The Land of the Lost

Ch.5 The Meeting

SNAP.

[Crackle. Pop. I'm sorry I had too]

I woke up with a jolt.

Pulling open my eyes, I found myself face to face with a tree root. My arms were still wrapped around my legs, trying to foster as much body heat as they could, but the cold had seemed to disappear.

Yes, there was a slight chill, but what happened to the feeling of icicles forming on my toes?

Damn this forest is bipolar. Especially since I could have swore it was about to rain too, especially with all that noisy a** wind and the heavy fog.

Wait. The noise.

I pushed myself up-right, scanning the area to try to find the source of the snap. It was too dark to see far, but I could definitely tell something was there. What if it's dangerous?!It's definitely not small, something BIG would have had to cause that. Looking down to my left, I noticed my backpack was still laying against the trunk. Maybe there's something in there I can use to protect myself. Carefully, I grabbed onto one of the straps, sliding it towards me. The scratching sound it made across the ground made me cringe. It MUST have heard that. I stopped pulling the bag, worrying that anymore would provoke the creature, and instead focused on opening the front pocket where the pencils were hidden.

[ Yes. Pencils. I thought PENCILS were reasonable forms of defense.]

I grabbed onto the zipper, and pulled as slowly as possible. The low scrapping of the zipper only made my heart beat faster.

SNAP.

F***. I'm screwed. My heart was practically pounding out of my chest. I looked up from my bag, back towards the clearing with the rock. A thin, dark silhouette now stood by it.

Is it looking at ME?!!

I dared not to breathe.

I looked towards where their eyes would be, hoping they wouldn't see me if I sat still.

"Is...is that you?" The figure whispered. I about screamed. This is not happening. This is NOT happening. I'm haunted. I MUST BE haunted. I f***ing HATE this forest. I was about to pass out from holding my breath in for so long. Wait. Olive. Be rational. It could be a search party! Maybe your parents went looking for you! A smile grew on my face as the thought of my warm bed filled my mind. The soft blizzard fleece blanket, the perfectly worn out mattress. But then I thought of something even more heavenly: toast.

I was ready to go home.

I took a deep breath in and went to speak, but another, different voice managed to escape before mine.

"What terrible weather we're having today." The voice said, it's origin lay somewhere behind me. It's tone harsh and deep. The smile was quickly wiped from my face.

Definitely not a search party.

There was a long pause. Slightly frustrated, the voice from behind me cleared his throat as if annoyed.

"Oh.. oh right! I forgot about the little code you guys like to use." The first voice replied. "When my master first told me about it I didn't believe him, thought he just wanted to make me look like a fool. Silly phrases you humans use, they never made any sense to me."

"Ahem..." the second one grunted again, more clearly, and very apparently annoyed.

"Oh alright. As you wish..." The first voice cleared his throat. "Indeed, it's raining cats and dogs out here," he mocked.

He let out a fake gag, acting as if he had committed a crime. Clearly upset, he started to converse with himself ,"Such annoying riddances humans are. Gosh, I wish they would just leave. Always stomping their feet around like they own the place. They washed up here a few millennia ago, and now they run everything..."

"Enough said. We aren't here to talk politics" the second aggressively cut off.

Annoyed, and a little shaky, the first voice spoke again. "Yes, yes. The package I presume..."

I heard steps behind me. My heart beat faster as they passed my left, just barely missing the backpack.

[God I wished he would've tripped on it. Fitting if you ask me. I trip on it. He trips on it. Comedy at its finest.]

Coming into view, they belonged to a bulky man, he had a well defined figure, his large arms visible despite the dark atmosphere. He didn't appear to have noticed me, and the smaller figure hadn't mentioned my presence yet either. The tree blanketed a huge shadow across the ground, I guessed that was the reason behind my obscurity.

Refocusing back on the issue at hand, I looked towards where they stood.

The larger man turned his side towards the latter, revealing a satchel that hung down at his waist. Unwrapping the strap from his neck, he undid the clips and opened the flap. Outstretching his arms, he held the bag in front of the smaller figure.

The scrawny man lent over, trying to get a better look. He began to reach towards it, but it was quickly snatched back.

"The girl " the bulky man asserted.

I panicked.

Was he talking about me?

Reaching out again, the scrawny man said "She will be on her merry way soon enough, just as soon as my master determines it's the real deal."

At these words, he jolted back. "That was NOT the deal. The deal WAS that she would be freed once I delivered the package. I will not give it up until she is. I know how powerful this is, I will NOT BE PLAYED WITH!" He paused, anger obvious in his tone. "And how DARE you insult my honor! Of course it's the real deal!"

"How do I know?! You've shown no proof! Only harsh words and insults. My master will NOT be happy about that.... Besides, is her life really worth petty arguments? My master said he will give her up once he has it. Unless you'd rather pay interest? Hmm... how about we remove a limb for each day that my master waits for you to hand it over?" The man coyly responded.The larger man shifted a little, bothered by what he said.

[Christ this dude says master a lot.]

"You want proof?! Here ya go!" The man frustratingly reached into the satchel, pulling out a small bag. He untied it's strings, pulling out a light blue and green petal. But this was no ordinary petal, it glowed as bright as the full moon. It's blue-hued glow was so powerful that it lit up the entire clearing, revealing the faces of the two men that stood within it. The large man had a dark scruff around his face, and a large scar across his right eye. On the other hand, the scrawnier man had more feminine features, his yellow eyes thin and stretched.His hair was long and dark, but pulled back into a small ponytail, revealing patches of dark green scales that covered his cheeks. Refocusing on his expression, I realized it no longer held its insulted stance, but one of cruel intentions, and his eyes. His eyes. They're staring right at me! Before I could even think to run, he released an evil laugh. Locking eyes with me, I froze.

He nodded his head towards me, the larger man turned, a shocked look on his face.

"Looks like we have a visitor..." he wickedly smiled.

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