15. Moving

"Okay..." Nathaniel looked at him strangely. "But if you want some company going to the Valley of Nightmares, I'll go with you."
"Uh, sure," William said before he thought about it. Nathaniel seemed nice, and it would be good to have someone that knew the area. "How far is it?"
"Not very far," Nathaniel said excitedly; "It's just over that hill."
Standing up, he took one last longing look at the singing mushrooms. They were singing Unchained Melody now. Part of him wanted nothing more than to lie down with them and go back to sleep, even if it were forever. At least that way all of the pain would be gone.
"Okay, he said finally with a sigh, "let's go."
"Follow me!" He expected the lizard-man to go back down the path and take the turn that William hadn't when he heard the music. But instead, Nathaniel just took off through the trees, jogging faster than William could manage with the pain he was feeling.
"Slow down," he called to it's back, but it didn't seem to hear him. Within minutes, Nathaniel was completely out of sight through the trees. William kept going in the direction that he had been heading, but there were not guarantees that he hadn't taken a turn or a detour to avoid something dangerous.
Pain is exhausting. IT can be more exhausting then a good workout, That's true for any type of pain, but if the pain is in your legs and arms, it gets even worse. All of William's joints were afire with pain after chasing the elusive Nathaniel for awhile. It felt like there was a shard of glass piercing every joint down to the bone. And so he had to stop to rest for a few minutes.