Dark Dealings in Boneneedle Forest

No one had entered the Boneneedle Forest in the last century, though a village was within walking distance and a road nearby.

There was a story about the wood that the villagers whispered to each other on cold winter nights while bundled by the fire.

Once upon a time, a dragon and a grinning demon ruled over the Boneneedle and all the surrounding land. While the dragon was cruel, he was also lazy and beckoned the demon to satisfy his neverending hunger. Familes were sacrificed. Villages were destroyed. The lands themselves were dying. But it was never enough.

Then one day, a great and powerful wizard came from afar and seeing the suffering of the people, offered to help. He fought the dragon day and night for ninety days, and on the ninetieth day, the exhausted wizard took a mortal blow. With his dying breath, he cursed the dragon to remain a prisoner of the woods, never to leave again.

When this story was whispered at night, everyone from the oldest granny to youngest toddler shivered and gasped, and in the morning light when the shadows of the night were cast off, they might have laugh at their foolishness. They might have. But there were also the bones.

Some of the bones were deer or wolf, but other decidedly human ones were strewn from tree branches or left protruding from a bush. No one saw how they got there, but more kept appearing.

Above the bones, or in some cases below, the trees were covered in warning signs. No one saw anyone put them up. The newest sign read “Beware” in red capital letters and was accompanied by a picture of a man being impaled on a dragon’s tail while the dragon set fire to his head.

More disturbing than the signs themselves, and the signs were disturbing, were the sheer quantity of them, as if someone would fail to notice the gruesome warning just two feet from the last one.

So no one had entered the Boneneedle forest. At least no one had entered it until today.

***

Azzanthia Starsight, sole dragon of the Boneneedle Forest and longtime monster under the bed to both the children and adults in the adjacent village, was covered in red paint.

She was not merely flecked with paint, but drenched in it. Normally, she had dark blue scales that shined like an iridescent night sky, pearl white horns slicked backward, and thin gray spikes that laid flat or raised up depending on her mood. Now, it looked as if Azzanthia had decided to bathe in the blood of her enemies, except the blood in this case was paint she mixed together herself.

Stepping back, Azzanthia took in her masterpiece: a rather large "Beware Dragon" sign. Azzanthia was larger than a horse and certainly bulkier than one, but wasn’t so large that navigating the forest was difficult. Still the sign looked like a miniature when positioned next to her.

“What do you think, Rufus?” she reflected aloud.

“Rufus,” chirped a bat, hanging from the wall just beside the painting. As a rare Ruby Fire bat, Rufus sported bright red fur with eye pupils of literal flame. With a wingspan of 6 feet, he leaned forward to get a better view.

“Yes, there is more paint on me than on the sign, but it is part of my creative process. More blood around the neck, you think?” Azzanthia chewed on the end of her paint brush in thought.

Rufus crawled along the ceiling to see the sign from another angle. Because of how his face was structured, Rufus’ mouth was always set in a perpetual grin, his dozens of tiny, sharp teeth visible just outside his lips. Still, his eyes appeared thoughtful.

“Rufus,” he repeated.

Adjusting the beret between her horns delicately, Azzanthia retorted, “I am going through my gore phase, Rufus. There has to be a lot of blood. Maybe I will explore skulls in the winter.”

Rufus stuck his tongue out.

“Rufus, rufus.”

Using the flat side of a single claw, she poked him.

“You’re just sulking now. I know my magic barrier dissuades most people, but what about the magical ones huh? They won’t be affected. Plus, I like making these signs much more than I like draping skeletons everywhere. Even I think the amount of bones is a little much now.”

Rufus grabbed her claw and climbed up her arm until he rested on her neck, unsuccessfully trying to avoid the red paint.

Azzanthia laid her paintbrush down and lumbered toward the door. Possessed by a sudden melancholy, she ran a claw along the dirt.

“Ever feel like you’re living the same day again and again, Rufus?”

“Rufus.”

He gnawed on her neck, and Azzanthia purred a little. Ruby Fire bats were long time friends of dragons. While they ate almost anything, they particularly enjoyed old dragon scales or even the lichen that would sometimes appear on dragon skin.

“Yes, yes, it is impossible to actually live the same day, but sometimes it feels like everything is cast in gray scale.”

“Rufus.” Rufus dislodged the errant scale and chewed it happily as he gripped her neck with his feet.

“Yes, well I know you only see in gray scale, but you should see color. It's pretty great.”

“Rufus.”

“I am sure being able to see heat and cold is amazing as well. You are missing the point, Rufus. I’m being vulnerable here. Sometimes I think if you opened me up, I would just be a hollow cavern.”

Rufus pat her neck in a “there, there, it’s okay” expression as he continued to chomp on his claimed scale.

Azzanthia sighed, “At least one of us is happy. Let’s get cleaned up. We can post the signs tomorrow, which seems more than likely to be just like today.”

And as is want to happen when you make statements like that, fate was listening.

***

The wailing started at 3:15 am. Azzanthia kicked restlessly in her sleep from the humid summer air but was unmoved by the cries. It was the forest after all, and things happened at night. Not to her, she was a dragon after all, but to other prey certainly.

She silently wished they would die more quietly and tucked her head under a blanket. At 3:42 am, Rufus burrowed into her quilted santuary and gnawed on her nostril. Azzanthia flicked an irritated eye open.

“Rufus, rufus.”

“Why do I have to do something about it?”Azzanthia tried to push the bat out and secure the inner sanctum of her blanket. Rufus nimbly shifted position and crawled deeper inside.

“Rufus.”

“There are no such thing as ghosts, Rufus. The worst thing in the woods is us. Well, mostly me, but you are a close second…or third at least.” Rufus clung to her neck, and his soothing warmth pulsed against her scales. It almost lulled her back to sleep, but then he bit her.

“Rufus.” Rufus licked her cheek in reconciliation.

“Fine, fine. I’ll show you that it is just some horribly mangled animal, and then we can go back to sleep, yes?”

“Rufus.” Azzanthia heaved to her feet as Rufus hung from her jaw.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re welcome. Ride on my back though. I don’t like when you hang onto my face like this.”

The night walk was better than Azzanthia expected. The moon lit their way through the forest, and Azzanthia felt like she could truly breath among the trees. The crying had transitioned into an inconsolable moan, interspersed with violent hiccups. Rufus trembled, cooing a quiet whisper of a shrill.

Scaredy bat, she thought, smiling. Still, she pet him comfortingly with the tip of her tail.

When they finally reached the source of the noise, a pack of wolves had arrived first. A large, squirming burlap sack hung from a tree branch. Some sniffed up at it, while others leapt towards the sack, trying to sink their teeth in, though they were no where close.

“Boo,” Azzanthia whispered with delight, as the wolves, who had been upwind of Azzanthia, realized her presence in all one horrible moment. Immediately scattering, the wolves fell over themselves trying to escape, a few even running into each other as they fled.

Alone with Rufus, Azzanthia easily plucked the sack from the tree branch. She sniffed it.

Human? But not human. Animal but not an animal?

Realizing all at once that her claws were too large for opening a sack, Azzanthia shrugged Rufus onto a nearby tree and turned into a mostly human shape. While her hair was the same blue as her scales and she still sported a pair of wings on her back, the rest of her looked mostly human.

Fingers are just so nimble, she thought irritably.

Changing shape made her itch, like her entire skin was wrapped in a wool sweater. She tried not to pout and failed. It was uncomfortable being in other shapes because the whole of her still felt like a dragon even as she wiggled her fingertips experimentally.

Azzanthia struggled with the rope securing the top of the sack, and it fell down around…a baby coyote. Shocked into silence, the moaning creature fell silent and stared up at her with big, mournful eyes. It hiccuped. It was a fawn. Hiccup, badger. Hiccup, dragon. Hiccup, bird.

Leaning close, Azzanthia poked its forehead. Hiccup, a human with brown hair and golden eyes.

It’s cute, I suppose. In a scaleless and furless kind of way.

The toddler reached out to touch Azzanthia’s hair, gently at first, until she gave it a decisive yank. Azzanthia yelped.

“You can’t do that! I’m a dragon, you brat!”

He giggled. Rufus chirped. Azzanthia felt betrayed.

“Scawee. Ty Ty scawed,” the tiny child insisted.

Azzanthia glared at him as she pried his tiny fingers from her hair.

“Buck up. It’s survival of the fittest out here, insect. I’ve freed you, so please die a little quieter out here. Come on, Rufus. This is one ghost debunked.”

Azzanthia walked away when she heard the kid squeal, “Doggie! Doggie, doggie, doggie!”

Azzanthia turned back to see the toddler climbing up Rufus’s tail. Rufus flicked the child up, but just as he was falling, Rufus gently caught the kid with the claws on his feet. The toddle smiled broadly and gurgled, wiggling its legs and arms in delight.

“No!” Azzanthia forbade, “No. No. No!”

Flapping his wings rapidly to stay afloat, Rufus was already flying home, child in tow.

Trailing him, Azzanthia called, “I said we can’t keep it, Rufus! Are you listening to me?”

The answer was pretty obvious. Rufus wasn’t listening at all.

***

Two weeks ago, when the young and on-the-rise wizard, Altio of the Black Crystals, had insisted on meeting in the nearby Boneneedle Forest, a clandestine exchange of black market materials in a forbidden forest had deeply appealed to him. It had the right style, and if there was one thing Altio loved, it was style.

The Nudle Procurement group warned him, begged, and continuously repeated superstitious stories about the wood having 'a cruel and cursed dragon', but when Altio offered to pay in gold, upfront, they reluctantly agreed.

Altio even bought a new black robe for the occasion.

But three dramatic falls over tree roots and a freak incident with a frightened pack of wolves later, all Altio wanted was to get the material he paid for and go.

So when he finally got to the meeting site 6 hours past the meet time, Altio clenched his teeth in agitation.

Many attributed Altio’s quick rise to the top as natural born talent. Altio himself attributed it to hard work. Surprisingly, no one mentioned his cutting edge work on magical technology, probably because it did in fact involve a significant amount of actual cutting.

Altio was very good at enhancing magical tools with bones, tissue, tendons, and other parts of magical creatures. No one truly wanted to know how the sausage was made as it were, and a talisman or wand made by Altio was coveted by many.

Today though, Altio chased a special prize: a Cirogot, a endangered magical species that could take on the shape of any creature. While killing magical creatures was not illegal, killing endangered magical species distinctly was against the law.

Still, procuring a Cirogot and a toddler at that was worth walking on the wrong side of the law to Altio, and he could barely contain his excitement over what objects he could make with such a young specimen.

“They didn’t wait,” Altio gritted through clenched teeth, “This is what I get for paying them in advance.”

Seeing a note on the ground, he picked it up: “Fresh as promised. Can’t take back with us. Have another appointment. No more business in the Boneneedle. - N”. He crushed the note in his fist.

Taking a breath and then another, Altio pulled his wand out with a flourish. Altio considered his next move, flexing his unicorn tendon wand idly as he thought.

With a flick of his wand, Altio chanted, “Listen to this stupid rhyme, replay the footsteps back in time. Start from when midnight hit, and show my prize in red brightly lit.” Altio did not know why rhyming made spells more effective, but it was hard to doubt results.

Keeping his wand flicking to a beat, four sets of footprints displayed in blue light appeared and walked into the clearing with a red orb dragging behind them. The footprints shifted and paced as time ticked on.

“Faster,” Altio muttered, slashing the air with his wand. The footprints sped up, shifting and settling, until the red orb was moved into the center of the clearing below a high tree branch. Then the footprints left without the red orb. Altio was bewildered.

They left the specimen, but then where did it go then?

Several sets of animal paws come into view, but the red orb remained in place still. Suddenly paws scattered, when four massive claws came into view.

“Slower,” he whispered as he watched the red orb be pulled down. Four big footprints prints suddenly turned into two human footprints, and the red orb was carried away.

“Curious. Very curious,” Altio muttered to himself and hurried off towards the direction they had been headed.

***

For the past three hours, Azzanthia faced the wall pretending to be asleep as Rufus and the kid stacked rocks by the entrance. She wasn’t really tired anymore, but she would not let them know that.

Occasionally she would peek at what they were doing and see Rufus trying to feed the kid an earthworm, the kid knocking the tower down they built, or Rufus patting the kid’s head affectionately. Azzanthia grumbled audibly when he did that.

“Rufus.” Azzanthia ignored him, keeping her eyes shut. She could ignore him just as much as he ignored her.

“Rufus, rufus,” Rufus chirped to the child. The demon child laughed, and Azzanthia spun her head around.

“I am not being a petulant child! Do not tell that-that-that interloper that I am jealous because I am not!” she shouted at him. She could have sworn they both snickered. She would have blushed, if dragons blushed.

“Rufus.”

“No, I will not call that thing Ty! Once we name it, you’ll never want to get rid of it, and we’re not keeping it! I mean it. I mean it!”

Rufus ignored her. Azzanthia drooped back to the floor, staring at the wall.

Chirping loudly, Rufus crawled over to her, and positioning himself over her head, he pressed his forehead to hers.

“No,” she pouted but was clearly wavering.

Rufus nuzzled his head against hers.

“No,” she repeated, less sure.

Ty had wandered over by that point and pet the muzzle of her nose.

She glared at him.

“My name is Azzanthia. Say it, insect.”

“Azzy!”

“Rufus,” the bat observed.

“It’s not that smart, Rufus. Don’t praise it unnecessarily. I will not be an ‘Azzy’. Azzzzzz-annnnn-theeee-A,” Azzanthia insisted

Ty hugged the both of them, squishing the three of them together.

“Ruru! Azzy!” Ty gurgled happily. Azzanthia grunted but was quietly impressed by the child’s strength.

Something in her relented.

“You know, I hear human children can’t eat some things. Not that he is human exactly, but perhaps picking out random insects is not the way to feed it,” Azzanthia commented, as if she did not really care either way.

Rufus slurped a slug he had been holding.

“Rufus.”

“Yes, but you can basically eat anything. I hear humans can keel over dead over any old thing.”

Azzanthia licked Ty with her tongue. He beamed up at her. She wouldn’t say she liked it.

“Rufus.”

“Fine, fine,” Azzanthia huffed, “I’ll go find the little insect some food.”

“Rufus.”

Azzanthia could feel him grinning at her and for the second time that day felt embarrassed. There was nothing she could say to that, so she flew away as quickly as she could.

***

Altio could barely contain his surprise and glee at finding a dragon, the Cirogot child, and the equally rare Ruby Fire bat. Still, since he was not entirely sure he could defeat a dragon, he waited for an opportunity to seize the Cirogot toddler at least, and if he was lucky, the bat as well.

When Azzanthia launched into the air and veered towards the mountains, Altio marveled at the creature’s wings.

I could make cloaks. Maybe armor from its hide. And the spikes! I bet I could do something special with those.

Shaking himself from his daydream, Altio focused on the opportunity at hand and crept quietly into the cave.

Rufus and Ty were playing hide and go seek. Rufus waddled around looking under books, pillows, and blankets, even though Ty was not quite hidden behind a lantern.

Ty giggled, but Rufus pretended not to notice as it went in the opposite direction. Eventually Rufus took to the ceiling and crawled up from behind Ty. Leaping out at the toddler, he yelled, “Rufus!”

The toddler burst in to laughter, repeating, “Ruru funny! Fun Ruru!”

Rufus wrapped Ty in his wings and licked his forehead, which made Ty laugh harder and nestle closer.

Altio eyes gleamed as he imagined all the tools he could make with Rufus.

A fire ring for protection or maybe a necklace for flight.

When Altio slunk towards them, Ty saw him first.

“Ruru lookie!” the boy called, still smiling.

No creature had ever willingly come into Azzanthia’s cave except Rufus and some slugs. The possibility of a predator entering with ill intent had never occurred to Rufus, so when he finally realized Altio was there, he was initally stunned.

Once he recovered his senses, Rufus recognized that a predator had slithered in. In a hopping and jumping gait, Rufus ran at Altio, hissing.

Unconcerned, Altio flicked his wand at him, “Come on now, no where to run, give this bat a little stun.”

The blast hit Rufus in the face mid-jump, and he was violently flung black. His head bounced off the wall, and he crumpled to the floor in a heap of wings.

“Ruru!” Ty screamed. Altio loomed over Ty, and Ty started crying deep wailing sobs. As panic overtook him, Ty turned into a small hippo, a mouse, a snake.

“I do not want to hear a peep, make this small thing go to sleep.”

This magic curled around him, and Ty slowly nodded off after a few yawns. If Altio had stunned Ty in his human form, there might not have been enough room in the sack, but with the small mass of the snake, he was able to stuff both the bat and boy in together. Heaving it onto his shoulder, Altio made a quick exit from the cave, energized by his luck and upcoming wealth.

***

Oblivious to the scene that had happened a mere 20 minutes before, Azzanthia landed in front of their cave with a responding thud, dropping a large buck at the entrance.

“Rufus!” she called towards the back, as she stacked wood for a fire in her fireplace, “Do you think the insect eats meat? I can go back out for fruit on the ridge if you think that is better, but it looks like it needs to build muscle mass, don’t you think?”

Azzanthia strode in to where she thought they would be and was surprised to find them not there. “Rufus?”

The blood caught her eye as little as it was, and she could immediately smell Rufus’s scent all over it. It started on the wall, had pooled on the ground, and had smeared across the floor.

Panic descended like a crashing tidal wave as she called for him again.

“Rufus!?! Rufus, answer me.”

Azzanthia tore through her home and called to them outside. She kept seeing the blood smeared down the wall.

Then she caught it, that lingering scent that was neither Rufus's or the insect's.

Intruder. Assailant!

While Azzanthia tolerated the insect, she loved that infuriating bat.

In her fury, she roared, shaking the entire forest to its very roots, and with that, she took to the skies.

***

Altio sprinted for the tree line when he heard the roar. He had never regretted not exercising regularly as he did right then, but he didn’t drop the sack.

What was it the Nudle group said? The dragon couldn’t leave the forest?

The roar rattle around in his bones still as Altio pushed and pushed and pushed. Sweat soak his torn and mud-covered robe.

What is that sound? Is that wings?

Imagining wings that carried actual death gave Altio a second wind, pushing him past the tree line and into the clearing. Fifteen feet from there, he hit his limit. He dropped the sack with Rufus and Ty in it, and he collapsed on the ground, gasping for air in big, deep gulps.

The dragon can’t leave the forest. The dragon can’t leave the forest, Altio chanted, he begged, he prayed.

As if calling her into existence, the hulking mass of Azzanthia’s body blotted out the sun as she soared into view, her wings kicking up dust as she landed at the edge of the Boneneedle. Villagers had gathered from a distance. Azzanthia surveyed the scene, looking from Altio to those gathered far behind him.

Time stood still. A second passed. Then a minute.

“Dear gods, it’s true,” Altio laughed watching her, “You can’t leave, can you?”

Azzanthia tilted her head, sniffing the air. Rufus and the insect. She honed in on the sack.

“You dumb creature, you’re caged, aren’t you?” His laughter was manic now as he sat up.

Continuing to ignore him, Azzanthia snapped her claws, and the sack was in front of her. In a blink, she was in her humanoid form, and the sack was open. In another blink, her jaw loosened as she saw that they were both just stunned.

She gently pulled them out and laid them among the ferns as if afraid they would break. No one was close enough to see, but in her relief, big tears fell down her cheeks.

Altio was gaping like a fish.

Azzanthia was gently examining Rufus’ wound, when Altio, who did not have a lick of common sense, shouted, “Those are mine!”

Her rage rippling like fire under her skin, Azzanthia Starsight strode confidently out of the tree line and into the clearing.

“But-but you can’t? You can’t!” Altio insisted as she descended on him.

Azzanthia snorted.

“Stories are sometimes just stories. I can’t leave is not the same thing as I don’t want to leave,” she said softly, stopping a few feet from him.

He paled, trying to scramble away from the ground. Her stillness resounded out around her.

“You hurt my friend," she accused.

“Wait. Wait. It doesn’t have to be like this!”

“You stole the insect.”

“I never, I never stole…”

“You entered MY FOREST uninvited.”

“Just listen…”

“You coveted what was not yours to covet,” Azzanthia boomed.

Flourishing his wand, Altio screamed, “You have wrought the heavens ire, consume this beast with holy fire!”

A fireball exploded from the tip of his want, enveloping Azzanthia in flames. It burned brightly until Azzanthia was encased entirely in it. Altio sighed with relief, but then Azzanthia absorbed the fire into her skin until she glowed.

“That was exhilarating. Should we do it again? Imagine. Trying to kill a dragon with fire,” Azzanthia murmured in a low dangerous chuckle. “I suppose it’s my turn now, isn’t it? Let’s see if you can do it too.”

Slowly she lifted a hand. Staring into his eyes, she let a fireball grow slowly in her palm.

Desperate, Altio reached for a spell, any spell. Fire was no good. Transformation. Transformation!

“Turn this battle right around, make her a creature of the ground!”

Threads of light reached out to Azzanthia. Azzanthia’s scales glowed, and the magic rebounded off of Azzanthia’s chest. The last thing Altio saw before the threads hit him in the chest was Azzanthia grinning.

As the smoke cleared, Altio groaned. He reached for his wand and found only cold, webbed feet where his hands should be. His own spell had turned him into a salamander.

Azzanthia sighed in disappointment. It was not the retribution battle she anticipated. She debated between letting him try to survive as a salamander or squishing him with her bare hands.

“Rufus,” the bat moaned.

Distracted, she turned back to Rufus.

“You should feel like you have a hangover. I leave you for 20 minutes and look at all the trouble you got yourself into.”

When she spun back around, she realized the villagers were still watching from a distance. Azzanthia turned back to her dragon form.

“I protect what’s mine. Keep out of the woods,” she boomed to them. Those wearing hats removed them. The villagers all bowed in acknowledgment but did not come any closer.

“Rufus.”

“It was necessary. Since we made an appearance, we might as well send a message. Maybe we won’t have to put up so many signs.”

“Rufus.”

“When you’re right, you’re right. I do love making those signs.”

Azzanthia turned back to deal with Altio, but Altio was nowhere to be found.

***

Azzanthia cradle Rufus in one arm and Ty, who was awake and back in his human form, in the other.

“Rufus,” the bat chirped.

“Yes, yes, we can keep the insect. At least as long as the insect wants to stay. Like I would deny you anything now.”

“Rufus, rufus.”

“Well it’s not like that crazy wizard can do much as a salamander. Did you hear his insane spell casting? Has he no shame!"

"Rufus," the bat replied, nodding.

"Yes, it’s probably best I didn’t light him up like a torch. It would scar our little insect here. I hear fragile creatures like him easily experience trauma and all sorts of things,” Azzanthia consoled herself.

“Azzy, bad man bye bye?” Ty asked as he nuzzled in her arms.

Azzanthia gave them both a consoling squeeze as she repeated, “Yes. Bad man bye bye.”

Then Azzanthia shifted uncomfortably. Human form still felt like an itchy sweater.

***

Later that night, after Azzanthia and Ty were asleep, Rufus took to the skies, feeling famished from the day’s events. Finding a tasty morsel on the forest floor, Rufus plummeted from the air, snatching his prey in a singlar swoop.

Only when Rufus had slurped up the end of the salamander’s tail, licking his fangs in satisfaction, was he truly satisfied, grinning as he always did.