Lost! [A Northworld Viking Saga]

Happy Feet!

Thorgaut peered into the darkness of the cave around him, but they couldn't see who was speaking. He saw the walls on both sides and the cave stretching back into the distance behind them. But there was no one nearby.

"That's creepy," Savart said pressing close to Thorgaut for protection. "I must be hearing things."

"I heard it too," Thorgaut said.

They turned back in the direction they had been going, but there was nothing there either. Thorgaut did a complete 360-degree turn looking carefully in all directions. But he didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"Guess there must be talking rocks around here," Thorgaut declared loudly.

There was a soft giggle. There it was again. The same voice Thorgaut had heard earlier. The echo bouncing around off the cave walls made it difficult to pinpoint its exact location.

"Where are you? Who are you?" Thorgaut demanded. "Show yourself."

"I'm right here, silly," she said.

Something soft and warm brushed against the back of his neck. Thorgaut leaped forward and spun around. Still, there was nothing there.

"What is it?" Svart asked.

"Something touched me," he shouted angrily. He moved forward waving his arms around wildly. "They must be invisible. Be careful."

Svart crouched down to make himself smaller. He started waving his arms around as well to feel for anything around them.

The giggling turned into laughter. A hilarious, uncontrolled belly laugh of someone having a jolly, good time at Thorgaut and Svart's expense. Thorgaut stopped waving his arms around and stood still.

"This isn't funny," Thorgaut spat out. "C'mon, Svart. Let's get out of here."

He started walking again with Svart following close behind.

"No, please wait." the voice spoke up again. "I'm sorry. I don't get many visitors around here. I don't know how to behave myself appropriately sometimes."

Thorgaut and Svart stopped and turned back around.

"Look up," she said. "I'm right above you."

Thorgaut looked up towards the roof of the cave. It took him a few seconds to spot her because the gray coloring blended right into the cave roof. The first thing he noticed was her eyes. Several, large beady unblinking black orbs staring straight down at him. From there he was able to make out its outline.

He and Svart both saw it at the same time. Thorgaut leaped backward and scrambled away from it. Svart attempted to jump too but lost his footing. He slipped and fell to the ground.

"Relax, boys." she sighed. "I'm not going to harm you."

"You're a spider!" Thorgaut yelled.

"Duh, smartypants," she replied. "You act as if you've never seen a spider before."

"Not three feet long," he retorted.

"You have a point there," she sighed. "Most spiders don't grow as big as me. And those that do go outside of these caves are usually killed by your kind before they grow to half my size."

"Most don't talk either," Thorgaut said.

She jumped down in front of them and shrugged. "What can I say? I guess I'm special like that."

Thorgaut scowled at her and shifted his position defensively to get a better look. She had a small head with two large eyes in the front. Several smaller eyes circled them across the sides and top of her head.