The Thrall (The Viking Hero Series Book 1) (6 page)

Rowan stood up and steadied himself. He was
bruised and hurt everywhere, but he was still able to move on his
own. Surprisingly, nothing was broken.

He began making his way down the ravine, being
mindful of the loose rocks as to not stumble and hurt himself any
more than he already was. He knew he needed to head West, but the
ravine was taking him in a more northerly direction. He figured that
once he got lower and more off the mountainside, he'd be able to
better recognize where he was and be able to navigate his way back a
bit better.

After walking a bit he came near to the end of the
ravine where it leveled out on the hillside. Rowan began to veer his
path more west.

He tried to stay as much as he could in the
clearing in hopes of recognizing something that would lead his way.
Unfortunately, so far nothing stood out as familiar to him.

He continued to walk and stay as westwardly as he
could, trying to prevent entering the forest as much as possible. He
foolishly lost his ax when he threw it at the undead thing and was
unarmed. He didn't want to become prey to wolves or anything else
that lived in the forest. He also heard stories of hidden things that
lived in the forest, but never believed them. He always assumed that
they were tales meant to keep children from straying into the woods.

He was a believer in those stories now.

At this point Rowan had been walking for most of
the day and he knew he'd gone too far North. When they had initially
gone up the mountain through the woods trying to find the sheep, it
had only taken them a little over half a day to reach the location
where the beast had been.

Rowan could tell that there was only another hour
or two before the sun would set. This was not good. He had no
supplies, weapons, or anything and was on the edge of a forest. He'd
have to make a decision as to what to do for the night.

Additionally, he didn't feel very safe, not
because of the wolves that he was sure would be coming out for their
nightly hunt, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being
watched. He felt it all day.

As he ventured further, he spotted a hollow in the
ground under a tree. It would serve as a good place to hide during
the night and offered some protection. At least he believed it would.
He figured that he could crawl in and close it off with some branches
to conceal it.

Rowan set to work immediately while he still had
light to work in. He first checked the hallow to make sure nothing
else was in there. There was always the chance that it was the home
of some kind of wildlife and the last thing he wanted to do was crawl
in and have a pack of animals angry and attacking him.

He picked up a rock and threw it into the hole and
listened.

Nothing.

It was too dark in the hole for him to see inside.
So he picked up another rock and threw it in.

Nothing.

He grew more confident
that the hole was probably unoccupied. Rowan picked up a dead branch
and put one end inside of it and shook it around in hopes of
disturbing and running out anything inside. He wanted to make certain
it was empty before he actually crawled in it himself.

Still nothing.

Satisfied that the hole was probably empty, he
crawled
inside of it.

First he slowly
lowered in his legs, hoping nothing would bite them. Then he lowered
the rest of his body down and entered the hallow. Once inside the
hole he felt around in the hole with his
hands
for anything.

It was empty and he felt confident of it now. This
will serve as his hide-away for the night.

He climbed back out of the hole and gathered some
brush to hide the hollow's opening while he occupied it for the
night. The dead limb he used to see if anything was in the hole, he'd
keep with him as a club. Just in case he had to defend himself inside
the hole.

He set up brush in front the hole to conceal it.
After that he secured himself inside the hollow for the night. H
e
finished securing his hide-away just in time before he ran out of
sunlight. Rowan laid in the hole facing the opening and clinched the
dead limb. It wasn't long before his exhausted, bruised body had
overcome him and he fe
ll asleep.

Rowan woke up to the sound of rustling leaves. The
sound was comes from somewhere near him outside of the hole. He
opened his eyes and looked out into the darkness trying to see what
was out there. While his eyes were still slowly adjusting, he heard
the sound of leaves crunching from a foot step.

Something was definitely something out there.

He heard more leaves rustling and heavy foot steps
outside in the darkness. His heart began to pound at the thought that
it might be the dead walker looking for him. He had no where to go.
His hide-away for the night had now become his trap.

However. he didn't smell the nauseating dead
rotting flesh smell as he did before when the dead walker was near.

There was a smell though, but this smell was
different. It smelled of rancid dried sweat and dirt. It was more of
a 'nasty-dirty' smell than a 'rancid-rotten' smell. It most likely
wasn't the dead walker, but what was it?

Rowan was still clinching onto his stick and
peering into the darkness outside of his hole. He could hear it, but
couldn't see what it was. He started moving forward in order to sneak
a peek outside of the hole to see what was out there making the
noise. As he crept forward, he heard it snort as it continued taking
heavily steps outside.

It was definitely something big, he could also
feel the ground slightly shake with each step it took. Rowan's
curiosity outweighed his cautiousness. He had to see what was
outside of the hole.

Just as he was about the scoot forward to peer
outside of the hole, he heard something softly whisper behind him
say, "don't."

Rowan paused for a second. Although a bit stunned,
he wasn't sure he'd actually heard anything.

"Don't move. Don't make a sound or it will
find you and kill you," he heard it whisper again in the
darkness behind him.

Horror crawled through Rowan when he realized the
whispering was coming from inside the hole behind him. Whoever or
whatever was whispering to him was in the hole with him, concealed in
the darkness.

Just before he was about to turn to look and try
to see what was behind him talking, he sees the thing outside walk
past the opening of the hollow he was
in.

Whatever it was, it
was huge. Rowan was only able to see the lower parts of its legs from
just above the knees down in the darkness. It had to be at least
three times taller than a tall man, maybe more. He could see that it
had huge hairy feet and hairy legs.

It must be a giant,
Rowan thought. He'd never seen a man that big in his life. He heard
the stories of giants and of the gods battling them. It was believed
that they were all extinct, killed in god's wars against the giants.
Occasionally there was rumor of someone seeing one. But those reports
were usually after several horns of mead and never taken seriously.

The ground slightly
shook as it walked past Rowan's hidden hallow. He could only sit
there in the darkness of his hole fearfully hoping that it didn't
find him. But something was in the hole with him. Whatever was in the
hole with him wasn't threatening him, but he couldn't be sure if he
was actually safe or not from it.

For the moment, the
large man-like beast outside of the hole seemed to be a greater of
the dangers to him. He didn't know what to do, but he figured his
chances were better if he just stayed in the hole and remain quiet.

Rowan sat
quietly hidden
in the hollow as he listened to the large thing
outside slowly walk away into the distance.

It was then when he heard whomever occupied the
hollow with him say, "I think it's gone now."

Rowan was scared. He knew that no other human
being would have been able to fit in the hole with him. At least not
without laying on him or being real close next to him. Either way, he
felt nobody next to him. Whatever it was, it was very small.

"Who are you?" demanded Rowan.

"My name is Tom," he heard it say in the
darkness, "Tom Tay."

"Listen," Tom began, "Stay here
through the rest of the night and try not to make a sound. Only come
out when you can see that the sun has risen. When you exit this
hallow, you will see some white flowers that have grown on a rock.
Head in the direction and stay on that course. You will have to pass
through the forest, but you will be safe as long as you wait for
daylight. Later in the day, follow the sun though the forest and when
you emerge, you will recognize that you are not too far from your
village."

"Wait, how do you know who I am and where my
village is?" questioned Rowan. "Who are you and what was
that thing out there?"

"I told you. My name is Tom, we will meet
again and that thing out there was a troll." Tom replied. "A
rather hunger one at that," he added.

"A troll!" Rowan said shocked. "I
thought those things weren't real."

"I am surprised you still don't believe in
things after what you seen come out of that mound. Dead things aren't
suppose to come back either, but it chased you over a cliff didn't
it. There are many unseen things out there, both good and bad. Sadly,
most are bad. Well, at least for humans like yourself" Tom said.

"We will meet again, follow my instructions
and you will be fine. For now, I must go."

Before Rowan could say anything, the small thing
that called itself Tom ran out of the hole. So fast that Rowan only
got a tiny glimpse of it in the darkness.

It was like a tiny human, probably no taller than
house cat. But it was dark and Rowan really didn't get a good look at
it as it ran out of the hole. Before he knew it, it was gone.
Interestingly, the being that called itself 'Tom' exited the hole and
disappeared without really making a sound. Tom Tay seemed to be
extremely light footed and very fast.

Rowan did what Tom had advised him to do and
stayed in the hollow for the rest of the night without making a
sound. After learning that trolls were real and having one nearly
discover him, sleep was out of the question. So Rowan kept a
vigilance inside the hole until he seen the sun rise and announce
that morning had come.

Emerging from the hollow that had been his refuge,
Rowan followed Tom's instructions and entered the forest. He
immediately found a rock which was covered in the white flowers of
moss heather.

Rowan putting the morning sun to his back tread
his way through the forest heading west. He still had the stick that
he had armed himself with during the night and used it as a walking
stick. His body was beaten and he hadn't really rested for a few
days. On top of that, he hadn't eaten. He felt weak from injury,
fatigue, and hunger.

Suddenly he remembered the honey biscuit he had
wrapped up and tucked inside his shirt.

Rowan stopped walking and dropped his club/walking
stick on the ground. He quickly reached inside his shirt and felt
around for the biscuit. It wasn't there!

He pulled his shirt out and shook it, hoping the
wrapped honey biscuit would drop.

It was gone! He must have lost it when he fell
off the cliff and through that tree.

Disappointed, Rowan fixed his shirt and looked
ahead. He could see what looked like golden flowers. It was the tell
tale signs of what was probably chanterelle.

He picked up his stick and began walking towards
them. As he approached them, he could already smell their fruity
aroma. These were definitely the yellow edible mushrooms he was
hoping they'd be.

Rowan rejoiced. He wasn't out of options yet.

His stomach gurgled as he picked them. Having no
means to make a fire and cook them, he ate them raw. To his surprise,
they were very peppery in contrast to their sweet smell and also very
chewy. He wasn't sure if it were safe to eat them raw, but his hunger
overrode his wisdom and he gobbled them down.

He only ate enough of them until his hunger
subsided, but already his stomach felt ill and he wondered if he
should have eaten them after all.

He knew some mushrooms were poisonous and hoped he
hadn't been foolish and allowed his hunger to seal his doom. His
stomach was upset, but he wasn't really ill from it. Although not at
his best, he felt confident that he'd be okay and proceeded with his
trek through the forest.

As he walked through the forest, he made sure he
kept his direction true by checking the sun now and again. Because
of the mushrooms, he did have to stop on occasion to let his stomach
settle. He wasn't really ill and he didn't feel nauseated, but he
sure felt uneasy.

It was when he had stopped to lean against his
walking stick and let his stomach settle that he heard something
rustling behind him.

His heart beat began to quicken as soon as he
thought of the troll. Remembering the tales he'd heard about trolls,
he was sure they never came out in the daylight. Daylight was bad for
them, he couldn't remember why, but he remembered that trolls
absolutely could not come out in the day light. The sun did something
very bad to them.

Because the Sun was out, it most likely wasn't a
troll. But something was there.

Cautiously he slowly turned and looked behind him.

Nothing was nothing there.

At least he didn't see anything, that didn't mean
nothing was there. Maybe it was that wee Tom Tay character that had
helped him avoid the troll last night.

He decided to call out, "Tom? Is that you?
Tom Tay!"

Rowan listened for any kind of response, but got
none. Save for the occasional bird or breeze blowing through the
trees above, he heard nothing.