The story is moving along. Answers need to be found that will provide direction. Some clue needs to exist that will lead the heroes on to the resolution. This story is not so short, is it? Oh well. I plan on writing full-length novels anyway, so I may be better off starting with one.
Onto the story. Let's see if I can pick up the pace a little and get our heroes on the right track without making everything too complicated.
Something caught Danos' eye while he watched his brother disappear into the gathering crowds. He turned and saw what he could have sworn looked like a tiny man disappearing around the corner of the alleyway to his left.
He shook his head and then scratched it. "You really are going crazy." He mumbled to himself, then strode to the alley's entrance and looked down it more closely. He took quiet steps down the narrow path between mismatched brick walls, feeling sillier the further he went.
He began to turn back, certain he had imagined it, when he heard a faint scuffling sound around the corner at the end. It sounded like paper tearing and dragging along rough cobblestone. 'Probably just a rat.' Danos assured himself while he approached the turn as silently as he could manage and peered around the edge of the wall.
"Sure enough." He laughed. There was the rat, dragging a scrap of paper on its back.
At the sound of his voice and laughter, the rodent bolted, shooting right down the alley to the next bend. Danos chuckled at the creature as it still dragged along the patch of old newspaper. 'Must be grimy paper, sticking like that.'
Something deep inside him built up, making him want to act like a kid again. At first, he rejected the thought, but after realizing there was nobody around to see him, he grinned and chased the rodent, letting out a "Ha ha! I'm gonna catch you, rat!"
The rat reached the turn and scurried to the right. A few steps behind, Danos leaped out past the corner and spun to face it with a snarling sound.
The rat had reached a dead end and it was struggling in a corner to run up the walls with no success. Each time it tried, it got a little higher, but fell to the cobblestones, landing on all fours. Realizing that Danos was getting closer, the rat turned around and backed its hind end up into the corner.
Danos lifted one leg high above the ground, then slapped it down, making a loud clap as leather soles slapped stone. The rat jumped two feet into the air, legs reeling, and somehow managed to catch its forelimbs on a gap between bricks. It clung on dearly, but slowly began to lose its grip.
Feeling extra mischeivious, Danos stook another step forward, slapping the other foot down and yelling "Boo!"
The rodent lost it. A damp spot covered the wall as it launched another two feet into the air, flailing its whole body about midair. Through the whole ordeal, the scrap of paper hung on, until the rat finally landed on its back with a loud "OUCH!" It then flipped back onto its feet, and dashed madly between Danos' legs, only to disappear around the corner.
Danos watched it as it left, stunned. 'Did that rat just say...'
"Ow!" A small, though loud, voice repeated from the dead end.
Danos turned back around and stared wide-eyed at the spectacle. Where the rat had fallen was a little man, sprawled out on his back. He managed to sit up, his back making little popping noises, and Danos could see the string tied around his waist which was looped through holes in the paper at each end.
"You've really done it this time!" The little man yelled up at him, which was only as loud as a normal person's talking volume. "You've gone and broke my back at last!" He picked himself off the ground and dusted off his backside.
"Where are you?" Danos managed to say in amazement. It wasn't what he meant to ask, but he was lucky to have gotten out a proper sentence anyway, the way his mind was reeling.
"Where am I?" The man glared up and him. "I'm in the middle of nowhere without a steed, that's where. And its no thanks to you!"
Danos tried forming his mouth into the beginning of another sentence, but failed, looking like a fish out of water.
"Wait. That's not right." The little man held his head. "I mean its ALL thanks to you!" He then crossed his arms and added, "Not that I'm thanking you, mind."
I think I'll stop this here for tonight. Its got momentum and will be much easier to motivate myself to keep the ball rolling as opposed to starting from a lull again.
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