Fucking hell… I can’t believe it… the kid pulled it off. I mean… the plan did go slightly awry… but at the end of the day… twelve-year-old boy, one. Crocodile, zero.

  Charlie attempted to stand up but slipped on all of the crocodile blood that now coated the floor. He was already covered in blood, but this made it so much worse. His usually blond hair now looked black at the back because of all of the blood that had soaked into it. It probably would have looked red if we weren’t entirely lit by those strange blue glowworms.

  Charlie slid to the end of puddle of blood that he was lying in and placed the dagger in his mouth again, before placing his hand down on the dry-stone floor to help stand himself up. His leg is clearly causing him trouble. Once stood, he started climbing up the rocks behind me.

  Dwynfel: “What are you doing?”

  I heard the sound of the dagger clinking off stone.

  Charlie: “The eggs are up here… I’m making sure they don’t hatch.”

  I started to hear the sound of eggs shells being crushed. It is such an oddly relaxing sound in this moment. I really have to say… thank the gods that Charlie was here. I know he isn’t Tadwick’s favourite person in that little friend group. Charlie clearly dislikes that Tadwick is so much younger than him but is pretty much the same size as him… and Tadwick clearly dislikes that Charlie has a tendency to take charge due to being the oldest. But after what I have seen today… I am glad that Charlie is the one who normally takes charge. Sure, what he just did was a risk, but it needed doing… and he thought it through… and when it went wrong, he adapted and still succeeded.

  If Tadwick had been the one who had been mobile and able, then I’m confident that Tadwick’s plan would probably have just been to jump on it and stab it. Tadwick means well… but rarely thinks things through. Or maybe I don’t give him enough credit… he did throw that rock at the water as a distraction instead of at the crocodile earlier. Maybe he puts more thought into things than I realise.

  Hang on… shit… Tadwick.

  Dwynfel: “Tad! Tad! Tadwick! Are you alright?!”

  He’s not responding… shit… I can’t see him… there’s a load of rubble in the way from when the crocodile was attacking the rock. Shit… shit… try to move… I need to get to him. Damn it… my legs won’t fucking work… I can barely move my arms… shit, shit, shit!

  Charlie hopped down from the ledge behind me.

  Charlie: “I’ll go check on him.”

  He handed me my dagger back and started delicately stepping his way through the blood and guts that were strewn across the floor. Still clearly struggling with his right leg.

  Dwynfel: “Thank you… thank you. Tadwick… Charlie’s coming… you’ll be alright!”

  Charlie slid himself into the pool of water and started to make his way across by pulling himself along the wall. The water still had a layer of viscera on top of it… as he got out of the water on the other side his entire body, from the chest down, was coated in the stuff. He reached the overhanging stone where Tadwick was. He started to clear the rubble away… but he struggled due to only having one hand and a weak leg.

  Eventually he cleared it enough to reach in and pull Tadwick out by the arm.

  Dwynfel: “Please… please tell me he’s alive!”

  Charlie lowered his ear to Tadwick’s mouth and placed his hand on his chest.

  Charlie: “He’s still breathing!”

  Dwynfel: “You need to wake him up. Falling asleep is the worst thing he can do right now… he needs to try to stay awake until help comes!”

  Charlie started shaking Tadwick… gently at first… then really quite vigorously… before beginning to shout at him.

  Charlie: “Oi! Ginger nut! Wake up! This is no time to be sleeping!”

  When Tadwick didn’t respond, Charlie flicked one of Tadwick’s testicles and Tadwick jumped and coughed.

  Tadwick: “Ow! What was that for?”

  Oh, thank fuck for that.

  Charlie: “You okay?”

  Tadwick: “Clearly not! I was bit by a crocodile… remember!”

  Charlie: “Well, don’t go to sleep. Your dad says sleep is bad in your state.”

  Tadwick: “But I’m tired!”

  Charlie kind of folded Tadwick’s legs in… draped Tadwick’s arms around his legs before positioning himself between Tadwick and the wall. He pulled Tadwick between his legs and wrapped himself around Tadwick. I think he’s trying to keep Tadwick warm.

  Dwynfel: “I know it’s hard, Tadwick… I know you’re tired… but you have to try to stay awake.”

  Tadwick: “It’s cold… I just wanna sleep.”

  Charlie started to rub his hand up and down Tadwick’s leg.

  Dwynfel: “I know it’s cold… it’s really cold in here. But Charlie is going to try to warm you up.”

  Charlie: “You should really take your clothes off and hang them up to dry, Mister Vesidia. Wet clothes will only make you colder.”

  Tadwick: (coughing) “He’s right, dad. Nomius taught us that.”

  Dwynfel: “Boys… I couldn’t undress myself right now, even if I tried.”

  Tadwick started to drift off again.

  Charlie: “Oi… stop that! Tell your dad how you tried to steal Lydia from me.”

  Tadwick got a look of irritation on his face.

  Tadwick: “For the last time… I did not try to steal your girlfriend…”

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

  Unconventional tactic for keeping him awake… but it seems to be working.

  Charlie: “Oh really, then why did you do it?”

  Tadwick: “It was an accident!”

  Charlie: “Things were going really well until you did that.”

  Tadwick: “I accidentally hit you in the face with a football, stop acting like I told her you were gay or something.”

  Charlie: “You hit me in the face… full pelt… I nearly cried.”

  Tadwick: “So? You could have just kept talking to her once you recovered… you were the one that ran away.”

  Charlie: “Because my face had turned bright red! I was embarrassed.”

  Tadwick: (coughing) “Why? You’ve been hit in the face by the ball lots of times… why do you get so weird when she’s around?”

  Charlie: “I do not.”

  Tadwick: “Yes you do… normally you never shut up… the second she shows up you can barely speak.”

  Charlie: “That’s not true.”

  Fucking hell… he really kicked the hornet’s nest by bringing this up. Still… should keep them occupied for a while. How long was I unconscious for before? Help has to be on the way. Then again… how well hidden is this gods-awful cave?

  Tadwick: “Why do girls make you so nervous anyway?”

  Charlie: “You’re too young, you wouldn’t understand.”

  Tadwick: “Damn right I don’t understand… why do you wanna have a girlfriend anyway? Relationships are for old people.”

  Charlie: “No. Marriage is for old people. Dating is perfectly normal for people my age.”

  Well, I feel personally attacked by that last statement. I’m thinking about marriage. I’m not old… am I? Even in goblin years I’m not even thirty. What age do these boys consider old, exactly?

  Tadwick: “No it isn’t… Olmo isn’t trying to date anyone.”

  Charlie: “Olmo is younger than me.”

  Tadwick: “By like four months. Stop pretending to be an adult.”

  Charlie: “I’m not pretending to be an adult… I’m just older than you. And as a result, I have different interests to you.”

  Tadwick: (coughing) “Oh whatever… and if girls make you so nervous, then why aren’t you nervous around Lexi? He’s half girl.”

  Here we go with this again.

  Charlie: “That’s different, I don’t like Alexi in that way.”

  Tadwick: “In what way?”

  Charlie: “Like… I just… I don’t want to kiss him.”

  Tadwick: “Why not? What’s wrong with him?”

  Charlie: “Nothing. He’s nice… and I’m friends with him… I just don’t want to do the things with him that you do with a girlfriend. Besides, even if I wanted to, we all agreed that he was off limits.”

  They actually discussed this? And concluded he was off limits… seriously?

  Tadwick: “What? When did we agree this?”

  Charlie: “Obviously, you weren’t involved. He’s your brother.”

  Tadwick: “So who was involved in this?”

  Charlie: “Everyone, except you, Alexi and Grant.”

  Tadwick: “Why not Grant?”

  Charlie: “Because none of us want to tred on Grant’s toes.”

  Tadwick: “What are you talking about?”

  Charlie: “Well, Grant is clearly crushing on Alexi.”

  Tadwick: (coughing) “Piss off… no he isn’t.”

  To be fair… that does explain a few things.

  Charlie: “Yes, he is. How have you not noticed?”

  Tadwick: “I haven’t noticed because it’s not true.”

  Charlie: “Don’t be so ridiculous, Tadwick. It’s bloody obvious. He’s always hanging round with him… always keeps an eye on him… he has those huge puppy eyes when he looks at him… and we all saw what happened at the baths.”

  Dwynfel: “What happened at the baths?”

  Both boys looked at each other with a vague look of panic… as if they had forgotten that I was there.

  Charlie & Tadwick: “NOTHING!”

  Hmm… well that obviously struck a nerve.

  Dwynfel: “When did you boys even go to the baths?”

  Tadwick: “Weather was crap the other week… so Chloe let us in.”

  Hmm… I’ll have to ask Chloe what happened. They clearly don’t want to tell me.

  Tadwick: “Even if Grant does like Alexi… why would you all agree to that?”

  Charlie: “Because none of us want to upset Grant. Besides… he clearly has the closest bond to him. Plus… like I said… I have no desire to date Alexi anyway.”

  Urgh… I feel like this argument is going to go on for a while yet. I’m beginning to lose the strength to listen.

  Tadwick: “What’s wrong with Alexi? Why don’t you wanna date Alexi?”

  Charlie: “Nothing is wrong with Alexi. I just prefer girls to be a bit more girlie… have a bit more attitude. Alexi is so… submissive… and to be honest… the penis doesn’t help.”

  Tadwick: “What’s wrong with his penis?”

  Charlie: “Nothing is wrong with it. I would just prefer to date somebody who doesn’t have one. I mean, the penis thing isn’t a deal breaker… he still has a vagina. I could look past the penis if I really liked him in that way. My point is that it isn’t a plus for me… okay.”

  Tadwick: “Ugh… whatever.”

  At least Tadwick seems to have got some energy back. I think he’s going to be okay. That’s good. Maybe now I can rest a bit.

  Tadwick: “I still don’t get why you want a girlfriend so bad.”

  Charlie: “Mister Vesidia! You have a boyfriend right!”

  Dwynfel: “Huh… what?”

  Please don’t drag me into this.

  Charlie: “You like having a boyfriend, right!?”

  Dwynfel: “Being with Kiyui… being loved by Kiyui… starting a family with Kiyui… is… the best thing that has ever happened to me… I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

  Charlie: “See… your dad agrees with me.”

  Tadwick: “That’s different… he’s old… besides he has a boyfriend… not a girlfriend.”

  Charlie: “That makes no difference… a relationship is a relationship.”

  Tadwick: “Yeah it does… they can do fun boy stuff together. That Lydia doesn’t do fun stuff… none of the girls we know do. They just wander around in fancy dresses smiling and sewing and stuff… that’s boring.”

  Charlie: “Like I said… I like that they do that stuff. Besides… not all girls are like that. I doubt your friend Chloe spends any of her time sewing.”

  Tadwick: “That’s different. She’s a grown up, she’s not a little girl anymore.”

  I am really starting to drift now. Maybe I could just have a little sleep for a minute… just rest my eyes.

  Charlie: “She was at one point. And Alexi still is… well… half.”

  Tadwick: “I just don’t get it… what would you do with a girlfriend that you can’t just do with us… your friends.”

  Charlie: “Friends are different to boyfriends and girlfriends.”

  Yeah… just a little sleep… that’s all… just a little sleep.

  Tadwick: “How? You aren’t telling me how!”

  Just… close my eyes for a minute… the boys are fine… help will be here soon… I can just close my eyes… they’ll be fine… everything will be fine.