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Posted on March 17, 2014 at 11:48:45 PM by TORRAM
"Will you show me?"
The fox nodded again, doing that slow-eyed blink once more. "Uhm, can we go now? I'd rather not wait around for that thing to find us again." The fox seemed to think about this again before, with a whine, poking Torram in the leg with his paw. Torram frowned down at the strange little creature, who repeated the action with a slightly louder whine this time. Torram, worried that the giant had not yet made it out of earshot entirely, bent down to fox-level and pressed a finger to his lips. "Hush now, you'll get us both in trouble!" he said, but the fox had quieted. In fact, he'd stuffed his twisted nose right into Torram's pocket and was sniffling about. Torram suddenly grinned. "Oh, now I see how it is. You want payment, don't you?" The fox's tail wagged, almost dog-like, and it nodded exuberantly. Torram withdrew from his pocket a small packet of jerky, something Birch insisted he carry wherever he went ("just in case") and offered it to the fox. Though the creature leaned forward and sniffed at the food intently, licking its lips, it made no motion to take it. Torram frowned at him. "I know you're hungry, why don't you take it?" he asked confusedly. The fox whined again, louder still, and Torram sighed. He dumped his pockets out, finding only his small journal, a packet of dried fruit, and a trinket. The fox pounced on the journal instantly. "You want... my journal?" The fox, mouth full, nodded. It pranced to a nearby bookshelf and, after casting a nervous glance towards the door the giant had exited from, nimbly placed his paw on the shelf and nudged the journal there. Torram watched this, frowning all the while. To take knowledge from the library, it seemed, one must first put knowledge in. The fox returned to him, eyeing the jerky hungrily but apparently ready to lead him off all the same. "Here, take it anyways," Torram said. The fox, his beady little eyes full of thanks, gingerly accepted the meat from his hand and gnawed hungrily at it. When it had finally finished, the fox dashed off into the hallway. Torram hurried to keep up, trying to keep his footsteps from echoing too loudly on the hardwood floors. Together, the fox and Torram made their way through the massive building, finding even more rooms with even more books. Torram, though sorely tempted at a number of intervals (especially one that claimed to reveal knowledge about special portals), kept his hands firmly behind his back and stayed close to his escort. Though they heard the giant a time or two, and froze in fear he'd heard them, they managed to avoid him. Finally, the fox nudged open a door and the two snuck inside. This room was in more disrepair than the others, and thick dust crusted every surface, but as promised there was an abundance of books. Remembering the ogre's apparent ability to sense when the books were touched, Torram hesitantly rested a finger on a thick tome. He waited several long moments, holding his breath all the while, but the creature's roar did not ring through the library. Finally put at ease, Torram grabbed as many books as he could get his hands on and curled up in a corner of the room. It wasn't always easy to read them, the light was dim in this closet-sized room and the pages were so old and fragile they had become nearly transparent, but Torram made do with what he could. It was several long hours later, at least, Torram thought it had been, when something terrible happened. The door to the room swung slowly open and there, in all his terrible glory, stood the giant. "What. Do. You. Think. You. Are. Doing?" the creature hissed, baring its teeth at Torram and punctuating each word with a violently indrawn breath. "I... I... Just wanted to look, that's all!" Torram stuttered out. The fox was gone, hidden somewhere out of sight Torram bet. "Just wanted to look? More like steal!" the giant snarled. "You won't get away with it, boy!" The giant hurled a thick book at Torram, who ducked just in time. The giant was shouting thief! behind him, but Torram didn't stop to look over his shoulder as he hurried down the maze of corridors. Without the fox to guide him, Torram quickly found himself lost. Where was the trapdoor? How would he ever get back home? After what felt like hours of running, the beast behind him at every step, he finally spotted the fox ahead. It let out a yelp, catching his attention, before dashing off in the opposite direction. Guessing at his intentions, Torram hurried after him. "Can... you...?" Torram panted, pushing himself harder to keep pace with the nimble fox. It nodded, dipped around a corner, then another. Finally, with the giant closing in behind him, Torram rushed into the trapdoor room and hopped down. He was yanking it shut when the beast caught the other side, yanking so hard Torram's arm felt it was going to be ripped from its socket. Torram quickly released the door and began to crawl as fast as he could towards the portal. Finally, he tumbled out headfirst from the tree and back into the blissfully safe Shaman. Tor lay flat on his back for a moment, panting heavily. Well, that was definitely an adventure... |
Replies:
- your journey ends here. - By OMNI March 29, 2014 at 02:45:34 PM
- Tristan - By OMNI March 15, 2014 at 01:47:24 AM
- disqualified - By OMNI March 29, 2014 at 02:41:58 PM
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