The Last Wolfson

Chapter 2: Altima

He sighed. "Well, I'd better just wait for my execution." He said sarcastically to nobody in particular.
"Psssst," said a voice, and then again more urgently, "PSSSST!" He looked around. "Psssssst! Down here stupid!" A small Oakelf lady was pushing her little head out of the ground in the corner of his cell. Dirt was falling out of all sorts of odd places including her pointed ears and her little mouth.
"What are you doing?" Phang asked.
"Well don't just stand there. Pull me up!" She demanded. Phang was in so much shock that he obeyed her command and pulled her out, although doing so a little too enthusiastically as he accidentally flung her up and out of the hole, and into the dirt ceiling of his cell
"Seriously!? I needed help getting up, not help breaking something," the little creature groaned irritatingly as she shook herself off and removed her hat to brush the dirt out of her ratty hair.
He could tell this was not the average Oakelf. She wore a hat woven from vines, a shirt made of leaves, and shoe-like things on her feet that appeared to be made from tree bark. In stark contrast to the naturalistic shirt, hat, and shoes, she also wore bright orange shorts. He knew she was fully grown because there wasn't veins of venom that flowed through her long fingernails that tapped on her chin. From what he could tell, she was about his age.
She put her hands on her hips as she studied her surroundings. "Alright then. Where am I?" Phang watched as she dove back into the hole and came out with what appeared to be a map of the Quercetum.
"Let's see... " she said to herself as she studied the map. "Ah-HA! I must be in the jailburrow! Wait. No...that's not it. No... wait... Yes! Yes, it is!" Satisfied, the little Oakelf rolled up the map again and tucked it away. "Goodness, what did I do wrong this time?" She asked, apparently at Phang. "You just never know where you'll end up," she continued without waiting for a response. "Once, I ended up right under my mom's feet. She wasn't very happy with me. Another time, I ended up in a tree! Don't ask. Once I tunneled into a dirt ogre burrow! They wanted to have me for dinner! So sweet of them. Unfortunately I had to go back home."
At this point, Phang took advantage of the gap in the Oakelf's verbal diarrhea and asked quickly. "You wouldn't happen to know a way out of here would you?"
"Certainly! Right through here!" she said excitedly diving back into the hole.
It took Phang approximately 1.2 seconds to determine that his odds of survival were better crawling blindly into a hole in the ground than they were in The Pit. Plus, this spunky little Oakelf smelled harmless, albeit a bit earthy. Since he wasn't one to turn down help no matter where it came from, he followed her.
The hole was tiny and Phang had to shove his way through the dirt with his eyes closed. It was exceptionally difficult to move forward but he wriggled his way for what felt like miles. He was starting to feel like he was the contents of a dirt burrito and was about to give up and back out when the dirt loosened and he fell. He landed hard and, rubbing his head, looked around. He was surprised at what he saw.
He found himself in a little burrow and sitting a few feet away on the ground and staring at him was the odd little Oakelf. She looked at him quizzically and asked, "Why didn't you land on your feet?"
"Yeah. I'll try that next time. Thanks," Phang growled. He looked up and saw a variety of tunnels leading out of the dirt room. The room appeared to be a hub or junction-point of some sort for all of these tunnels. "So, how do I get out of here?"
"Oh that's easy. Just pick a direction and tunnel up!" she said excitedly, and then paused thoughtfully for a moment. "But not that way," she continued, pointing at one of the holes, "that's where The Pit is. Trust me, you don't want to end up there."
"So I've heard," Phang said dryly. "I just have one question. Aren't you Oakelves creatures of the trees?"
"Well, about that. I'm pretty sure I'm the only Oakelf ever to tunnel underground. At least I think I am," she answered proudly.
"Clearly you have a gift for it," Phang said. "So if you don't mind, I'll let you do the tunneling and I'll follow."
"Sure," she shrugged, "I'm fine with that."
She jumped upwards and caught the dirt ceiling and started digging. She was surprisingly fast and wriggled her head into the dirt quickly as she pulled more dirt away with her hands. In no time she was out of sight. He sighed, not particularly fond of tunneling, but happy to be away from that pit. "Up I go." He said to himself, and once again immersed himself in dirt. He was drowning in dirt. His head broke the surface and thrashed furiously back and forth sending dirt spraying in all directions. His arms Burst out of the ground and then body and legs.
Phang looked around. He was in the beautiful meadow again. "How did you tunnel this far!?" He asked incredulously.
"There is a shortcut through some of my other tunnels. That made it easy."
She was sitting on the rock he had jumped off into the lake earlier and was lying on her back soaking up the sun. "Oh! She said, excitedly. Wanna see something cool?"
"Sure," he said dryly. "But wait. First I need to know your name."
"Altima the Oakelf," she answered. "And yours?"
"Phang..." he hesitated, "the Wolfson."
Altima gasped. "Ooooh you're some sort of a rare species, right?"
"So I've heard," said Phang.
"Well! Come on!" Altima exclaimed.
She dove into the lake, soaking Phang head to toe. "Well, I guess I'm already wet now," he said before diving in after her.