BurningRod

Chapter 4

"Can't you fly or something?" Jackson asked as he patted the horse. "Common, lets see."

He gave the horse a kick forward and they were sent galloping towards the first mountain. The mountain was steep, but it also had flat table-like ledges protruding from it's sides. The top was flat too.

The horse, at the very last second, leaped upward. It's feathered wings extended in a stupendous way. They were enormous! Jackson held tight. The horse flapped them with great effort, but it seemed as if he were struggling to make it much farther. He was only able to reach the first ledge about fifteen feet from the ground before stopping.

It was all made clear then. BurningRod could fly, but he was more made for gliding for a short time, not flying high up and staying there.

The horse snorted and Jackson loosened his grip a little.

"Good job." He thanked the horse with a pat as he looked upward at the mountain. "Let's go."

Again, they leaped up to the next ledge with the help of the stallion's wings. Slipping and fumbling with every surge of effort, the two of them made it most of the way to the top before taking a break. Both of their chests lifted up and down heavily. Jackson opened the water much from his bag the man gave him and drank some, then fountained some for the horse.

"Who goes there?" Squeaked a puny voice with a hint of mischievous tone to it. "Come out, come out."

From the ledge above Jackson and the stallion, a small man jumped. A dwarf. Jackson believed it this time, he had already seen one magical creature, the pegasus, and if that existed, so could a dwarf.

"Hello." Jackson said to him.

"Hello." The dwarf mimicked him. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm just cross over these mountains. I'm sorry for bothering you." Jackson said not at all hiding that he didn't like and was annoyed by the creature's rudeness.

"Well go along then." Snickered the dwarf and he swatted as if the air were gnats. The stallion didn't seem to like him either. He proved it by leaping in between Jackson and the dwarf and rearing up with pinned ears. His whinny echoed loudly in the mountains.

"And get that thing away from me." cried the dwarf. "You don't want to go through the mountains! I'm warning you. There are more than just dwarves here."

And with that, he scattered away down the mountain. The stallion kneeled down showing that he wanted Jackson to get on.

"You think we go through here, BurningRod?" Jackson asked as if the horse as if it could answer, and the horse seemed to understand the question, but continued up the mountain as if saying 'yes, we definitely should.'

Though from the bottom, it looked like there would be plenty of mountains to cross, when they reached the top, they realized that the mountains were just surrounding a big open area, the shape of a circle. It looked mostly flat and empty, except for a very small forest in the corner.

They stumbled down the hill and ended up on the ground by the trees and surrounded by the mountains. For the first time, silence seemed to have it's own sound. They both looked around. Something didn't seem right. He remembered the dwarf's warning, but they hadn't met any other creatures yet. It took only one step of the stallion's hoof for, what ever the other creatures were, to stir in the woods and come bursting out right towards Jackson and BurningRod. They weren't mythical, but they were dangerous. They were howling with glowing red eyes. Wolves.