A Midnight Stroll in the Woods - Book 1 in the Troll Warrior series

Chapter 19 - Not her Again!

We quickly left after the troll attacked. We didn't want to stay there any longer. More might come now  that they knew where we were. I kind of went into a trance afterwards and I still can't figure out why. I think the reality of my quest had hit me hard. Anyway, we left and walked for ages. I mean ages. We were walking for about 4 hours. Gomber only realised how long we had been walking when we came to this old deserted town and saw the clock tower. It was kind of odd though. A clock tower in an old, deserted town that still works? I suggested to Gomber that the town might be haunted but he told me not to be silly, there was no such thing as ghosts. Yeah? Well I thought there was no such thing as trolls before I came into this storm of fantasy. Honestly! I'm being serious! The only thing I knew about trolls was that they were in the story books I stole from the box in the attic. They were gruesome creatures that stole princesses from their towers and killed them or used them as slaves.  

We kept walking until we were out the other side of the town. I saw a flicker in the corner of my eye and swung around. Except... there was nothing there. I turned around and ran to catch up with Gomber. I told him about it but he waved me off.
"Don't freak yourself out."
"EXCUSE me? There is something following us and you say don't freak out! How is that useful?!"
He just growls and turns away. 
"Brother dearest?" He stiffened and turned to face me.
"Did you see that?" he asked.
"No." I had start to feel uneasy, "What did you see?"
"What did the thing you see look like?"
"I don't know. What did you see?"
"I don't know. What did it look like Thalia?"
"Goddammit Gomber! Tell me what you saw!"
"A black and red flash...." He collapsed on the ground and rolls around in pain. He grabbed my ankles. "Sh..sh...sh..she n..n..nee..needs h..h..help."
"Who? Who needs help?"
"A..a..a..an..n..n..e." his eyes close and he stops moving.
"Gomber! NOOO!"

He didn't reply. I hold my hand above his face and wait. Eventually I feel the touch of warm air on the back of my hand. I jumped into the air and whooped. He was alive! Then I froze. I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I took a sharp intake of breath. It was still there. What was that thing? It sertainly wasn't a troll. I kept my eye on it but didn't show any intention of moving I slowly moved around Gomber so that I was infront of him but could still see the creature. I think hard and go over all the training that I was given. I went through all the mystical creatures I could think of. A Blimp? No. A Crambler? Definetly not. Hmmm... a dreemler? Nope. Hold on.... I've seen it before! It was at that playground the other day. It was in the slide but I thought it was someone sitting in there. I remember they had a red jacket on. That was no jacket. It was its colouring..... WHAM! I was slammed into and thrown sideways over Gomber. 

"You are a liar Gomber Gliff!" A raspy voice screeches.
"Get away from him!" I yell. It just ignores me. It's as if I'm not even here.
"Gomber! Come back. Wake. up." It rasps.
I stare at it. I can see right through it. It is as hard as anything though. I definately felt it hit me. I draw my sword and immediately wish I hadn't. I had to kill it now. I slowly walk towards it. I get to about a metre away and it throws out it's hand in my direction. I am thrown backwards onto the ground. This thing is going to be hard to beat. I fix my eyes on it but I realise that it is either not completely there or I am about to faint. I walk closer and see that it's form seems to shift, to morph right there. Under my vision. When I look to one side of it, that side ripples and changes. When I look to the other, that one changes. Hmmmm. Weird. I wonder if I can use that against it. I look harder to see what it changes to. As I get closer to it. I gets harder to see and it's form seems to flicker and get fainter. It's as if My being there has made it shrink away. I lunge forewards and throw my hand out. 

I feel cold ripple through my fingers and up my arm. Terrible scenes flash before my eyes, Gomber, dead. Lying upon the ground with blood pooling out of a wound in his chest. People screaming and running away from feirce warriors which looked like hedgehogs mixed with bulls. An army, charging into battle with their sword raised. I am leading them. A sword is plunged into my gut and I am tossed aside like trash. 

I rip my hand away and stumble back. The future! I saw the future. I lie there depressed and sad. Feeling let down and like a fail.
"Not a smart move, girl." It says. 
"Arghhhhhh. hmmmn.... huh. I'm a fail." I reply.
"Why does everyone in this family follow that path? They all try to get rid of me by getting closer! Even if they had never heard of me before." 
"Leave him alone." I grumble.
"Uh no! I will not. He has panicked and fainted. In my presence."
"YOU MADE HIM FAINT! YOU ALMOST KILLED HIM!" I'm all worked up now. It's not fair.
"Thalia..." It sighed.
"NO NO NO NO NO! I will not listen! Either wake him up or get OUT!"
"Fine..fine.." It gets up and goes around the corner and doesn't return again. After about a minute I have decided that it is not coming back and that I have to wake Gomber myself. As I sit there all depressed and sad by his side A thought strikes me and I know exactly what we had to do and where we had to go.

"Come on Gomber. As soon as you are awake again we are going home."