The Lost Knight (Volume III) The Lost World

Chapter 15: Lost In The Open

"Nohm, nohm, nohm!" I hear from a distance in my dream.

Why am I shaking?

Who's pulling at my arm?

"Nohm, nohm," it says again.

I crack open an eyelid.

A chimnocki with a neon blue mohawk is yanking my arm. I shake it off and try to sit up, but the little guy I'm sharing my bed with is neatly tucked in my arms. I've been hugging it like a teddy bear in my sleep.

I jump out of bed, embarrassed and disgusted. How long was I cuddling him—or her, or whatever? The little guy rolls over and lets out a contented sigh, but he doesn't wake up even though I just ran him over in my haste to get out of bed.

"Nohm, nohm," the blue guy says as he grabs my arm again and tugs on me.

Jonah appears from under the bed, and the chimnocki releases me. It stares up at him with wide, frightened eyes as its ears slowly collapse.

"He's okay," I say to the frightened chimnocki. "He's my friend." I pat Jonah's arm, but the blue guy is shaking so hard his droopy ears are flapping.

"Nohm, nohm," I say and wrap my arms around Jonah.

The chimnocki runs completely around us, examining our hug. When he returns to his starting point, he launches himself at us and joins the hug.

After a few minutes, Jonah says. "I don't think he's going to let go."

I release Jonah and pry the chimnocki off of us. Once free, the little guy tugs on my arms again.

I let him lead me while Jonah follows closely behind until we're back in the town square. When he wants to go further down, I make him stop.

"I need my friends," I explain, forgetting that the chimnocki can't understand me. I make a few hand motions, then give up and refuse to move.

Jonah has already left to find the rest of our group. The blue guy releases my arm and stands statue-still while staring at me without blinking.

"You know that's really creepy, right?" I ask. He doesn't answer or move or blink. I look around and roll my feet to the side. The staring is disturbing, and so is the quiet. "So...do you guys have names?" I know he won't answer, but I'm trying to get him to blink.

"Well, I'll call you Norm. How's it going, Norm?"

Nothing. I stare back but quit when my eyes burn so badly they close on their own. Next, I bob and weave, trying to make Norm waver, but have no success. I'm about to throw something at him when Dathid and Trelix appear from one of the upper floors.

Soon everyone's back. Solara and Dathid look terrible. I should've been more certain of the little guy's intentions before I woke them so early. He might be taking us to the Salt Mines, or he may have wanted to take me on a tour.

Norm springs back to life once our group is back together. He guides us past the town square to another flight of stairs leading down. These stairs are much steeper and difficult to descend. It's obvious they're not used often because they're not well maintained. Some of them are so worn I'm afraid to step on them.

The staircase winds its way down for so long that I wonder if there's a bottom. However, we never reach the end because the stairs branch off to a small bridge that leads to one of the mountainous stalagmites.

We enter it through a small hole. I brighten my light, but there's not much to see. It's a small tunnel with more stairs. We're somewhere in the middle on a staircase, and there's a choice of whether to go up or down. The chimnocki goes down. The tunnel is tall enough for me to walk through, but the ceiling is uneven. I have to be careful to zig and zag around the various obstacles jutting from the ceiling.