Edderkopp - Drider!Loki

Four

By the time I woke up, I was cold, hungry and alone.

The fire beside my head had long died out, leaving my toes to freeze and go numb beneath my cape, though I was still warmer than I would have been at the mouth of the cave.

Sitting up, I pressed my back into the wall of the cave and stretched my arms up over my head, feeling a relieving pull on my muscles as I worked out the knots that had built from sleeping on the floor.

Though to its credit, the night's sleep had been one of the best I'd had in a long time, much to my surprise.

As I sat there in the near blinding darkness, I noticed the lack of sound coming from outside and deduced that the storm must have ended.

Taking in the moment of peace, I decide to eat a portion of my rations while waiting to see if Loki would return.

I had no intentions to linger, knowing that I would need to get on soon, but I didn't want to leave without at least thanking him for letting me stay in his territory without eating me like a true gentleman.

My meal was a simple sample of oats and nuts, washed down with the last of my clean water.

It wasn't much, but I couldn't afford to eat too much given that I wasn't entirely certain of when I would next see a village next and my rations were gradually waning.

Granted, forests could be rife with edibles and nutrition, but I wasn't well read on anything beyond the basics of what was and wasn't good to eat and even then, my confidence in the matter wasn't high enough to work on more than simple berries and pines.

I lingered after finishing my small meal, hoping that taking my time with packing away and climbing back to the front of the cave would bide me enough of it to see Loki return from his venture.

He never did.

I sat at the entrance of the cave for a while, watching the sun move across the sky until I felt it time to leave and let Loki come home to peace.

Despite what he had said the night before, I felt strange sitting there in the home of someone who was essentially still a stranger to me, shared stories or not. Part of me rationalised that he had changed his mind and was perhaps watching me from afar, waiting until I left to return home.

Using one of the spots to leverage myself up, I cast a quick glance around before lifting my hand and waving in all directions, hoping that he would notice if he were truly watching from a distance like I believed.

Climbing back to the lower ground was riskier than the incline up, the ground still soggy and slick from the loosened mud, turned to sludge from the hard rainfall.

It was eerily silent, as if the storm had blown away all animals that could make a noise, the only sound came from my own walking, be it snapping twigs or disgusting squelches, and foliage that rubbed together as a breeze blew through their branches.

A few times I thought I heard the clicking of mandibles or the scuttling of long legs coming from somewhere behind me, but each time I looked back proved eventless and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up just a little more.

Rationally, I knew that it was merely the surrounding silence that drove my mind into creating something from the smallest of nothings and yet, I still felt my paranoia rising.

I started to imagine that Loki had been playing a game with me.

Befriend the fly, let it go and then hunt it down again.

I didn't want to believe that of him, but there was no reason why it couldn't be true beyond my own hopefulness.

In one single night, a small bond had formed and I wanted to believe the best of him.

People's expectations of friendship or even romance in passed down stories suddenly didn't seem so farfetched, even though logically I knew that they were projecting their own wants onto the characters, it had proven to be a little more true than I would have given credit for previously.

Before, I had scoffed at stories of instant bonds, it was passing affection, no one could feel this attached to someone so quickly, it was ludicrous.

But there was something about Loki that kept my mind drawn in, no matter how far I walked.

By the time darkness had started to descend and the light dimmed further and further, it had become a mantra for me to repeat that I didn't want to go back to the cave and forget about everything, both past and future.

Though, I still wasn't wholly convinced in my affirmations.

My legs felt like jelly and my lungs burned.

How long had I been walking without taking a break?

I had gotten so lost in my thoughts that I could barely remember stopping at all, though I had a vague recalling of chewing on some cashews while watching the branches above me shake in the wind.

Now that I'd started to pay attention to myself, I noticed just how ragged I felt, disgusting even.

When was the last time I had bathed properly?

It felt like months.

Finally stopping in the middle of the woods, I let my head fall back and closed my eyes while attempting to catch my breath through a tight chest.

Perhaps there was a ravine nearby, if I listened closely enough then surely I could pick up on a sound to follow.

I never did.

The silence offered nothing more than rustles and whistles of wind, so I accepted my defeat and lowered myself to the ground to set myself up for another rough night of sleep on the forest floor.

Maybe if it rained again, I could wet my dry lips.