Ollie MacQuoid and the Journey To Rubius

Chapter Eleven

Sneaking out of a massive tree home was easier than Ollie had imagined. The hardest part was stealing one of the knives from Calladin's belt as he slept, for he kept the thing tucked under his arm like a pillow. After grabbing Calladin's jacket for good measure, Ollie scooted his way through one of the holes in the bark and darted to the tree line, watching the windows for any sign of movement. When the house remained blissfully asleep, he unsheathed the knife from his pocket and made his way past the first couple of trees. The tangled masses of branches created a thick roof high above his head, engulfing the forest in darkness. Without a source of light to take with him, Ollie stuck to Fern's path of broken trees. Despite it being much lighter, the journey itself proved much harder than he'd imagined. He shuffled his way beneath trees split almost completely in half, the prospect of turning back and going back to sleep becoming more and more inviting with each splinter he got from climbing over a fallen log.

The gentle sound of a dragon's breath drifting through the wind was the one thing that kept him going forward.

Yuniferix and Ollie, needless to say, had never been friends. He hadn't been excited when the little yellow beast, no bigger than a lapdog, had been brought home, the only thing brighter than its gleaming silver cage being his mother's satisfied smile. "He's a Royal Fulfeghnhach; purebred, of course. Isn't he lovely?" She'd told him and his brother as they watched it sniff at their ankles.

"Full-fen-harr is a dumb name for a dragon." Bax had complained, earning himself a sharp glare. "What? The thing can't understand me!"

"That's not his name, dear — It's his breed. Fulfeghnhach is Magmaric for 'All-terrain'. His name is Yuniferix."

The little dragon lifted his head at the sound of his new name and exhaled a puff of sour-smelling smoke. His mother had smiled, scooped the dragon into her arms, and held it like a baby. It hadn't been exactly pretty — the colour of his scaley body was a dull, mustard yellow, save for the pea-green streaks on his wings and down the middle of his long snout. His front legs were boney, curled up against his chest like a begging dog, and his feet were webbed between the toes, ending in sharp talons that would go on to ruin their floors in the future. Feather-like frills on the back of his head gave the thing a pompous look. The thing Ollie had hated most about the animal was its tail, which ended in a sharp point that he'd used to smack Ollie in the back of the calves countless times as the two grew up alongside each other. By the time Ollie had run away, Yuniferix had been the size of a large horse, growing larger by the day. His father had chained him up in the basement a couple weeks earlier, now being unable to control the dragon when he flew into tantrums and scorched a room. Despite Ollie detesting it with every bit of his being, the awful sound of the dragon wailing at night, all alone in a pitch-black basement instead of at the foot of his parents' bed, made his heart ache with sympathy. How the dragon managed to escape — if he did indeed escape — was a mystery to him.

He'd been walking for at least a half an hour by this point, making it just past midnight by the position of the moon. With winter approaching, the forest was steadily colder. Ollie pulled the flaps of Calladin's jacket, which had shrunk to fit him, closer to his body, watching his breath blow out in white clouds in front of him. Fern's path had begun to grow smaller, denser, and there was just enough mud on the ground to make it chilled and slippery beneath his feet. He wasn't even sure if what he heard was the sound of Yuniferix's snore, or rather how his sleep-deprived brain had heard the wind. And yet something kept him moving onwards, unwilling to turn around. The noise — the breathing —was growing louder, louder, until—

A sudden series of snapping branches made Ollie jump and run for cover. He curled up against the upright part of a broken tree and tried to stifle his breathing. The breathing had stopped. The forest was silent. There came another noise; quieter, and full of fear.

"Shhh!"

Ollie's heart, which had been beating nauseatingly quickly, nearly came to a complete halt. He wasn't even done fully processing what he'd heard before another familiar voice spoke out in a frightened whisper.

"I'm freezing. Can we stop?"

"Not yet. This is the path I saw when I was flying. Have my coat if you're cold."

"I can't! It's below zero out here! You'll freeze!"

"Only a little while more. Then we'll stop, I promise."

The footsteps — now two distinct pairs — made their way over Ollie's trunk. Somehow that was the cue for Ollie's muscles to start moving, and he found himself upright and staring at his friends so quickly it nearly startled Alaudidae into falling off.

"Ollie!" Elora threw her arms around him. Her hair hung limply around her weary face. Her skin was freezing though her sweater; she trembled like a leaf. "You're alive!"

She pulled back and scanned the area in excitement. Her face fell a little. "Where's Calladin?"

"He's alive!" Ollie said quickly. "He's back at the house."

Alaudidae raised an eyebrow. "House?"

"We were rescued. By a tree woman."

"A tree woman?" Said Elora in bewilderment and slight confusion.

"I know it sounds crazy, but trust me, she came in pretty handy."

Elora glanced around at the path of broken trees. "So this is her doing?"

"No, it's her daughter's."

"Daughter?"

"Doesn't matter. We need to get some shelter." Said Alaudidae with a shiver. "I'm freezing."

He put a hand on Ollie's shoulder, and Calladin's words from the afternoon before shot through his head like a bullet.

He told me everything.

Ollie pulled back slightly and quickened his pace, letting Alaudidae's hand fall as he stepped a couple paces ahead, joining Elora as she ducked beneath a tree on all fours. He slid his knife back into his pocket and prayed he wouldn't need it.

"You and Calladin were rescued?" She asked curiously, hugging herself to keep warm. Her breath billowed out in white clouds. "What happened?"

Ollie looked up at the treetops and shuddered. "We fell."

"And you didn't break any bones?"

"Oh, no," Ollie said, "I must have shattered half of mine, and Calladin got it even worse. The tree woman helped us."

Elora looked flabbergasted. "She fixed your bones? Just like that?"

"Yep. With this weird potion. It tasted awful."

Alaudidae pushed between the two of them. "Can she fix this?" He said awkwardly, showing them his left hand. The middle finger was swollen and purple. "I flew into a tree by accident."

Ollie glanced at the wound. "Probably." He said, turning away to slide beneath a broken log. Alaudidae scaled it with one flap of his wings and rejoined Ollie at his side.

"How's Cal?" He asked.

"He's fine," Ollie replied quickly. "Well —I guess —not totally."

Alaudidae's eyes widened. "What?"

The faintest rumble of a growl drifted through the air, followed by a particularly icy gust of wind. Everyone froze, but the tension relaxed after a couple seconds. Alaudidae rushed him and Elora ahead of him with a gentle tap of his wings. Ollie moved closer to his friend's side. Her skin looked sick and pale in the moonlight, and when he took her hands in his to warm them, they were startlingly cold.

"Have you guys eaten anything?" Ollie looked back to Alaudidae, who looked worse for wear as well. He held his reddened fingers over his ears, biting his lip at the pain.

"No —there's absolutely nothing in this forest. I was more afraid of starving to death than freezing." He said weakly, pausing to wrap himself in his wings and exhale onto his hands.

"There's food back at the house." Ollie looked around. He prayed they were going the right way, for his surroundings did not look familiar. Trees were in different places than he remembered — some were rolled off to the side where he vaguely remembered having to climb over them, and the smaller ones were snapped right down the middle as if they'd been stepped on.

The tingling in Ollie's gut was unable to ignore when they passed by a stark hole in the tree line. Alaudidae picked up one of the many broken branches carpeting the forest floor and inspected it closely. "How strange," he said. "Looks like a train's been through here."

Ollie gulped and took his knife out of his pocket, though his hands were so stiff he could barely get a grip on the wooden handle. "Let's keep going. I'm freezing."

"Join the club," Elora moaned. "This forest is creeping me out."

They'd barely made it past the next log before another rumbling growl blew past them, this time loud enough to make Elora's breath audibly catch in her throat.

I know you're here, Ollie thought. Why are you toying with us?

"Alaudidae?" He said quietly.

"Yeah?" Alaudidae wasn't facing him; his eyes were focused intently on the forest looming behind them.

"Did you see a pond while you were flying?"

Alaudidae was silent for a couple seconds before answering. "Yeah. We passed it a couple hours ago."

The tingle in his belly turned into a ball of ice. He felt colder than before (if that was even possible). He didn't say anything. Elora linked her arm with his; she was quickly becoming exhausted. "Please," she said, "Can we stop and take a break? I don't think I can stay upright anymore."

True to her word, she buckled at the knees and collapsed against a pile of logs and rocks. "Get up!" Ollie grabbed her hand and began to pull her up, though she resisted him. "If you fall asleep here, you might not wake up. Please, Elora. Only a little further, I promise."

There wasn't a lot of truth behind his words, but the threat was enough to get her back on her feet. She looked close to tears. As they began walking again, Ollie let her lean her forehead on his shoulder for support. He desperately wanted to go faster, but he knew neither he nor his friends could get much quicker than their steady walking pace. His heart was beating like a drum. Don't cause panic, his mind told him, Get as close as you can to the edge, then run. He wants you guys to be afraid.

Elora came stumbling forward with a squeak of surprise, sending both her and Ollie to the ground. Ollie murmured in pain, having sliced his palm on a sharp rock, but the sting was pushed to the back of his mind when he saw what had tripped his friend —the end of a dull yellow tail poking out from between two logs. The point began to slowly wrap around her ankle.

"Ollie?" She said, trying to pull her leg away. The tail went taut, and yanked her sharply backwards, flat onto her stomach. Ollie grabbed onto her wrist and pulled her forward, only to have her once again be jerked back towards the forest line. Alaudidae pushed past him and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her forward with all his might.

Ollie felt a burst of heat first. Then there came a great explosion of fire, lighting the sky above their heads with dazzling tongues of red. Alaudidae let out a screech; the tips of his wings were scorched black and glowing like embers. As Elora madly scrambled away, the silhouette of a massive dragon came rearing from the treeline. With one powerful gust of flame, it set the path behind them ablaze. "Get behind me!" Alaudidae cried, pushing them behind his wings. Ollie gripped his knife tightly and poked his head out, nearly missing getting his face burnt to a crisp as Yuniferix lit up one of the nearby spruces. He was bigger than Ollie remembered. Much bigger. His pleated yellow sweater vest could have fit a king-sized bed.

They dove to the side as Yuniferix's tail came towards them in an arc. The pointed end caught Elora by the chest and sent her flying backwards. She landed on her back, narrowly missing the flames, and did a couple somersaults backwards before stopping. When a couple seconds passed and she didn't rise, Ollie darted in her direction, only to run into the end of Yuniferix's nose as he started to slowly creep towards them. The dragon hissed, sending tendrils of smoke curling over his nostrils.

"Yuniferix, stop." He said as firmly as he could. "I'm not going back."

The frills on the back of the dragon's head rose as he hissed again. Ollie stood