Otto and the Dragon

Chapter 5: Ogre in the Woods

Otto and Tyrol left early the next morning, just as the sun was beginning to lighten the sky behind the mountains in the east. The path they followed from Granny’s house went through a fairly narrow  section of forest between the mountains and the edge of the fairy forest. Occasionally as they walked along, Tyrol pointed out the markers that indicated the start of the fairy forest.

“We have to go around the north and then east edge of the Fairy forest,” Tyrol explained. “And then we’ll come to the main road. We’ll need to cross it just in case there are any more of those creatures, and get back to your house without using the road at all. Your father’s house is deep in the forest, far removed from the road. But it is also on the other side of the Roaring River, so the road would be faster if we could use it. As it is, we’ll have to find a ford.”

“Why don’t we just use the road?” Otto asked, almost running to keep up with the dragon’s brisk pace. “I’m not afraid of those guys! I’ve got my sling and some rocks! I’ll show them!”

“They don’t look like the kinds of creatures that are much disturbed by flying rocks,” said Tyrol. “Trust me, we are better off avoiding them all together.”

Otto humphed but the pace set by the dragon didn’t leave much breath for talking. 

They stopped for a break about mid-morning, and Otto ate the lunch Granny had packed him. Tyrol suggested Otto save some for later, but Otto ignored the dragon and ate everything. So it wasn’t surprising as noon approached and they still had an hour to go before they crossed the road, the Otto was quite hungry.

“I’m hungry!” Otto groused. “I’m tired! Can’t we stop for another break? I wish I had something to eat!”

The dragon stopped and looked back at Otto, who had started to lag behind. “I told you to save some of the food! I told you that you’d get hungry.”

As they continued walking through the forest, Otto’s mood was less than favorable. The hunger gnawed at his stomach and made his head feel light, and his temper became short. Tyrol wasn’t terribly sympathetic. As Otto’s temper worsened, his thrashing around alerted small prey for miles around of their presence. Although Granny had packed food for the dragon, Tyrol preferred fresh food, and Otto was making it difficult for Tyrol to find much to eat either.

Otto tripped over a root and stood up cursing. Tyrol was surprised that a eleven-year old knew such language. But Otto didn’t stop. He cursed the root, he cursed his birth, he cursed the Dragon Wizard, he cursed his family for dying, and most of all he cursed himself for ever disobeying his father.

When he reached the end, he slumped down by a root and proceeded to cry. Not a sniffly, snorting cry, but deep, woe-is-me, the world-is ending sobbing. Tyrol was rather embarrassed by it all.

“Now what the heck do you think you are doing!?” the dragon began, but before he got any further, a rough voice came from the trees, “You’d better hush there before the Fairy Queen hears you cursing like that! She doesn’t stand for cursing or crying so near her trees!”

Otto stopped crying, and both he and the dragon looked silently in the direction from which the voice had come. 

From between the trees stepped a tall, hairy man-like creature. A bit taller than a man despite stooping, he had bushy red hair, thick eyebrows and dark eyes set deep in his face.  His ears stuck out from the side of his head and large teeth protruded from his mouth. His neck was thick and his shoulders wide. From out of his dirty and ragged shirt hung two long hairy arms and his fingers ended in clawed nails. His body narrowed rapidly at the waist, and his legs were short, bowed and clothed with ragged blue pants. His feet were large with rough shoes. He was an ogre.