Durio's fear

The dragon knew he smelt it before he heard or saw it. It was the unmistakable stench of a human. His nostrils flared. This wasn’t a good idea. What was a human doing so close to the edge of the Yenstlin forest on the night of the Harvest Moon?

Durio crept towards the southern edge of the forest. He stalked like he was stalking his prey when it needed to be ambushed. He slithered forwards on his stomach, his front and back limbs only used to scrape his long body along, his tail used in the same fashion and his elegant wings folded in. He made use of his surroundings and made to stay as still as a centipede-stick-insect .Human smell and hearing were rubbish, so he didn’t need to concern himself with being smelt or heard.

This human was going to have to be scared off thought Durio. He couldn’t reveal himself as that would only increase human interest in Yenstlin forest. He had to be creative. He would howl like a pack of Honiri Wolves on the hunt. Or maybe cackle like a Besho. He was good at mimicking. Whatever it was to get the humans to go back to their village.

Yet it was when he reached the edge that he realised that he was the one that would be scared.

At first it appeared as if the humans had already deserted the area. There was no human to be found. There was no sign of a camp. Yet the stench still lingered. There must be some somewhere, at least one, thought Durio. Yet there were none to be seen. They most have simply left a few minutes ago, he thought. He was about to open his wings and soar back deeper into the forest when suddenly he saw something run across the ground. It wasn’t very quick. But still quick enough to launch itself onto Durio.

Durio looked back and holding the tip of his tail was a creature unlike he had never seen before.

The creature looked very strange. It wasn’t any species that he had seen in the forest. Maybe it had wandered too close to the human territories and then got spooked. Durio picked up the little creature with his front limb and studied it. It had no antennae. It looked like it had two thoraxes. No, it had a head and a thorax but no abdomen. Perhaps it was an arachnid. But it only had four limbs and they were small.

The creature did however have big eyes. And right now, water was streaming through them. He had never seen a creature of the forest do that before. But as gatekeeper he had to ensure that the world of humans and the world of the other entities must remain separate. Especially on the nights of the different moons. So he thought of asking the entity what it was. However, he didn’t know all the minor languages of Yenstlin Forest. He considered gesturing as a last resort.

He opened his mouth , about to start talking, when suddenly the creature looked up at him in detail. Here the smell of the creature wafted into Durio’s nostrils. It was an unflinching smell. A shock went through his spine. As gatekeeper, all his life he had been taught to stop humans from coming deeper and deeper into the forest via scaring them way. And now he was holding human young in his talon. His body temperature fell.

Durio looked in detail as he thought about the possibilities. He couldn’t harm it as it would cry. Then maybe other humans would come closer. They would raid the Yenstlin forest on the night of the Harvest Moon. Many other entities would come into conflict with them. Many animals will be hunted for sport. He couldn’t let that happen.

He had to find a way to bring this human young back to the village somehow. He couldn’t risk exposing himself as then he too would be captured. He pondered if he could just leave it there and pretend that nothing ever happened.

As he was lost deep in thought, to his amazement the young human spoke.

“What are you?” came a small voice from the young human’s head.

Durio gasped.

He didn’t know whether it was wise to say anything.

“Are you a bug lizard?” said the small creature again.

Durio stood motionless .

“I mean big lizard?”

He had never known humans to be capable of speech. Then again, he thought all his life he had been tasked with preventing them from meddling in Yenstlin. He didn’t know much about them. He did hear their voice sometimes. He knew that because they ran off screaming when he scared them off. That was voice- almost all the forest entities had voice. But speech- two-way speech- he was never sure that they had the capacity.

Very slowly he picked up the courage to speak.

“I” he began gesturing to himself, “Am Durio”

“I am Tane, and I am three years old” started off the toddler “I like jam and painting”

Durio thought about it. He had just communicated with an intelligent species and the first thing that they spoke about was something he never knew about. He didn’t even know if three was old or young for a human. But he had a name-Tane. Most creatures had names.

“Where are your parents?” he asked slowly. It was the next most logical thing to ask. Or at least he thought. There were forest entities that never raised their young. Humans he thought lived in groups like the village he knew off. So maybe they raised their young? But then again many Forest entities lived in groups but didn’t raise their young.

“In the village, with my new sister” cried Tane. He didn’t look very happy at the last part.

Durio had three siblings. They had all hatched on the same day as him. He didn’t know if human young hatched from eggs, materialized out of thin air, or were born to pregnant mothers like Honiri Wolves or Leaf Pandas. His own siblings had all made it to adulthood and had been given different forests to protect. He didn’t understand why Tane was unhappy about having a sister. And how could she be new? Didn’t the humans wait until their clutch are all adults before starting a new one?

“They always have time for her, not for me!” continued Tane. “So, what if she is only a baby? “he wailed.

Durio tried to slowly understand. If he didn’t understand he would have failed. He would have let the humans develop an intertest in Yenstlin. He though of all the creatures of the forest-animals, plants, spirits, paranormae and fungi. Did this ever happen in the forest? Then an idea crossed his mind.

Sometimes the tree deer would have two fawns , but these weren’t twins. They were older and younger siblings born in the same cycle. The older would still not have developed itself to live alone, but the mother would force it to run away so she could concentrate on the youngers.

Could this be a child that was abandoned? He thought. If so, there is no way that the child can go back to their own parents. But there is no way that he could bring it into the forest. That would cause a riot and chaos. There was no way that this human could learn the ways of the forest and become one of their own, no matter how he tried. Humans were forbidden as when a human curiosity is piqued, they have no control over their desires. They only come in and take advantage of the forest. They cut down the trees to make their villages. They eat the forest creatures. And there were simply too many of them. They kept coming and coming.

Don’t be foolish he thought.

He realised that he had been thinking for some time when suddenly he looked down and the child was no longer in his talon.

Alarmed he scanned the area. There was no scent of the child from the forest, thankfully. Maybe he had gone back to the village on his own? Durio had a feeling that the child was male, but he didn’t know for sure, or how many genders humans had.

He followed his snout and sniffed out the child to a nearby stream. The child looked upset still.

“Do you like your parents?” Durio began patiently.

“I used to, but now they only care about Kia” started Tane. “They used to play with me all the time, but now they play with Kia”.

Hmmm Durio mused, not sure if the child was abandoned.

“Do they still want you?” he asked Tane.

“I don’t know” replied Tane “I used to be their number one child, but now I’m number two”.

There was still no clear answers for Durio.

It was then that the toddler uttered his worst words- “I want to stay here in the forest!"

Durio froze. He had to act quickly. All his life he had been scaring humans away. He didn’t know how to negotiate with one. Then he remembered that fear could take on many forms.

“Tane, I am big lizard” he started . He didn’t want the child to know of the existence of dragons, so big lizard seemed like a good idea.

“I am here to give you bad news. If you enter the forest, you will never be the number one child again. But if you go back to your village and promise to never come back here, one day you will be the favourite child again in ten years” Durio finished. He figured ten years was a small time for a human.

The child eyes went the size of a moon.

“No No!” he pleaded.

“Go back and never return”.

Tane cried as he spoke- “I can’t!”

“Why not?” Durio said suddenly startled.

“I don’t know the way back”

Durio froze. His plan was ruined. His mind raced again. There was no way he was going to approach the human village.

When all hope seemed lost Tane randomly fell asleep.

“Phew” thought Durio.

He carried the child to a area closer to the village than the forest. But not close enough for any humans to see. He then gathered some kindling and started a small fire. He then retreated into the forest.

Within a few minutes some adult humans came running. They looked more like the regular humans he knew. They picked up Tane and disappeared.

Durio let out a sigh and ventured back into Yenstlin.