A Robin Glares at Alpha

Mavis pushed her arms forward, till she finally felt that nice cool feeling. She gingerly moved her fingers around till she felt the surface. Then, with all her might, pulled herself forwards till she was completely out of the rabbit hole.

‘Do rabbits have to go through this every day?’ she cried in disbelief as she dusted the dirt off herself. Suddenly, blue magic burst out of the hole, making her jump.

‘What the heck is going on in there?’ she shouted.

A cute white fluffy head poked out and looked at her innocently.

She rolled her eyes. ‘Snowdrop, just how many times do I need to tell you not to blast your magic for absolutely no reason?’

The dragon slowly pulled herself out of the hole till she was completely on the surface.

Mavis turned to face Alpha who was with his best I-didn’t-do-anything look.

‘You there!’ she snapped. ‘You have caused us a lot of trouble.’ Alpha whined piteously and she glared at him irritably.

The three of them had been walking down the path in the forest when suddenly Alpha had spotted a delicious white rabbit. He dashed after it. Terrified, it had disappeared down a rabbit hole, and Alpha had jumped in, right after it. Mavis, panic-stricken, went in after him. And for some reason, Snowdrop had hopped in too.

Suddenly, a bird chirped loudly above them. Mavis looked up to see a pearly-black bird with a red stomach. It flew down to perch on the branch of a tree.

There was something strange about the robin: it wasn’t scared of them, somehow. It hopped about the branch of the tree, chirping and twittering.

Unable to contain himself, Alpha jumped at it. Mavis expected the bird to fly away in fright, but it stayed rooted to the spot and glared at him.

It swooped down and perched on Snowdrop’s nose. She staggered back in surprise. The robin looked up at Mavis as if trying to say something. Then it stuck out its leg. To Mavis’ surprise, it had a bit of paper tied to it.

She hesitantly untied it. The page appeared to be ripped out from a pocket diary–in fact, Walter’s pocket diary! She carefully unrolled it and held it up to the sunlight to read it properly.

It was in Walter’s handwriting–no doubt about that.

She read it over a couple of times, but it made no sense. All she understood was that the robin’s name was Ruby.

And she didn’t even know if it was even addressed to her. For one thing, it was to someone called Siara. For another, it didn’t even have Walter’s name at the bottom. It just had ‘Kiwu.’

‘Siara?’ she muttered. ‘Who on earth is that?’ She somehow couldn’t help feeling that she’d once heard this name. But where? Then she remembered Godge calling her that because he didn’t trust the King of the Villagers and didn’t want to reveal her real name.

But still, she knew she couldn’t just jump to conclusions. Who was ‘Kiwu’ supposed to be? Wait–wasn’t that the name Godge had given Walter? And anyway, she knew no one else with such pretty handwriting. Or with a 1967 pocket diary.

So, it seemed Walter wanted her to take the W.E. army to the K.O.O. Whoever heard of something so meaningless?

She plonked down on a large mushroom and began to think about what W.E. could stand for. Weird elves? That thought made her look up. ‘Could it be The Woodland Elves?’ she wondered aloud. It had to be. There was else she could think of, anyway, so she decided to go with it.

What about K.O.O.? Her first thought was The Kingdom of The Olves. But Walter wouldn’t be helping them, she reasoned. She couldn’t think of anything else that could have ‘K.O.O.’ for short, though.

‘Walter is helping the Olves,’ she said to Snowdrop and Alpha in disbelief. She tried to work out why he’d be doing that. Finally, she thought she had the answer: they had kidnapped him and were forcing him to help them.

Anyway, that didn’t matter. All she knew was that Walter wanted her to bring the army of The Woodland Elves to the Olves.

She turned to Snowdrop. ‘Would you mind flying to The Kingdom of The Woodland Elves?’

So, Snowdrop flew Mavis and Alpha to The Kingdom of The Woodland Elves. Ruby flew with them too, flapping her tiny wings. When she was tired, she would swerve dangerously and perch on Snowdrop’s head.

Mavis looked down at the lush green forest. It stretched for miles and miles and miles and miles and–well, you get the idea. She suddenly realised she had no clue where the Kingdom was.

Silly Walter, she thought, he should have sent a map with his letter.

She decided she had no choice but to fly around mindlessly on Snowdrop till she found the Kingdom. But hopefully, Snowdrop would know. She’d been working for the giants for ages, hadn’t she?

‘Oy, Snowdrop, d’you know where The Kingdom of The Woodland Elves is?’ she called to the cloud dragon. Snowdrop’s ears gently perked up at her name, but she didn’t understand a word.

Mavis groaned. ‘Now what?’ She didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t communicate with Snowdrop in any way, so how would she get to The Kingdom of The Woodland Elves?

Just then she remembered that jade bottle Viqa had given her. It would allow her to speak in any language, wouldn’t it? She fished about in her pocket for it, finally pulling out the little bottle.

She opened the cork and sniffed the bottle. It smelt nice, of plums and roses. There was some gleaming blue liquid inside it. Mavis debated on whether she should drink it, or rub it on her skin.

Then she decided to drink it because it smelt so good and she was tempted to drink it.

She poured a little of the liquid into her mouth. It tasted nice and sweet but was freezing cold. This was no surprise. Magic was always cold. If it was heated or processed, it would lose all its energy.

She shuddered as the freezing liquid rushed down her throat. But it was a nice feeling, and she felt a sudden surge of energy. She wondered how she could activate the magic. Then she decided to just speak and hope Snowdrop understood.

’Snowdrop my friend, I presume you know where The Kingdom of The Woodland Elves is?’ To her surprise, it came out as a series of squeals and bellows.

Alpha raised his furry head questioningly. Ruby stopped flying for three seconds and nearly fell. Snowdrop grunted in surprise. ‘You speak Dragon?’ asked the cloud dragon, confused. Amazingly, Mavis understood perfectly fine.

‘Yes, Snowdrop, I speak everything!’ she cried in delight. ‘Hello, Alpha!’ she barked at the astonished dog. ‘Lovely weather, eh, Ruby?’ she chirped at the amazed Robin. A duck went flying past them. ‘Good day!’ she squawked to it. Then she cheered loudly in Snake, ‘I’M INVINCIBLE!’

Alpha slowly backed away from her. Ruby considered flying back to the Olves. Snowdrop would have fled, but Mavis was on her back, so it would be pointless.

‘To answer your question,’ she said uncertainly, ‘I know the map of Mrindawa byheart. I know where that kingdom is, and if you like, I can take you there.’

‘Good,’ said Mavis, satisfied, ‘then we’ll go there. Walter wants us to ask those elves for help in war.’

Ruby swallowed. ‘That’s all right, Mavis, but how on earth can you speak in our tongues?’

‘I had a potion,’ grinned Mavis. ‘It’s probably going to wear off though.’

They flew over the stretch of forest below them. Mavis and Alpha were singing The Wheels on The Bus Go Round and Round in Dog. And Ruby flew by them, singing the chorus. Snowdrop would have liked to join the fun, but she was too busy making sure they didn’t crash.

Suddenly a gale came whooshing at them. Alpha would have been blown off if it weren’t for Snowdrop’s tail that swished him back onto her back.

‘There’s going to be a rain,’ declared Mavis looking up at the clouds. ‘Not here of course–a bit far. But the clouds passing overhead are going to give us a lot of wind.’

‘Have we ever had a sunny day in Mrindawa?’ grumbled Alpha. If dogs could roll their eyes, he would have done so.

‘It is between Antarctica and Australia, so what’dya expect?’ shrugged Mavis.

‘I like Mrindawa’s climate,’ said Snowdrop, joining in the conversation. Even though she didn’t know what Alpha had said, she understood from the context. ‘It isn’t bright and sunny like how a dog would like, but it is cool and rainy and misty, and in some places, snowy. It’s the perfect climate for a dragon-like me! And, of course, a troll, or elf, or any other Mrindawian.’

‘That’s nice, Snowdrop,’ said Mavis, ‘but you should seriously keep your eyes on the sky–GAAAH! SNOWDROP, TURN, YOU HEAR ME, TURN!’

‘Oh no,’ gasped the dragon. She swerved dangerously and Mavis and Alpha nearly fell off. They would have crashed into a flock of ducks if she hadn’t done so. ‘Sorry!’ she cried in panic. ‘All eyes on the sky now–all eyes!’

Mavis looked shaken. ‘Yes, or we’ll crash–for real, this time.’

Ruby hovered over Snowdrop’s head for a moment, then something below them caught her eye. At first, she thought she was imagining it because they were above the clouds. She flew down just to be sure. She went through the clouds and looked at the ground from there.

There was no mistake. She could plainly see it.

‘Mavis!’ she called as she zoomed back up the clouds. ‘Mavis! It’s there! The Kingdom of The Woodland Elves! We nearly missed it; it’s right below us! If we hadn’t been stopped by those ducks, we would have gone right past–Mavis, come quick!’

She zoomed over to them. ‘Are you sure, Ruby?’ asked Mavis doubtfully. ‘You couldn’t have been imagining it?’

‘No, of course not!’ cried the robin flying in loops with joy. ‘I seen it, an’ I ain’t wrong!’

‘There’s no such word as “ain’t”,’ said Mavis wincing. It seemed weird when an animal used improper grammar.

‘But I ain’t used “ain’t”,’ said Ruby confused. ‘You ask someone else an’ I ain’t use that!’

Mavis realised that her potion was wearing out. That explained the improper grammar she heard, even when it wasn’t. ‘Okay, Ruby. If you say so. Come on, where have you seen that kingdom, now?’

Ruby nodded. ‘Follow me.’ She led them through the clouds till they were completely under them. She pointed down at the ground with her beak to show the Kingdom in the forest.

They could scarcely see it. It was nearly completely covered with the branches of the trees. But they could make out the roofs of a few houses. They seemed to be treehouses, strongly tied to the branches of the tall trees.

‘Great,’ said Mavis in relief, ‘I was afraid we’d take too much time getting there. Go on, Snowdrop–there, can you fly down to that gap between those trees?’

Snowdrop grunted in reply and tilted her head downwards and flew down like a jet.

Ruby was startled at her speed, and, unable to keep up, gave in and perched on her head.

Snowdrop flew through the trees at an alarming speed. Mavis thought they were going to crash and screamed: ‘GOODBYE WORLD!’ Thankfully, the cloud dragon swooped up and landed softly on the grassy ground.

Mavis staggered off her back. She gave a horrified gasp and bent down and puked.

‘Oh, I’m hungry–do you mind?’ said Alpha. Not waiting for a reply, he licked her vomit off the ground and gulped it down gleefully. Mavis was so disgusted that she emptied the last of her lunch’s contents.

She looked up at the canopy of trees towering above her to take her mind off what had just happened. Wooden tree houses were perched on the thick branches and had rope ladders hanging from them, to easily climb up.

Suddenly, she heard the rustle of leaves, then the snap of a dry twig. She looked away to see where the sound had come from. She noticed a boy hiding behind the hedge, trembling with fear.

‘I don’t believe it,’ whispered Kina, horrified. His face was pale.

‘You don’t need to,’ said Mavis exasperated. ‘Only your leader needs to, and he probably will, seeing that he’s your leader.’

Kina swallowed hard. ‘Err . . . I don’t know. He doesn’t like pranks so much.’

Mavis resisted the urge to punch him. ‘This is not a prank,’ she said in a controlled voice.

Kina shrugged. ‘Well, your loss. Just don’t blame me when he decides to behead you.’

Mavis stared wide-eyed. ‘Behead me?’

Kina shook his head. ‘Nah, he only banishes people. And that’s only if it’s a grave mistake committed. I’m just saying . . .’

‘Great,’ interrupted Mavis, ‘where can I find him?’

Kina sighed. ‘Follow me.’ He led her into the village, not at all looking happy about it. Ruby fluttered by them, and Alpha was close at Mavis’ heels.

Kina stopped in front of a treehouse balanced dangerously on a tall tree. ‘He lives here,’ he mumbled.

Just then there was a woosh above them. A cloud dragon swooped down and landed next to Mavis.

Kina staggered back. ‘You–you never told me you had a dragon!’

Mavis nodded lazily. ‘If I had, you wouldn’t have led me here, would you? Anyway, thanks for the help.’

Without another word, Mavis turned to the treehouse. It was not big, though it belonged to a king. This was no surprise: a tree couldn’t hold a castle.

‘You should stay here,’ she told her animals. ‘You wouldn’t be able to climb up the rope ladder.’

‘Bu’ I come,’ declared Ruby. ‘If the kin’ try to attack, I hur’ ’im!’

Mavis winced at her improper grammar and nodded.

She climbed up the ladder that hung from the treehouse. Kina looked up at her uncertainty.

When Mavis reached the end of the ladder, she found herself in a room that smelt strangely of roses. In the middle of the room sat a bearded man on a wooden chair in front of a table. He was writing something down and didn’t look up when Mavis came in.

‘Are you the Tribe leader?’ she asked him, forcing him to take notice.

‘Yes, I am King Antaniama,’ he said and paused. ‘And you are . . .?’

Mavis racked her brain for an answer. She didn’t even know this guy, so could she tell him her real name? ‘It’s, err . . .S . . .Siara?’ said Mavis saying the first Mrindawian name that came to her head. Siara was now nearly her real name. Maybe she could use it when she was speaking in code. Then she decided to get to the topic. ‘Well, anyway, the giants are waging war on the Olves, and–'

King Antaniama gave an angry cry. ‘And they want me to help them, do they?’

‘Yes, they do,’ sighed Mavis. ‘And them being evil is probably all a misunderstanding, because my best friend is helping them.’

King Antaniama glared. ‘Then he’s probably gone mad.’

That day, Mavis was not in a good mood, so she went ahead and pulled out Spark and aimed the weapon at his head. ‘Yes, this is the Flan,’ she said, answering the look on his face. ‘And you have two options. 1) meet your doom. 2) help the Olves. It’s all up to you.’

King Antaniama was horrified. ‘The army leaves at dawn,’ he said in a trembling voice.

This was all Mavis wanted to know, so she turned around and left the room. She brushed past Kina who was at the doorstep, watching the exchange with a mixture of amusement and horror.

‘What are you looking at?’ King Antaniama growled at him. ‘Go inform the army about the war.’

‘Yes sir.’

‘And Kina?’

‘Yes sir?’

‘Don’t tell anyone about this, will you?’

‘Yes sir.’

Mavis trotted down the rocky path to join Alpha and Snowdrop, who were busily hunting rabbits. When Alpha saw Mavis, he woofed. Mavis was horrified to see that she couldn’t understand him.

‘Oh, the potion has worn off,’ she said sadly. Though no one could understand, they got the idea.

‘No good things last forever,’ said Snowdrop wisely, which was a waste, because everyone heard it as a squeal.

Mavis propped herself against a tree and rummaged her pockets till she found a crumpled-up scrap of paper. It was a test paper she had gotten before coming to Mrindawa. The grades had been so awful that she had hidden it away.

She ripped out the part of the paper with her name and flipped the page over. It was blank on the back.

She pulled out a pen from her pocket and scribbled down a note, as she hungrily chewed an orange that she had found growing on a tree. She hadn’t eaten for a day and felt it was now or never. She rolled up her letter and tied it to Ruby’s leg with a leaf.

‘Deliver this to Walter,’ she told her.

‘Goodbye,’ the robin twittered, forgetting no one could understand her.

She beat her wings and was gone.