The Unwitting Thief

Chapter 7e - Morning

Thomas woke up with a start with the peculiar sensation of falling again. All he could see was darkness, but this time as he 'landed' he felt as if someone had just dropped him from a height, slamming him into the ground. He clenched his eyes shut against the shock that resonated up his spine and rattled round his head. As the sensation died out, Thomas still kept his eyes shut, not wanting Martin to see he was awake if he was still there. He rolled over as quietly as he could, and stopped dead.

A rock was sticking into his side.

He could feel a soft breeze playing with his hair, the only part of him not covered by the rough blanket.

Voices were coming from close by, and they didn't belong to Martin.

Thomas sat up so fast the world span around him, but it was in fact the world. He was outside again, with no bars or stone walls surrounding him.

He raised a hand to his cheek, wincing in expectation, but there was no pain. He looked down at his forearms, but there was nothing, just the same pale skin with a light smattering of hair that had always been there.

Was it all just a dream? It must have been! What else had he expected? That Martin had followed them, kidnapped him in the middle of the night, taken him to some secret dungeon hidden in the woods and dragged him back again before anyone could notice he was gone? Ridiculous.

But it had all felt so real. Too real.

"You alright lad? We thought we'd leave you sleep a bit whilst we got the breakfast going." Monty was waving at him from over at the fire, where there was a pot boiling and a collection of metal tins being filled. "You hungry?"

Thomas felt his stomach grumble as he levered himself up, feeling more exhausted than when he had gone to be the night before.

Hoping that some hot food would help chase away the chill that seemed to have leaked into every bone in his body, Thomas moved to join the others.