~~~
When Jonathan awoke he wasn’t quite sure where he was. He had to await his brain to catch up on the attack he and Donald had just suffered. Looking around, sure enough there was his brother a few feet away, still unconscious and bare naked. He was shivering.
Sitting up Jon gave himself a tight hug and tried to warm up by rubbing his arms and thighs with his hands. They were near the gravel access road, and that made him wonder just how the goblins managed to move he and his brother around. He tried not to think of himself being carried around over their short heads with their frog-like hands as if he were being concert-passed through the forest.
After another minute Don was stirring so Jon stood and went to him. He tried to help him stand and spoke quietly, in part because he was afraid of alerting anything else that might be in the forest around them.
“Don, let’s go. Get up. We’ve got to get to the truck.”
Together they hobbled down the rough gravel road, this time intentionally looking for the spaces where tire treads had embedded the stones into dirt, leaving a smoother, less foot-cutting surface to walk on. Eventually, after what seemed like hours in the chilling morning air, suffering from hypothermia the men were in the old pickup again, awaiting the heat to fully warm up, the fan turned full blast and holding each other, naked, to gain some warmth.
“Jon,” Donald asked quietly as his brother finally put the column shifter into drive once more and started making a many-faceted u-turn in the wide spot in the road.
“Yeah,” Jon said, very tired.
“Promise me, we ain’t ever going to tell anyone about this.”
“Okay.”
There was no argument. There was no attempt at solace over the lost classic rifles the Goblin Queen had stolen. Just quiet, and everlasting agreement that they would not ever tell a soul about their experience with the Goblin Queen of the Rocky Mountains.
~ The End ~
About the Author
P. Edward Auman, as chief historian of the Institute for the Preservation of Magical Artifacts (IPMA), is said to be privy to every secret contained in the world. Once, during a presentation to congress regarding the “invisible threat” of rebel faerie folk living among the humans, he began elucidating the potential danger of aligning the nation with both outside influences from extra-terrestrial visitors and the faerie folk of earth, given that their general objectives are at odds with one another. He was summarily dismissed amid laughter before he could conclude his presentations. However, the activity for which Eddie is most famously known is his creation of 43 clones to assist him in all of his many ventures. 42 clones survive today, following a mishap with a gene-splice bio-fuel algae agent, to which Eddie responded, “42’s probably good enough. It is the normally accepted answer to the Universe and everything in it anyway.”
The Old Silk Hat, A Frosty The Snowman Prequel – An IPMA Short – 12/23/2012
Seeing Devils: An IPMA Adventure for Halloween 2013 – released 10/31/2013
Speak Rain – released 1/27/2013
Troll Brother – Children’s/YA Contemporary Fantasy – released 7/6/2013
The Yeti Uprising: An IPMA Adventure for Christmas 2013 – released 2014
Troll Brother 2 – TBR late-2014
More to come 2014 and beyond!
Connect with Me Online:
www.TrollBrother.com
www.PEdwardAuman.com
www.IPMACreative.com
Facebook: https://facebook.com/pedward.auman
https://facebook.com/trollbrotherbooks
Twitter: https://twitter.com/@PEdwardAuman
The Goblin Queen's Cache: An IPMA Adventure for Halloween 2014 Page 5