others.”
The elf nodded. He ran over to the dragon and with a surprising agility, he hopped onto the dragon’s back. He kicked his heels into the dragon’s flanks and yelled “Eyaw!”
Zookie snorted and charged forward as fast as he could down the path. The wood elf squealed in delight, nearly flying off the dragon’s back several times. The wood elf dug his little fingers between Zookie’s scales and held on tight.
Zookie spread his wings a little and took a flying leap, gliding a bit before hitting the ground in a run. After a moment, he jumped again.
A bird fluttered off a rock high above, chirping in surprise at a dragon rushing by.
Excitement rising in him, Zookie didn’t stop. He spread his wing out to their full length. “Hold on, Woody.” Zookie roared, beating his wings.
More birds appeared at the tops of the cliffs, watching the passing dragon. Their heads twitched to the side as their black eyes tracked him. Their numbers grew as more fluttered in to perch on the rocks.
Zookie snorted, blowing smoke out of his nose. He beat his wings harder,
climbing higher into the air. He let out a whoop as they shot forward above the trail, following it back to their friends.
The birds were startled from their perch when Zookie passed, joining still more circling in the sky. There were so many of them, blackening the sky. They swirled around the flying dragon like a hurricane. They closed in closer, making a racket.
Zookie roared, nearly losing his concentration. He dropped several feet before he flapped his wings harder to keep from plummeting to the ground below. “Are these the birds you were talking about?” He drifted in a circle, trying to see all the birds.
One bird dove for Zookie’s eye. Luckily it missed, bouncing off his scaled head.
“Hey!” Zookie swung his tail through the black cloud knocking some birds away.
The noisy birds ratcheted up their calls a notch and closed the circle in closer.
Zookie tipped his head and faced the ground. He pulled his wings to his body and dove. The rocky ground came fast, but he knew what to do from watching the other dragons practice flying. He flared his wings at the last moment and flew forward.
Undeterred, the birds stuck to the dragon relentlessly. They swirled around him like a tornado of flapping wings, their noisy calls as loud as a storm.
Zookie shot back upwards, beating his wing. It felt like swimming in a river of features. “What do they want?” he muttered.
The wood elf tapped Zookie twice on his shoulder with the butt of his spear. He then stood and with a shrieking war cry the elf ran down the dragons back and launched himself off into a dive. As he fell through the air, he jabbed at one of the birds. When the point of the spear poked it, the bird blew apart in a puff of black smoke. The wood elf grabbed another bird by the leg and swung up, jabbing at the bird. It disappeared in a cloud of smoke as the elf flew at another.
Zookie caught on and swung his spiked tail through the mass and attacked the bird full-on, swiping with his claws.
The wood elf rolled into a front flip as he flew through the air, landing, briefly on a bird’s back. He launched himself higher into the air, jabbing the bird he stood on before he did. His spear tip slashed here and there as he flew higher into the air. The tornado of birds intensified.
Zookie snapped his jaws shut on a few birds. They fell apart in his mouth, leaving nothing but black mists. Twice, he almost lost control and fell out of the air. He figured he’d be safer on the ground. He banked his wings and circled toward the ground.
The wood elf, however, climbed higher up into the whirl of birds. He twisted and flipped, jabbing and poking as bird after bird went up in a puff. Then, he reached the top of the bird cloud. He floated through the air a moment before he started to fall. He tumbled through the air, his spear blade turning the birds into smoke as he fell.
Zookie landed to fight the birds on solid ground. One of them flew right at Zookie’s eyes, claws outstretched, but before it could reach the dragon, a rock bounced off its head. The bird twirled off course and smashed with a puff into a boulder. A large hand snatched a dozen out of the air, squeezing them into a fist. Muscles and veins bulged and streams of black smoke squirted from Tim’s fists.
Chapter 21
Encouraged by the appearance of the others, Zookie launched into the air. His long wings smacking into a cluster of the birds. He slashed and clawed. He whipped his tail around. He snapped his sharp teeth on them. They puffed in clouds of black mists by the dozen.
LT stayed close to the ground, smacking at any stray birds that came too close. Lena threw rock after rock, many of them ricocheted and bounced off multiple birds.
It seemed like a losing fight to Zookie. The more they knocked out of the air, the more appeared to take their place. Just as he was about to tell everybody to run for it, the tornado of birds whirled higher into the air. Their calls faded as they dispersed and disappeared among the clouds, leaving the friends panting.
Zookie landed and rolled on to his back, gasping for breath. “I’m never going to look at a crow the same way, ever again.”
“I have never seen so many birds!” Lena exclaimed. “They were all like ‘Caw! Caw!’” She ran around in circles, flapping her arms.
“You certainly attract a lot of attention,” LT said. His claws scratched at the ground in irritation.
The wood elf stood with his spear clutched in both hands, his chest heaving. His brown hair stood on end like a startled cat’s tail.
Zookie suddenly sneezed an explosion of smoke and feathers. He wiggled his snout and sneezed again.
LT slid further away from the dragon. “Don’t accidentally blow fire and singe my fur.”
“You allergic to birds?” Lena asked.
“Un,” Tim said, pointing off to the side where there was an opening in the cliff wall.
“No, I’m not allergic to birds, I’ve got feathers in my nose,” Zookie said, sneezing again. “Well, smoke features or whatever. What’s on the cliff?”
LT stepped to examine where Tim pointed. “Looks like a way down.”
Sure enough, the break in the cliff wall opened to reveal a sloping path down into a lush wooded valley. Several leagues away, rising in the distance, a large mountain loomed on the other side. It rose above all other peaks even though its top was split in two with a bowl shape in the middle. Zookie would recognize that mountain anywhere. Just a few rising and falling hills lay before him and home.
“I can’t believe we just stumbled on it,” he said, annoyed.
“Is that what I think it is?” LT asked.
“Is it?” Lena asked, bouncing on her feet beside the dragon.
Zookie didn’t trust his voice enough to speak. Seeing his home had swelled his chest. He couldn’t believe it. He was less than a day’s walk from home. He could get help and go back for his mom.
“Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go!” Lena exclaimed. “Let’s goooooo!”
“Let’s go so we can get this crazy trip over with before I eat one of you,” LT growled.
Zookie glanced at the group. What would his dad say if he led them right into their home? He wouldn’t be happy. A dragon’s home is a sacred place full of mysteries of the world—magic unlike any other creature had even heard of. Dragonkind went to great lengths to keep it secret. Keep it safe.
He needed the girl, though. He was sure she would be able to lead them back to the human village and his mom, but he couldn’t think of a way to make the others go away without suspicion. He’d just have to risk it.
“It’d be kinda hard to eat me, I can fly.” Zookie forced a laugh, then started down the trail.
“No! A dragon with wings can fly?” LT gasped. “Who would have thought?”
“Fly me! Fly me!” Lena jumped up and down as she followed.
“Congratulations, Little Dragon. You’re all grown up.” LT wiped away a nonexistent tear. “They grow up so quick.”
“Lena, get on.” Zookie crouched so she could climb on. To LT, he said, “I’m not quite grown up yet. I can’t blow fire yet.”
“At the rate you’re going, I’ll blow fire before you do,” LT said as Lena nearly fell over the top of Zookie in her excitement while climbing on him.
“Lena and I will scout, you guys head straight for the mountain,” Zookie said, ignoring the comment.
“Don’t fly into a tree,” LT said as he pushed the wood elf forward with a paw. The little creature’s hair still stood on end from the excitement of the fight. “Come on, Oh, Mighty Warrior.”
Tim lumbered behind them, rolling a wary eye at Lena.
Zookie launched himself into the air. He beat his wings and went up above the trees. The dragon kept low, gliding just over the treetops. He could have gone higher, but he didn’t want to scare Lena. She might fall off. A thought crossed his mind. Dragon Cave Mountain was right there. He could be there with Lena in an hour if he just left the others behind.
He rolled his eyes downward to watch the others come out of the crack in the mountain and entered the valley. Could he really
just leave them after they came all this way? They had helped him. He wasn’t sure why—they just did. Even LT, who complained most of the way there, had plenty of opportunities to leave, but he didn’t.
Just lead them there, Zookie thought. I’ll tell dad they helped. I’m sure he’ll understand.
Lena yanked on a scale on Zookie’s shoulder. He turned his neck to look back at her. She pointed at something on the ground. A stream.
Zookie was immediately reminded how thirsty and hungry he was. He banked his wings and circled down to the water. He landed on a clearing of lush grass on the edge of the stream.
Lena climbed off his back, chattering about how much fun it was to fly. Zookie lowered his head to take a drink. He managed a few swallows when he heard a crack in the trees. He jerked his head up to stare in the direction of the noise.
“Lena stop talking for a sec,” Zookie said
Lena stopped and asked, “Why?”
“There’s something out there,” Zookie said, stepping closer to her.
“Oh.” Lena peered into the trees.
Zookie edged toward where he heard the noise, a thin stream of smoke rising from his nostril.
Suddenly, something darted out of the bushes. Zookie jerked away and a little blue dragon landed on the ground right in front of him. Nearly a dozen more of the little dragons came out of nowhere and surrounded them. Some hissed, some just sat there, a few even looked bored.
“Who are you?” The little blue dragon asked, snarling his nubby little teeth.
“There’re so cute!” Lena squealed and grabbed one of the closer bored looking ones. She wrapped it in a big hug. The thing’s eyes bugged out a little and it squirmed, but it couldn’t break the little girl’s epic hug of cuteness.
“Can I keep it?” She asked Zookie. “It matches my clothes.” With a free hand, the other wrapped securely around the dragon, she held out her dress to show the similar green color. “And my eyes.” She batted her eyelashes over her hazel eyes.
“Lena, put down the dragon,” Zookie said. Lena gave a pouty face and set the squirming dragon down. It scrambled away to hide behind a yellow dragon.
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