I was glad to breathe in the fresh air that wafted down the tunnel and the bright light bathed my skin in a comfortable warmth. My relaxation, however, was interrupted when we arrived at the top of the corridor. We came upon a small camp of mine carts and mules pulling wagons. Another dozen dwarves were transferring loads of rocks from the carts to the wagons.
And one of them noticed us.
“Hey! What are you doing here?” he demanded to know as his compatriots turned around.
“Just sightseeing,” Tegan quipped as he pulled me sharply to the left.
“Get back here!” another shouted as they gave chase.
The dwarves rushed after us and took up various weapons like pickaxes and shovels. Their short legs moved faster than I expected and one of them began to gain on us. The slower ones snatched stones from the ground and chucked them at us with a precision of many years of practice. The rocks pelted us and I was glad for Tegan’s thick coat. Tegan himself had his scales to protect him as we raced out of the clearing and into the trees.
Our speed advantage over open ground quickly vanished as the bushes and trees bogged us down. The dwarves, however, crashed through the foliage like landslides and hacked any uncompromising plants out of their way. Tegan had his claws out but he didn’t use them on the offending trees.
One of the dwarves caught up to us and tried to grab me. My cry of fright alerted Tegan to the danger and he swung me ahead of him before he spun around just in time to deflect a blow from a shovel using his claws. The rest of the dwarves joined their compatriots and surrounded us, clearing a circle around our position with their tools.
The dwarf that had nearly caught me glared at us as he clapped the shovel handle in his large hand. “What were you doing in the Undergrowth?”
“We fell into one of the disused tunnels and were merely trying to make our way out,” Tegan informed him.
The dwarf scoffed. “I’ve heard some bad tales in my time, but that’s the worst. Now you two better come with us and don’t go swinging those claws-ack!”
Our wannabe captor was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a brownish creature that flew in front of his face. The figure slapped him upside the cheek hard enough to force his head to one side.
“That’s for damaging my friends!” a tiny voice snapped at the dwarf, and I belatedly realized it had come from the flying creature.
The dwarf snapped his face about and glared at his attacker. “Get lost, filth!”
The creature put a hand on its hips, or whatever they were. A closer inspection of the thing showed it had an ovular body with six thin, stick-like legs. The body was covered in a brownish shell similar to that of a beetle and was topped with a round head. A pair of antennae bounced atop the head and long black whiskers grew out of the lower front of its head below a pair of bulbous eyes. The creature floated in the air via two pairs of very fast, translucent wings.
It was like staring at a flying cat cockroach.
“I will not be gone from my own home! Not when you stubbies are wrecking it!” the strange creature insisted as it stabbed a small finger at the direction from which we’d come. “Just look at all those beautiful plants you hurt! You’ll have to pay for this!”
The dwarf raised his shovel and sneered at the creature. “You may best us one at a time, but not when there’s this many of us and it’s just you.”
The creature folded its thin arms over its curved chest and opened its mouth to reveal a very sharp, toothy smile. “I’m never alone in here.”
Vines slithered out from under the brush and wrapped themselves around the ankles of the dwarves. The men cried out and whacked away at the plants with their weapons, slicing through and freeing themselves. More vines crawled out and tree branches stretched down to grab at their wild hair.
A few of the vines slithered in our direction. Tegan drew me behind him and ignited his hands. He threw down the two fireballs on either side of himself and they swirled around us, creating a circle which the plants couldn’t breach. Some tried and came out with scorched ends before retreating.
The dwarves, overwhelmed by the fierce foliage, made a hasty retreat with the plants cracking at their heels. In a moment all was quiet and calm save for the heavy thudding of my heart. Tegan slipped his hand into mine and gave it a gentle squeeze.
The cat cockroach turned his attention to us and scowled. “Were they your friends, dragon? Did you intend to harm the forest, as well?”
Tegan shook his head. “On the contrary, we only wished to pass through it. The dwarves thought we needed to stay for a chat.”
The catroach, as I had come to call it, scoffed. “A likely story. You will come with me and-” The creature zipped over to us with its green companions following just behind it.
The flames around us exploded upward, encasing us in a fiery ring some ten feet high. The catroach hissed and scuttled backward, as did its small army. The creature narrowed its eyes at us as the fires cooled to a low foot above the ground.
“Only wishing to travel through, eh?” the catroach spat at us. “It seems like you’re intent on burning the whole place down!”
Tegan smiled. “If I had wanted to do such a thing I wouldn’t be standing here willing to talk with you. As things stand, I’m merely protecting what is mine from what is yours.” His choice of words didn’t pass by me without notice.
The catroach’s wings fluttered faster than before while the plants hovered around it waiting for orders. Finally the bug fluttered in a circle and gnashed its teeth. “Fine! I will show you the way out to ensure you won’t hurt anything.”
Tegan shook his head. “That won’t do. I’m not used to being chaperoned and I abhor leashes. If you give us a day we’ll be out of the woods and out of your whiskers.”
The catroach’s said whiskers twitched and he looked displeased. “You are most rude for being an intruder in these woods.”
“We’re merely sightseers who will gladly leave the woods if you would call off your guard plants and give us a day to leave,” Tegan countered.
“Then leave,” the catroach snapped at him.
Tegan shook his head. “Not until we have your word, sworn on the leaves that you protect.”
Our wannabe captor growled but fluttered back. “I swear it.” The plants followed suit and retreated into the dense foliage.
Tegan smiled and bowed his head to the catroach. “We thank you for your hospitality.” The fire at our feet was extinguished and Tegan tightened his grip on my hand as he stepped backward. “And much thanks for helping us with our short friends.”
The catroach sneered at him. “Just keep moving and don’t stop until you have passed the edge of the woods.”
Tegan nodded and turned us away from the strange creature and his green cohorts. We hurried with quick steps away from the dwarven camp and in a westerly direction, or so I surmised. The beautiful sunny day had been replaced by a cloudy one.
There was only silence between us as we traveled through the thick foliage. I couldn’t quite wrap my head around all the fantastic things I had seen, but one question stood out from all the others.
“What the hell was that talking creature?” I inquired of my native guide.
“A fabfeil,” Tegan told me with a touch of a smile on his lips. “The creatures are sentinels of the forests in this world and are a nuisance in most of them, but they are quite proficient at their jobs.”
“You seemed to do a good job against that one,” I commented.
He nodded. “I was lucky to get my fire out, otherwise the vines would have acted with quicker impunity.”
I cast a wary look at the trees around us. “So should we still worry about the woods trying to give us a tight hug?”
Tegan chuckled. “Perhaps, but the fabfeil will grant us those twenty-four hours because of his oath. The oath binds him to that promise.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Literally binds him?”
“In a magical sense,” Tegan explained. “The oath I forced out of our winged friend binds him to that promise, otherwise the vines and the trees will stop obeying him.”
An offending branch decided to interrupt our conversation by swatting me clean in the face. I stumbled back and would have fallen if Tegan hadn’t had a tight grip on my hand. As things stood, I kept to my face but ate a mouthful of leaves.
I sputtered out the greenery and a few mumbled words slipped out of my mouth. “Could this day get any worse. . .”
Tegan lifted his gaze to the darkening skies above our heads. “Unfortunately, yes. We had better get under cover before the rain comes.”