Walking With Giants (Completed)

Chapter 10

Aurum woke up bruised on his head.

He never opened his eyes. At least that gave him the advantage of unknown observation. He was being pulled across the dirt. He did not feel it directly. There was something under him. No, now he was being pulled across snow. He heard three pairs of footsteps, each in sync so it was hard to tell who was where. He could hear a few footsteps far off to the left, and two pairs of footsteps in front of him.

It was awkwardly silent. The three people were either trying to be discreet or they just did not wan to talk. He wished he could hear some information coming from one of them. It could help him understand what was going on.

One of them spoke, quietly. "He's still asleep."

"Good," the other one said. "Let's keep it that way. We don't want him disturbing anything."

"Or anyone."

"Exactly."

Aurum shut his eyes tighter. He knew that they were watching him, so he couldn't get a good peek. He did have the element of surprise on his side, so he stayed still.

It started getting colder. It took all of Aurum's strength not to try to shift into a warmer position. They were gradually going uphill, very slowly. Suddenly their movement stopped.

"Let's stop here. Lunch time."

"Ooh, yum. Just what I wanted to hear. My stomach hurts."

"And pretty soon your head will, too. Who dreamed of food last night?"

"Me," a weaker voice spoke.

"Good. Get over here, Eon."

Good. It's lunch time. Time to slip away quickly and silently. He could hear them trying to light a fire. He hoped that maybe if they were busy eating he could slip off unnoticed. Maybe he could run down the way they came up. Maybe that would help.

"Should we wake up our stowaway?"

No. Nono. Nonononono... All his hope flushed down the drain.

All he had now was surprise.

"Sure," the 'leader' said. "Maybe he'll want to eat something."

A pair of footsteps advanced towards him.

He took a moment of thought. Alright, he thought. The moment they touch me, I'll bolt out onto the trail. The trail was sixty degrees to his left.

It's all or nothing.

The footsteps stopped right next to Aurum. His heart started beating faster. The tension was tangible. His breathing became uneven.

I can't die like this.

The footsteps shifted. "Herin, could you help me out?"

"Yes?"

"I think I should peek into him first. I can still do it while he's asleep."

"Finish it, then."

The moment Aurum was touched, he would move. Fast.

The touch was actually someone with warm hands grabbing his head for an instant.

Aurum shivered.

"He's awake!" The person yelled. Aurum opened his eyes for the first time in a while to find someone flying at him, fists outstreched.

Aurum raised his legs and kicked out at his attacker. His attacker was forced back, and that gave Aurum an instant to get up and run.

He started running down the trail when he suddenly stopped moving. My legs! He found himself unable to move anything except anything waist or higher. He swiveled his head slightly to see his attacker walking towards him.