Dragon Cave Mountain (The Everstone Chronicles Book 1)

by Scott Ferrell

  Chitty didn’t need to see him to know who it was, though. It was the dark human. The one who came to Chitty making demands the night before. The one that made his insides feel like they were suddenly replaced with wiggling worms. The one he knew was made of pure evil.

  “Y—y—yes,” Chitty stuttered.

  “Excellent,” the human said. “You made the right choice.”

  What choice did I have? Chitty thought. “You didn’t say they were younglings,” he said out loud.

  “Does it matter?” The form moved closer.

  Chitty looked around nervously even though he knew there was no other way out. “I—I guess not, but even the big, ugly one is just a child.”

  “As long as they stay out of my way, they will remain unharmed.”

  “My—my elven scouts tell me a hoard of trolls were spotted moving through the forest,” Chitty said with unusual candor.

  “Merely a means to hurry the little creatures on to their destination,” the human replied. Its voice grew irritated.

  Chitty thought it sounded like malice rumbling through the deepest, darkest cave. He knew he was going too far questioning the being. “Trolls aren’t known to, er, exercise, uh, caution,” he muttered.

  The human slid closer. Chitty whimpered and cowered away, but he didn’t have far to go. A large mound of nuts stacked against the far wall blocked his way.

  “Am I to believe you have stopped worrying about yourself and have placed that concern on that collection of wretched creatures?”

  Chitty cast his eyes away from the dark form when its blackness started to boil. The black pushed in around him. It snaked around his heart and squeezed. He shook his head meekly.

  “I thought not.”

  The pressure on Chitty’s insides eased a bit.

  “The tracker I gave you is working?” the human asked.

  Fear clutched at Chitty. He whimpered.

  “My time is not to be wasted, squirrel,” the human rumbled.

  “It—it was working, but a little while ago, it—it stopped.” Chitty cringed.

  “Where is it?”

  Chitty glanced to the side where the strip of cloth lay on a stone.

  The dark form glided over and picked it up. After a moment of holding it, he declared, “It works still. The signal is faint. They must be somewhere that’s filtering the magic. Not enough to stop me from following it.”

  Chitty felt the pressure in the cave begin to recede and realized the human was leaving. “What—what about our deal?”

  The form stopped at the mouth of the cave. “This forest will remain yours.”

  Emboldened by this proclamation, Chitty spoke up again. “Why me? If you hold such magic, why come to me for help?”

  There was a moment of silence that seemed to drag on for an eternity and Chitty knew he had opened his mouth one too many times.

  “Continue to question me,” the thing said quietly, “and you’ll find your precious forest burning when I reach my objective and set this world ablaze.”

  And just like that, the blackness was gone. Air seemed to move in the cave again. Even light from the stars outside managed to light the cave a little.

  Still, Chitty shook in fear. He huddled among his nuts, but even they could not comfort him.

  Chapter 15

  The tunnel seemed to go on forever. The walls were smooth, giving nothing for Zookie to grab onto to slow his fall. He tried to dig his talons into the rock, but it pulled painfully on his claws, so he let go. He settled with rolling himself into a ball to try to keep from hitting his head in case any rock stuck out in the tunnel.

  Somewhere below him, Lena screamed. Zookie couldn’t tell if it was a yell of fear or excitement. Either way, the echoing squeal hurt his ears. As long as they fell, he wondered how Lena was able to scream the entire time without taking a breath. It could have been minutes. It could have been hours.

  He lost track of time, so he wasn’t ready when the tunnel finally ended. He flew out, twisting to the side just in time to avoid landing on top of Lena. He rolled several times before skidding to a stop several yards from the tunnel.

  The dragon stood on wobbly legs and shook his long neck, trying to clear his head. He turned back to the tunnel just as the wood elf shot out the mouth with a delighted squeal, his hat clutched in a tiny fist. Woody bumped into Lena, but he was so light, she barely noticed.

  A rumble grew inside the dark hole. At first, Zookie thought it was an earthquake, but his eyes widened in realization. “Watch out!”

  The little dragon dashed toward Lena and Woody. He snatched them up in his front paws and rolled out of the way just as Tim flew out of the tunnel. The giant slid across the ground, a big, stupid grin plastered on his face. He stood and laughed like he was having the time of his life. It sounded like the distant rumble of a rock slide.

  The group turned to the tunnel, expecting LT to shoot out soon after, but he didn’t appear. They huddled around the hole, looking up into the darkness. Zookie grabbed the hat light from Woody and stuck it inside. There was no sign of the tiger.

  A single rock bounced and tumbled into view. It rolled out of the tunnel and came to rest at their feet. Soon another joined it. Then a bunch more. A sound like tools dragging against the rock filled the dark space.

  “Did he get stuck?” Lena asked.

  The sound grew louder and LT came into view within the hat’s light. He slid down the tunnel backwards, his paws spread out wide, claws dug into the rock. His long tail stuck out straight, fur fluffed.

  “Of course,” Zookie grunted. “He’s not stuck, just slow.”

  LT stopped short of the mouth of the tunnel. He stood still for a moment before realizing he wasn’t moving anymore. He glared behind him to find everybody looking up at him.

  “What?” he asked

  “Let’s do it again!”

  LT winced as Lena’s voice echoed up the tunnel.

  “Tim, can you carry me back up?” she turned. “Tim?”

  The cyclops didn’t answer. He stood to the side, his one eye turned toward the new cave they found themselves in. It was massive, as big as a forest, but the trees were not normal. Thick and short, they had no branches, only long leaves as big as Lena. The weird trees crowded each other and stretched on for as far as they could see. That wasn’t the weirdest part though. The leaves gave off a soft purple glow. The light went up to the cave roof high overhead, bouncing back down to give the whole place an eerie glow.

  “Um… I think we’re getting close to the Dragon Cave Mountain… I think.” Zookie muttered. He had never heard of such a place, but it seemed like something involving dragon magic.

  Lena walked to the nearest glowing tree and poked at it with a finger. The tree trunk was slightly squishy and gave way under the pressure. She pulled back her finger. The tip glowed the same purple, but it faded away after a few moments.

  “Weird,” she said.

  Zookie trotted to a tree and sniffed. It smelled like a normal plant in the cool, moist air of the cave. He patted his paw on it. He tilted his head with a snort that caused puffy white smoke to billow from his nose. “Strange.”

  Tim ran a large finger on a tree, turning it purple, he licked the spot. “Un.”

  “He says it takes like blueberries,” Lena said. She looked at her finger. “I’ll take his word for it.”

  “Can we just go?” LT said. “This place gives me the creeps.”

  Zookie pulled his paw away the tree. He tilted his head to the side. “Strange… It gets stickier the longer you touch it,” he said, ignoring LT.

  Lena wiped her finger on her dress like she was afraid it might not come off if she left it there. But then she looked at her finger, then a tree. As casually as she could, she pressed her finger into the tree until it glowed. She stepped over to LT pretending to examine her finger. When she was within reach, she touched LT’s nose, making it glow, too. The wood elf fell over laughing.

  LT lowered his head and
swiped at his snout with a paw. “Very funny.”

  Zookie sat next to Lena, he slowly raised his glowing paw and pressed it against her back, leaving a glowing paw print.

  “Children,” LT muttered. “I don’t like this place. Can we go?”

  Ignoring LT, Lena stepped into the forest of glowing trees.

  “Lena don’t wander off,” Zookie warned. “We need to stay together.”

  Her small form quickly disappeared into the trees.

  “Where did she go?” LT asked. “Lena?” He called.

  “Oh, I don’t know ‘glow tiger’, into the forest?” Zookie said sarcastically.

  “This isn’t the time to joke,” LT said. “Hey, don’t go in there, too!”

  Woody ignored him, too, trotting into the forest where Lena had gone. He disappeared, too.

  Zookie glanced at LT and shrugged. He walked toward the glowing trees, calling over his shoulder, “Only one way to go, anyways.”

  Tim stood at the edge of the forest, his wide brow creased in concern. He turned toward the approaching dragon. “Un.”

  “I’m going in, big guy.” Zookie pushed between the trees.

  “Wait! We should think this through before we rush…” LT’s voice trailed off as Tim entered the weird forest.

  LT stood slack-jawed for a moment before he realized he was left alone outside the glowing trees. He paced up to the line of trees and stepped between them, trying hard to not touch any, but his sides were soon streaked with a purple glow.

  The tiger glanced back, but couldn’t see the clearing anymore. All he saw was the glowing trees that all looked the same. He blinked, the purple light doing funny things to his eyes. “Where is everybody?” he called out. He passed a tree with a large handprint on it and knew the cyclops had passed. “Hello?”

  ***

  Zookie’s wings made it harder to move between the trees as the grew closer together. He had to squish between several of them, leaving his flanks covered in the strange purple glow.

  Not far into the forest, a fruit dropped in front of him. It was oval shaped and glowed the same purple as the trees. It splattered when it hit the ground. Zookie reared his head back and moved hesitantly to the strange fruit. He sniffed it. It smelled like honey, apples, and grapes all at once.

  As he sniffed at it, another smashed against his shoulder, covering him in the purple glow. He snapped his head around and looked at it. Two more flew at him. One missed, hitting the ground beside him. The other exploded on his hind paws.

  Realizing the fruit wasn’t just randomly falling from the trees, he looked around. He couldn’t make out much in the hazy purple light. He did manage to see a fruit fly right at his face. He ducked and took off running as fast as he could in the cramped trees.

  The fruit continued to rain down, some hitting him, some not. He dodged between the trees as best as he could, but he was much too big to avoid them all together. He even got temporarily stuck between them at times.

  All of the sudden, the fruit stopped falling. Zookie skidded to a stop, nearly crashing into a tree. He turned and watched for the fruit to start falling again.

  As he turned, his eyes fell on a dark, cloaked figure behind him that hadn’t been there a moment before. It stood silently, its face hidden somewhere in the depths of a hood.

  “What and who are you?” Zookie demanded.

  The figure remained silent.

  “What do you want,” the dragon said, taking an aggressive step forward, hoping to startle the creature into running away.

  It didn’t.

  Another creature dropped out of the trees between Zookie and the figure. It looked vaguely like a monkey, but much larger and nearly furless. It opened a rounded mouth, baring large, sharp fangs and hissed a threat.

  Zookie reared up on his hind legs and growled, putting his front paws up defensively.

  More creatures appeared out of the trees. Some dropped to the ground while others pushed between the trees. They all looked pretty much like the first. They all watched him with over-large eyes.

  Realizing he was way outnumbered, Zookie dropped back to the ground and backed away with a whimper.

  A racket of noise exploded behind him as Tim burst into the clearing, covered in glowing fruit gunk and carrying the wood elf in one fist. LT appeared moments later, followed by more of the creatures. The monkey-like creatures surrounded the group.

  “Where’s Lena?” Zookie asked as the three huddled together.

  A shifting movement from the silent figure attracted his attention. It parted the hem of its cloak to reveal Lena standing there.

  “Lena?” Zookie asked, tilting his head.

  Lena stared at the group without seeing them. It was like she stared straight through them at something far off. The creatures moved in closer around the group and Tim growled, a low rumble from deep inside his chest that rattled nearby glowing leaves. It was the first real emotion he had shone.

  Zookie twisted his head around and watched the creatures come closer. He hissed a small stream of smoke from his nose.

  “AHHH!” the wood elf called out. He charged forward with his little spear. A fruit exploded on the back of his head. He pitched forward to the ground and lay still.

  “What do you want with us?” Zookie hissed.

  “Why,” a voice came from somewhere. It slid and whispered around their ears, “…have you trespassed within my woods?” Its S’s didn’t hiss as much as it shhh’ed.

  “We were just passing through,” Zookie answered, “on our way to Dragon Cave Mountain.”

  “Dragon Cave Mountain?” the voice hushed. “No, no. You are far away. What is the true reason for being upon my lands?”

  “We were chased by trolls and we jumped in a river. We went into an underwater cave. Lena found a tunnel leading here and I thought it would go to Dragon Cave Mountain,” Zookie spouted.

  “A harrowing story,” the voice said, full of sarcasm. “What shall I do with a group of trespassers?” it wondered. The figure behind Lena had not moved.

  “Point us the way out and we’ll be gone,” Zookie said.

  “A way out?” it asked. “Oh no, there is no way out.”

  “What about the way we came in?” Zookie asked. “We’ll go out that way.”

  “They came down that way. Many, many of them. You have brought them here.”

  “What? I only brought my friends,” Zookie said.

  “They have followed you here. They gather their numbers at the edge of my forest before pursuing you.” The voice was silent for a long moment. “If I let them have you, they will leave.”

  “Stop talking in riddles,” Zookie said, smoke streaming from his nose again. “Who are you talking about?”

  “Those who seek you,” the voice answered. “I wonder what they could want with a dragon, a tiger, a cyclops, a wood elf…oh, and a little girl.”

  Zookie glanced at the motionless Lena. “You mean…”

  “The trolls that chase you, whom you have brought to my lands.” For the first time, the monotone voice rose with emotion.

  “We’re sorry if you have a pest problem now,” Zookie said irritably. “Just show us how to get out and we’ll go.”

  “There is no way out!” the voice snapped. “You have invaded my lands and here you still staaaa—hey!” The dark figure faded from view, leaving only Lena standing there.

  Woody’s voice started chittering from somewhere off to Zookie’s right.

  The dragon stood and rushed to Lena. He tossed her onto his back. “LT, get the elf!” he barked. “Tim, make sure the monkeys stay back.”

  “I don’t think that’s necessary,” LT growled.

  From off to the right, a little figure shorter than even the wood elf came out from the glowing trees. Woody followed close behind, his spear pointed at the creature’s back. It had its long arms raised high over its head, its greyish brown skin stretched over bones.

  The monkey creatures started hooting angrily at the s
ight.

  Chapter 16

  “Is that a fairy?” LT asked

  “I thought fairies had wings and didn’t look like a sick wood elf. No offense, Woody.” Zookie said.

  The wood elf peeked over the creature’s shoulder and chattered at Zookie in Elfish.

  “Whatever,” LT muttered. “I’d eat it in one bite, but one of its bones might get stuck in my throat.”

  The monkey creatures hopped around in agitation, not sure what to do. The creature was obviously their leader. If they tried to save him from Woody, they risked him getting hurt.

  Zookie was conflicted, too. He had no idea what to do. He really didn’t want to drag the creature along with them, but if Zookie let him go, they risked the monkeys attacking again. The little dragon couldn’t concentrate with all the noise!

  “Tim, thump one of those monkeys to shut them up, please,” Zookie said.

  “Wait!” the little creature squeaked. His voice didn’t have the same ominous tone, but Zookie could tell it was him that had spoken before. “The trolls are coming!”

  The monkeys instantly stopped hooting and hollering. The forest went quiet and Zookie heard stomping coming their way. By the sounds of it, their pursuer’s numbers had swelled. It sounded like a stampede coming straight at them.

  Zookie looked at the little creature. He puffed up and pronounced with conviction, “I am ZooClaw FireWing of the FireWing clan, caregivers of the Dragon Cave Mountain. I swear on my horns and scales that we stumbled on your forest by accident and meant no disrespect to your territory.”

  Swearing on their horns and scales was one of the strongest oaths a dragon could give. Zookie wasn’t about to swear on the beat of one of his hearts, the strongest of them all. That one was saved for the most solemn of occasions, like when a new High Dragon leader was sworn into the position. Like his dad had been before Zookie was born. Zookie just hoped the little creature knew what his oath meant.

  The creature’s overly large, hazel eyes took in the group, minus Woody behind him. He then looked towards the direction of the trolls coming their way. Zookie could tell he still hesitated.

  “They are after us,” he said urgently. “If we leave your forest, they leave your forest.