Chapter Three: A Rotten Idea

Chapter Three

 A Rotten Idea

Atrix cocked his head to one side, “The where?” 

 I began to trot off towards the Plains and turned my head slightly so I could talk back to him while keeping a keen eye on the road. After all, if he got through to this place, there’s no telling what else could have as well. “The Plains of Rot. All that’s lost turns up in the Plains of Rot. That’s what they say at least.” 

Atrix followed quietly for a moment with his head down. He was finally able to ask, “Who says?” 

I perked up one of my ears before saying, “Well you know, the dogs who tell the stories.” 

Atrix shook his head. “How would I know that? I’m a fox!” 

“Well, I suppose that’s true. What stories were you told then?”

Before he could respond, we heard a crashing through the woods as a monstrous animal was heading straight towards us. I spun around, grabbed Atrix’s scruff and dove behind a bush a foot or two off the path. Just as we hit the ground, we saw nearly a dozen gigantic, hairless, grey creatures spurting from the woods like water out of a hose. They had wide ears that flopped when they ran with horns sticking from their faces! Their noses were so long—almost like a Sentinel's arm, but it had no fingers. 

“Wow. Look at those elephants.” Atrix said quietly as they stampeded past. 

“You know what those things are?” 

“Well yea! Those are elephants. Me and my family used to sneak into the zoo all the time and get the snacks that people would leave in the storage cans! All sorts of good stuff were in the cans: peanuts, half-eaten hot dogs, and even fruit. While we were there, we would talk to the animals there too. One time we even helped a monkey escape! Although, he didn’t get very far before he was caught and put back in.” 

I shook my head in disbelief and said, “You know these animals?” 

Atrix rolled his eyes. “Well, not these specific ones, but I’ve met a few elephants at the zoo.”

The elephants loudly passed without issue, and we stepped out onto the path, which was now much wider than before. I turned to see where the elephants had come from to see a new path that led straight to the Plains of Rot. I looked at Atrix with a smile, and we raced towards the plains. It took us only a minute or two to get there. 

When we arrived, we were both overtaken by the strong stench of rotting food. We scrunched our noses, and Atrix dove into the ground trying to get dirt to cover his nose, but quickly popped back up retorting, “The ground stinks too!” 

I laughed and nodded my head.

 “Yes, everything here smells bad. We’re just going to have to get used to it until we find Hojan.” 

Atrix looked at me, particularly puzzled.

“How are we going to find him if we can’t smell anything?” 

“Luck or will of the Oak,” I said shrugging. “You’ve heard of the Oak haven’t you?” 

“Well, of course! Everyone has heard of the Oak!” 

I laughed, and we started exploring the Plains of Rot.

We could see towers stacked nearly as high as the Oak itself. Toys, leashes, dishes, food, and other forgotten things all stacked high created a mesmerizing and disgusting scene. We would see them sway and hear them creak. The wind that blew through the plain carried not only a tragic scent of lost memories, but also the towers themselves as they would slowly traverse the land like the clouds above.

“Do you hear that?” I asked Atrix. 

“No, what are you talking about, Storm?” 

I began to look around as a loud creaking noise, unlike anything I had ever heard, was being let loose. I looked up and saw a nearby tower starting to fall towards us. 

“Move!” I yelled and dove towards Atrix pushing him out of the way as debris from the tower began to rain down all around us. We quickly dashed between blobs of toys and bowls falling from miles above us. 

By the time we made it to a safe spot, we realized a chain reaction had been set off. Towers all around us began to crumble. Debris was smashing and combining to create objects larger than busses, and this all came hurling towards us. I threw Atrix onto my back and began racing down the path. Barely escaping multiple blocks of rotting material being dropped right on top of us 

As we rounded a corner, I saw a flash of grey and voice that said, “This way! Quickly!” 

I followed the voice as it led me off to the right of the path we were following.

The voice led us away from danger as the sounds of falling debris were far off now, and the towers which currently surrounded us looked strong and stable. I looked around for the dog who saved us, but found no one. 

Then I heard: “Up here!” 

I looked up to see it was not a dog who saved us, but a bird. I could feel Atrix looking around as he laid on my back. I heard a small whisper from him.

“They are all around us, Storm.” 

I turned my head and saw on the top of each tower was a perched bird.

The bird which first spoke to us spoke up again.

 “It’s been quite some time since we’ve had a dog come through this far into the plains, you know.” 

I looked up at the bird. “Have you seen an orange dog come through these parts? He’s a Border Collie, if you know of them.” I could not see the birds face because it was so far away, but I imagine it held a blank expression as its next words were cold and distant.

 “I don’t believe you are in any place to be asking questions, Storm of the Oak.” 

I gave the bird a puzzled look. “I’m simply looking for my friend, then we’ll be on our way.” 

The bird remained motionless atop its tower, “I’m afraid we cannot allow you to leave Storm.”

Atrix jumped down off my back; his hackles raised, and his tail stood straight up. He began to growl. “You’ll let us walk out of here or else! You mangy birds.”

 The birds began to chirp all around us, and one we hadn’t spoken to yet addressed us. “You should be happy we’re letting you live in the first place! You know, not many dogs get a chance to serve such intelligent creatures such as ourselves!” 

The birds, again, erupted with chirps and caws. Atrix’ nose shriveled in disgust of the thought of having to serve such a foul master.

I stepped over Atrix, placing him between my legs, and he settled down a little. I looked to the bird we had first spoken too.

“What would you have us do?” I saw the bird swoop down and begin to flutter right in front of me.

“Well, I’d like to make a deal with you.” 

I narrowed my eyes, and asked “What kind of deal?” 

The bird smiled. “There’s a dog who has been stifling our supply of fresh blood into the plains of rot. We need you to—erm—take care of him.” 

I met the birds smile with a cold look of disgust. “And what did you have in mind?” 

The bird swooped to a small ledge nearby on one of the towers. “Oh, it doesn’t matter to us. We just need him out of the way so we can go back to our normal business,” he chirped.

Atrix jumped up and lunged at the bird, who was obviously too far away for him to reach and yelled, “We’ll never help you bird!” 

I snapped at him, “Atrix calm down!” and he slumped down, putting his tail between his legs. I looked back to the bird, “And should I refuse? What then?” 

The bird opened his wings, as if to shrug, and said, “Well I suppose if we can’t convince you then we’ll have to fly away. Gosh, I hope we don’t cause these towers to come tumbling down in the process. It would be most unfortunate if the mighty Storm of the Oak met her demise underneath some debris from the Plains of Rot.” 

I lowered my head and muttered, “Unfortunate indeed. I suppose I have no choice but to accept then.” 

The bird nodded, “The stories always say how smart you are.” 

I smiled at him, “What’s to stop me from leaving this place and never returning?” 

The bird nodded slowly, “Yes we have thought of that.”

Just then two massive birds swooped down and picked Atrix up. He howled and cried, “Storm don’t let them take me!” 

I lunged towards the bird I had been speaking too. Climbing up the tower, I began to hear it shake and I heard the bird say, “Uh-Uh Storm, if the tower falls it’s you who will be hurt not I.” 

Begrudgingly, I carefully made my way down the tower. “Fine” I said curtly, “How is this going to work then?” 

The bird again smiled as Atrix was placed atop a nearby tower. 

“It’s simple you find a way to get rid of the dog and his band of miscreants and once they’ve left the area and we have assurances they won’t be back we’ll give Atrix back to you.” 

I cocked my head, “Assurances? What do you mean by that?” 

The bird again fluttered his wings and said, “Those will become clear with time.”

I rolled my eyes. “Alright then, do you know where to find this dog and his band of merry companions?” 

The bird looked off and made a call as another bird came flying from a nearby tower. I heard them begin to talk. As they talked, I was examining the tower Atrix sat on. The birds had picked it pretty clean so there wasn’t an easy way up or down. It was too high up to jump down without getting hurt as well as being surrounded by several other towers with many birds continuously surveying the surrounding land.

The voice of the bird I had been talking to broke my concentration. 

“We have a plan to introduce you two.”