The Dragonwalk Highway: The Fellowship of Thirteen

22 - The Avox Nesting Grounds

The Avox flew the sextet far beyond the Swamp of Sorrow and over the boulder fields surrounding the borders of their sacred Nesting Grounds. It was only a few minutes through the air, but it would have been nearly a day's travel on foot considering the rocky terrain. A hundred dongs over the boulder field, perched high on the mountain ledges overlooking the land below was the famed Avox nests. Zelda had heard the legends as a child of a majestic village located high in the clouds and now she would finally get to visit. It was one stop on the quest she was actually looking forward to.

She enjoyed the magnificent views of the kingdom as the Avox that held her soared through the air but she seemed to be the only one. The Arachnite twins both looked uncomfortable in the claws of the Avox and Oron and Mo, as insane as it seemed, kicked wildly to free themselves from their Avox clutches.

Avox were not built for long distance flying so it didn't take long before the birds began to struggle with the weight of their cargo. Their flapping became labored. When they finally reached the center of their village, they dumped Zelda and the others from nearly a dozen dongs up before crashing to the ground themselves. The Fellowship fell in a heap on top of one another but, besides some bumps and bruises, they were none the worse for wear.

Zelda struggled out from beneath the others and drank in the majesty of the Avox homeland—or at least she would have had she not been overpowered by the smell. It stunk worse than the swamp. Then she saw why. The majestic village in the sky was covered in bird shit. The cliffs, the huts, the nesting huts, everything. Bird shit. No one ever mentioned the bird shit in the legends. The entire village was encrusted in layer upon layer of shit. The rest of the village didn't look much better. The huts were ramshackle with holes in the thatched roofs and several rock slides had never been cleared near the outskirts of the village.

As soon as Oron freed himself from the pile, he was on his feet running.

"Let's go! Move! Move! Move!"

A brigade of Avox guards landed and encircled the others. They wore traditional Avox helmets and were armed with long trident spears. Two others swooped down and grabbed Oron, one on each arm, and dumped him with the rest. Zelda recognized Mr. Peanut, the Avox Ambassador, among the new arrivals.

"Princess!" Mr. Peanut exclaimed. "Thank the Creator you're safe."

Oron lunged at him, but Zelda pulled him back.

"Whoa! Relax! We're safe now."

"No," Oron said. "We're not."

Zelda recognized the fear in his voice. Mo had his head lowered, ready to charge. Even the Arachnite twins seemed on edge. Then she realized the Avox had encircled the group.

"Why are your guards surrounding us? Zelda asked.

Mr. Peanut looked confused. "Your highness, they're here to take the intruders into custody."

Now Zelda was confused. "Intruders? Are you talking about us?"

"Of course not! We're talking about them."

Them was the Arachnite twins, Abyss and Midnight. The guards closed in on the brothers with their spears drawn. Abyss and Midnight instinctively fell in back-to-back and prepared to start flinging webs.

"Wait!" Zelda shouted. She rushed in front of the twins. "These are our traveling companions. They are not to be harmed."

Mr. Peanut's feathers puffed out in irritation. She literally ruffled his feathers. "These monsters are traveling with you?"