tha’ now, nugget,
I canna be makin’ out yer mumbles an’ such?”
“ I said, I think you just
wanted to scare us, sending the locket like that,” I improvised,
“and if that was your intention, you’ve succeeded.”
He shrugged but didn’t answer,
confirming what I’d thought.
“ I have an aunt a village
over, she has a set of silver...”
“ No,” he grumbled, dropping
a sliver of meat on the floor. Grunting, he kicked it into the
flame with his bare foot.
Glancing over, I watched,
the unnatural blues and reds of the flames quickly sparking before
the fallen scrap disappeared into a cloud of sparkling dust. Magic, I thought, awed
and a little more frightened than before. How else could it be? It has to be.
“ Okay… what if…” I bit my
lip, trying to think.
His eyes narrowed shrewdly and he set
his meat down, wiping his mouth on his hairless arm.
In fact, he didn’t have a
bit of hair on him anywhere, not one inch. That must be why he
looks so funny to me —he has no
eyebrows.
“ Why are ye here? Are ye
really willin’ ta trade for her? A real trade, ye be offerin’?” he
demanded.
“ I already told you,” I
began to explain, “I want my-”
“ Who sent ye?” he cut in,
catching something I didn’t. His deep voice had gotten deeper,
snapping at me, irritated.
“ My mother,” I blurted,
before I could think better of it.
The troll’s face turned hard as stone
and his eyes flashed. Teeth gnashing, his jaw locked and he cursed
heavily under his breath.
“ Get out,” was all he said,
glaring at me while I just stared at him.
“ What?”
“ Get out,” he grumbled
again in a rolling growl, wide chest rumbling with discontent,
voice gone even deeper, rougher. He looked so pissed all of the
sudden, but I didn’t understand.
“ But, I don’t…”
“ Get out!!” he roared,
startling me as he launched himself towards me.
I stumbled back, staring up,
petrified, into the outraged face of a very angry troll.
“ I said ta get
out!!”
Frozen in place, I didn’t move, flat
on my back on the cold, hard floor.
This must have displeased him further,
and he rolled me over with his foot, gripping the back of my gown
and cape simultaneously to lift me up.
Screeching, I hollered as he hauled me
to my feet, raising me higher and higher until my feet swung
uselessly about the hem of my dress.
“ No!” I shouted, finding my
senses. “My sister-”
“ Is mine ‘til she works off
her toll, or I kill her,” he bellowed, “whichever comes about
first,” tacking on the last part for good measure, raging as he
stormed towards the river.
“ Wait! Wait!” I reached
behind me when he would have tossed me in, but he was much stronger
than I. At his second attempt, I fell in with a resounding splash.
Surfacing with a gasp and a shriek, my head bobbing precariously as
I thrashed about wildly, just trying to keep afloat at the water’s
surface.
“ Dinna be forgettin’ yer
shit now,” he barked, and my bag fell in after me a moment later,
dropping beside me with a resounding splash.
“ Noooo!!!” I bellowed as
the icy depths of the river enveloped me, whisking me off to I
don’t know where.
“ Can she swim?” I heard
Otvla ponder thoughtfully, sounding supremely disappointed at my
sudden departure, but not at all worried for my well-being or
safety, right before my head disappeared, swallowed up in the busy
rapids.
****
Head finally popping up, I resurfaced
a few brisk moments later and gasped, letting the river carry me
down stream farther, without much choice in the matter, until I
could eventually reach a limb from a downed tree.
Launching myself towards it, I gripped
it tight and used it to haul myself out, cursing my stupid sibling
and a certain belligerent troll equally.
“ This isn’t over,” I
grumbled, but I had to wonder why I still tried.
A Toll, Ye Say?
It didn’t take me too long to make my
way back, and I dropped the
I canna be makin’ out yer mumbles an’ such?”
“ I said, I think you just
wanted to scare us, sending the locket like that,” I improvised,
“and if that was your intention, you’ve succeeded.”
He shrugged but didn’t answer,
confirming what I’d thought.
“ I have an aunt a village
over, she has a set of silver...”
“ No,” he grumbled, dropping
a sliver of meat on the floor. Grunting, he kicked it into the
flame with his bare foot.
Glancing over, I watched,
the unnatural blues and reds of the flames quickly sparking before
the fallen scrap disappeared into a cloud of sparkling dust. Magic, I thought, awed
and a little more frightened than before. How else could it be? It has to be.
“ Okay… what if…” I bit my
lip, trying to think.
His eyes narrowed shrewdly and he set
his meat down, wiping his mouth on his hairless arm.
In fact, he didn’t have a
bit of hair on him anywhere, not one inch. That must be why he
looks so funny to me —he has no
eyebrows.
“ Why are ye here? Are ye
really willin’ ta trade for her? A real trade, ye be offerin’?” he
demanded.
“ I already told you,” I
began to explain, “I want my-”
“ Who sent ye?” he cut in,
catching something I didn’t. His deep voice had gotten deeper,
snapping at me, irritated.
“ My mother,” I blurted,
before I could think better of it.
The troll’s face turned hard as stone
and his eyes flashed. Teeth gnashing, his jaw locked and he cursed
heavily under his breath.
“ Get out,” was all he said,
glaring at me while I just stared at him.
“ What?”
“ Get out,” he grumbled
again in a rolling growl, wide chest rumbling with discontent,
voice gone even deeper, rougher. He looked so pissed all of the
sudden, but I didn’t understand.
“ But, I don’t…”
“ Get out!!” he roared,
startling me as he launched himself towards me.
I stumbled back, staring up,
petrified, into the outraged face of a very angry troll.
“ I said ta get
out!!”
Frozen in place, I didn’t move, flat
on my back on the cold, hard floor.
This must have displeased him further,
and he rolled me over with his foot, gripping the back of my gown
and cape simultaneously to lift me up.
Screeching, I hollered as he hauled me
to my feet, raising me higher and higher until my feet swung
uselessly about the hem of my dress.
“ No!” I shouted, finding my
senses. “My sister-”
“ Is mine ‘til she works off
her toll, or I kill her,” he bellowed, “whichever comes about
first,” tacking on the last part for good measure, raging as he
stormed towards the river.
“ Wait! Wait!” I reached
behind me when he would have tossed me in, but he was much stronger
than I. At his second attempt, I fell in with a resounding splash.
Surfacing with a gasp and a shriek, my head bobbing precariously as
I thrashed about wildly, just trying to keep afloat at the water’s
surface.
“ Dinna be forgettin’ yer
shit now,” he barked, and my bag fell in after me a moment later,
dropping beside me with a resounding splash.
“ Noooo!!!” I bellowed as
the icy depths of the river enveloped me, whisking me off to I
don’t know where.
“ Can she swim?” I heard
Otvla ponder thoughtfully, sounding supremely disappointed at my
sudden departure, but not at all worried for my well-being or
safety, right before my head disappeared, swallowed up in the busy
rapids.
****
Head finally popping up, I resurfaced
a few brisk moments later and gasped, letting the river carry me
down stream farther, without much choice in the matter, until I
could eventually reach a limb from a downed tree.
Launching myself towards it, I gripped
it tight and used it to haul myself out, cursing my stupid sibling
and a certain belligerent troll equally.
“ This isn’t over,” I
grumbled, but I had to wonder why I still tried.
A Toll, Ye Say?
It didn’t take me too long to make my
way back, and I dropped the
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