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Troll Patrol
Flit Schultzen walked humbly among the twine-like bushes that splintered out from the forest wall. He swayed through the trail; trying to ignore the prickly feeling the bushes gave him. Once he came to a halt at the trail's end, he quickly found himself a nice perch that hung over the vast woodland, where a symphony of crickets jumped into the forest. They quickly went back to their chirping.
Flit let out a groan. The aged dwarven bones had forced him down. They creased his baggy leggings and finely striped vest. His drawn-out beard spread on his chest, and his towering hat dipped in front of him. He pushed back up the hat and smoothed out his beard. Finding a perfect solitude over the woodland better than the trail through the forest, he removed the bag that hunched over his shoulders. Putting the bag in-between his legs Flit unbuttoned the opening and took from it a self-made, spiraling and handheld cooler of wine. He took out a piece of wrap that held a piece of bread, spreading it evenly on a near rock, and placing the loaf sliver on to it.
He pushed aside the bag, viewing the bleached horizon and the sea of patchy green below with attraction. That horizon carried a lush sun that warmed him and his surroundings. He savored this feeling. This land was not a stunning as his country land, and most of the inhabitants here were not even of his race. But the sun for sure was just was warming as it appeared in his land, grazing the low thickets and the high foliage.
"Should've never left," he said proudly, and it was issued in his throatily tone.
But he seemed to be kindled by what was here. The woodland below stretched as far as the eye could see, though ending just at the horizon-line. The sun glinted the cobalt sprint of the Essence River that drove through a long trudge of the Shady Sull woodland. It glowed on the rooftops of the trees and small arrowhead roofs of housings, inspired the entire land with an evening orange hue.
"Hell, it's likely I won't even make it back I'm so old," he spoke this all to himself. The dwarf was more accustomed to talking to one's self since his long journey to here, even though, in his country, he mocked any self-talker. Quite an irony he didn't seem to see nor care about.
"Damned, silly journey!" he said roughly, yanking out a knife and bringing it to his bread. He slit it angrily, spilling crumbs, and a slice of the bread onto the wrapper.
"Who knows what happened to my house. Probably broken down, a meeting of thievery there, been quarantined for fake diseases," he shook his head.
"All crazy." He unscrewed the cap to his cooler, putting it to his mouth. The red wine trickled down his beard and vest. Flit gulped it thirstily, being his first sip of the stuff in two days.
"Nasty river water. Always insufficient to the taste of good wine."
"I don't know. I kind of like river water," came a hidden voice. "At least, it's always better than your wine!"
Flit spewed his wine. He looked hurriedly around for a sign of people, finding nothing but a false comfort from the forest. Taking up the mallet from his sheath, he poised it at the trail's end.
"Who's there? I know that voice..."
Flit squinted in the shine of a medallion's mirroring image. It was hard to make out the man, but it could be done. Pushing the forest away strode forward a man. He was regularly tall, and walked in a mild manner, adorned by something like Flit could have sworn an Eastern style. As the man moved forwards to the perch, the sun further admired his details. He had a sturdily sculpted figurine. His arms were regularly muscular as so was his chest. The long hilt of a sword stuck out of his belt and slung on his back was a woven shield and his clothes just a simple brownish tunic and leggings. He had softness to his dirty blond beard and hair, his face a tanned peach. His eyes were struck with a tamed blue. Flit hesitated a moment before letting down his mallet.
"Orion?" he remembered his old friend.
The man he identified as Orion swung around the dwarf's back. He threw his hands up the loop of his arms and connected them behind his neck, annoyingly tapping on the back of his skull.
"The same!"
"Damnit!" swore Flit as he loosened his structure. He toppled beneath Orion, crawling to a safe part behind an evergreen tree. He was about to bring a swift blow to the noggin with his mallet, but Orion's laugh came fast and noisily.
"Still the same, old dwarf, eh, Flit?"
He grunted, throwing the butt of his mallet into the forest soil. He rubbed his head exasperatingly, giving his friend a grinding look. But he softened, shaking his head.
"Orion Callus," he spoke grudgingly, but with a hint of playfulness.
"I should've known that only a human like yourself would sneak up on an old man like me."
Orion grinned. "Ah, but what a great time it has been since we last met."
He fiddled with his light beard, squatting to Flit's height. "And, after three long years, believe it or not, I still have a better trim than you do."
Flit rolled furrowed his thick brows. He felt his puffy beard, respectively smoothing it out. "Right. Keep telling yourself that. No human has a better beard than a dwarf," he had to squint into the morning sun again to catch that bearded image.
"Why did you put one on? Humans can't conceal their ugliness."
"No. I wear it partly in thanks to my bloodline," he put it in a smart tone.
Orion did wear the beard because of this. His Pharogee bloodline was a rather nasty one, and it said something many people would find offending. If men and women saw the belittled "art" branded on his left cheek, some bad things would happen, no doubt about that. Thankfully Flit and many of his friends had the power to look that over and take into knowledge that he had no argument over it. Orion pulled himself back up. He scanned the woodland below, catching every pillar, every rock and tree that rested there. Each was exactly like they had left it, nearly untouched. Except for the sawed down trunks Shady Sull woodsmen had gone to work with.
"So what have you been doing these past few years away from Shady Sull?" he skipped what the subject had led to, placing his hands on his hips, scratching his beard, still trying to secretively annoy Flit. Before answering Flit handed the cooler to Orion. He speculated over what the device could be. Knowing that the dwarf had been drinking wine not much earlier, he peered inside the top, jiggling to cooler. He threw it back, swigging the wine distastefully, then hawking it to the side.
"Aw, that's because you don't have good taste!" Flit grabbed the cooler away from him, taking his turn with the wine. He drank it wholly, without a cringe of distaste appearing.
"See? It's good!"
Rather than argue with him, Orion nodded. He thought it better to see his old friend than to argue so badly with him. He peeled off a fragment of the bread, plucking it in his mouth.
"I see you're still the inventor. Is that what you've been doing?"
Flit screwed the top back on and placed the cooler in a patch of weeds. He then sat next to Orion, flitting a buttered knife across a slice of bread and eating it within two bites.
"Actually, no. After we split up, Jolith invited me to stay with him and his tribe for a while. I mean, you know I would've rather gone back to my home, but he was so insistent and I think couldn't handle a full three years away from his friends - especially me," he said loftily. "I stayed with him for a couple of months, then moved back to my cottage."
"That's all?" Orion was disbelieving.
"No," Flit spat. "You know what? - While I'd been gone the gnomes from Pharog had actually gotten past our defenses! Imagine that! But, as they had done so, they invaded my village, tore up my house! Stupid gnomes."
"Really?" Orion cocked his eye. The walled defenses of Dwarflund weren't all that good, and he kept his mouth shut so not to loose Flit's favor during his story. But still, gnomes invading Dwarflund?
"Yes! Highly preposterous, we said!" he huffed. "So, I joined the ranks of my dwarven neighbors, and for the remainder of the time I fought on the lines against the gnomes. We shot through those lines like a hot knife - " He swung the buttered knife through the air, mangling the bread with a few cuts, "through butter!"
"Sounds time-consuming. I don't think my story would compare nearly to yours... "
"Oh, well. Might as well tell it."
"Nah," he said, "I'll wait till everybody is here."
Flit groaned, straightening his long-tipped hat that toppled over as he did.
"Everyone? Not including the sorcerer, does it?"
Orion smiled crookedly. "Yes, even Danjmar. I would think that he deserves to join this little reunion of ours, no matter how much you or even Aphima and Adrias despise him."
"Ah! Orion, if I didn't know you better, I would say you actually feel for him! Always disconcerting others - even when he was young. And he still whines and moans! Always calling for his half-brother for help, then leaving and turning his shoulder on Jolith when he doesn't! I'm surprised Aphima hasn't sought him out and slit his throat yet."
Flit never much liked the sorcerer. Others of their group didn't either. In fact, Orion found it hard to trust him at all, seeing as how he always had a problem with vanishing from their sight. That, and, he always seemed to be awfully rude to everything and everyone, caring mainly about his magic. But he couldn't be that hard on Danjmar, and neither could Flit, really, seeing as how he had saved their lives so many times with his arcane knowledge.
"Oh well, I suppose seeing the sorcerer again wouldn't be bad," Flit gave into the feeling as well.
"So I wonder how things have been doing in Shady Sull?""Actually I've made off and on trips to it during my journey," he glanced to the woodland.
In a darkly thatched center of it rose the magnificent woodwork known to people and travelers as Shady Sull. It slowly was beginning to rise from the woodland with a boisterous roar from the cranking mechanics. Unlike any other town in Erance, probably the only one in the world itself, Shady Sull was a town that lay in the deep thicket of the woodland in the morning and rose from the ground in the evening. It used great wheels and the best mechanics from all over Unitica had designed it centuries ago. Since that date no other machine has matched it's strength, quality, or uniqueness. Although it was day, it rose above the high foliage and trees, the rooftops making their stand in the sky. Orion wondered why it would do such a thing at morning.
"What?"
Flit had to repeat. "I said then you mustn't have gone far from the vicinity of Shady Sull. Why were you coming back?"
"Just to check up on things," he became stern. "But you'll never guess what I started finding out on my journey from here back to - "
"Shush!" Flit slid a finger to his lips.
"What?"
Flit sharpened his gaze into a throng of bushes. He had seen something pass through the bushes a little to their right. The bushes hadn't moved enough to be noticed, but he had seen that one thing.
"I saw something," he whispered loudly to Orion.
The warrior peered in the direction Flit was posed in. The rising hue of the sun cast an eerie shadow from past the bushes. Crickets that had had their singing before were going silent and were moving to other places. Flit began to grope for his mallet again. Orion made the unnerving sound of metal scraping against metal as he unsheathed his sword.
"I don't like being snuck up on," Flint grunted. He eased the mallet with grim intentions in a swerving manner towards where the bushes had rustled. Then something glinted. It was like the golden shine of Orion's medallion, but softer. Something moved through the bushes and then vanished, reappearing again. The soft pads of feet could be heard.
"Who goes there?" Orion was stern.
Nothing. They waited a moment. Flit indicated with a gesture that he would move on the offensive if needed. Orion clamped a hand on his shoulder though, trying to dissuade him from jumping in full force until they knew who or what this was who had decided to conceal itself from them. Something was flung out of the bushes. It landed at Flit's boots, and he inched back, as if thinking it a snake or something. He picked it up, not releasing any of the grip he had on the mallet. It was... fur? Dried paint stretched on it, and both could make out what it meant...
Suddenly the bushes tore apart. A blurry something speedily wrecked itself onto Flit, who went flying to the ground. Each went down with a hard thud. It was massively structured, and wrung itself around Flit, giant arms throwing themselves through Flit's armpits and up to his head. Orion couldn't help himself but fall into a heap of laughter. Flit tore viciously at the man who tapped annoyingly on the backside of his head.
"Damnit! Jolith Alluvis, damn you!"
"There can be only one!" Jolith released the practically helpless Flit, leaping back with a wide grin that outstretched his proud face, avoiding a swing from the dwarf.
Flit regained his composure and somewhat his dignity, standing cherry-faced in the shadow of an evergreen. He was a giant. Barbarically suited to match the attire of his people in the undomesticated mountains of East Pharog, he wore a lengthy loincloth and botchy animal-hide boots, wrung around his waist a leathery belt that hung identical handheld axes. Jolith's chest spanned an astonishing three-something foot bare chest, his messy patch of dark hair falling far to his shoulders. A medallion like Orion's but silver connected the belt. Orion finally stopped laughing, but started again when he saw the barbarian heave the fuming Flit like a sack of apples.
"Put me down!" Flit shouted. "That's twice today I've been tapped on my head! Have respect for my old bones!"
"But that's because you're so jolly!"
"Shut up!"
Jolith let him down. Flit stumbled a bit, giving the two his looks. "Damnation to you both for doing that to me!"
After gladly sheathing the sword, Orion took his turn on Jolith, but found that still, after three long years; his giant friend's handshake still took a hearty blow to his hand. Jolith jingled it cheerfully, slapping him on the back a few times, chuckling in his deep voice.
"Orion! Flit! Boy I've missed the both of you! And fancy that," he playfully mugged Orion on the chin, "mister happy-go-lucky warrior here got a beard. And I must say, it's devilishly more handsome than the old dwarf's!"
Flit lolled his eyes. He looked at his puffy white beard, plucking out little blades of grass and such, smoothing it out. He leaned down to pick up the rag of fur that had been thrown out, unfolding it to look at.
"What's this?"
"Oh, nothing. A little greeting for a certain somebody that I bet will be late to show," he flattened the painted fur onto a nearby rock.
"It was a piece of a glorious hunt I had a while's back. I wrote on it what had happened, like a scroll or something, but also like a portrait."
"That certain somebody wouldn't happen to be a Danjmar Alluvis, would it?"
Jolith nodded. He tucked the fur into his belt and pushed back his dark hair. "I haven't seen my good ol' half-brother in the last three years.
Aphima and I said our goodbyes after a year traveling in the countryside, but well - Danjmar really never said anything to either of us. So, I thought that I might bring him a present."
Orion helped Flit pick up his junk. He did so pondering the relationship the barbarian had with his half-sister and brother, of what unreal contrasts held them so tightly bonded as a family. Soon all three would be together again, and soon the terrible contrasts would live.
"Well, we'd better hurry off to Shady Sull. Strange the town is being lifted in the day hours, so we'd better hurry and see if we can be granted access to a ladder. And I would like to hurry - I mean, I have some important things to tell you both and if they get there, the entire group."
The jingle of metal sounded. Following it was the step-by-step gallop of a horse, brushing through the forest, settling itself at their trail. He slid his hand to the closest hilt of his sword, and saw from the corner of his eye Flit and Jolith reacting the same. When he stood, all three came about in a defensively straightened line, each with his hand on hilt. A dark-clad, whimpering steed appeared at the trail. It was decorated like mad with bells and silver armor. It weighed its head down as if clearly dignified by the rider. What was saddled on top was an unsightly greenish figure. It was man-like with two bony legs and plated with a rugged armor and cloak. Two sallow pupils, glimmering with the early sun's glare, pierced from the eye sockets, with flaps of cheeks falling from them. The tooth-riddled curl of lip proved it to have a hidden agenda. Orion stared grimly at it. He could hear Jolith, identifying as what his mumble was: "Troll". All three knew this revolting species that seemed to crawl from Hell itself - a disorganized country known as Switzkunde. The troll proudly hung the laces of dwarf hair from his collar, letting all know the prejudices his race had against the stocky men, such a worse one that even gnomes did not have for their cousins.
"What are the likes of you doing in Shady Sull," Flit dare say. He slowly drew his mallet, pinning it to the ground in a fashion that made the troll pucker a tooth.
The mounted troll put up a hand. "I shall ignore that, dwarf," he hissed gutturally. "Behold that I am Chief Burgsith of the Troll Patrol," Jolith couldn't help but snicker at the rhyme, "and that you are all demanded to leave these premises or enter Shady Sull by use of the ladder."
"Troll Patrol?" Orion quivered his nose in disgust of the smell trolls – and especially this Chief Burgsith - surrounded them with.
"Since when do trolls keep order on Shady Sull territory?"
Burgsith fidgeted with his armor, something that a brigand usually kept. And it was probably that most trolls stole their armor and weapons from the dead or sleeping, and did not care as to whether or not they were bloodied or in bad shape.
"Since the Town Manager bought the use of Troll Patrols in recognition of the disrupted peace on the fronts of the Shady Sull forest and of the Essence River banks."
"Do you have a scroll permitting you the free patrol of Shady Sull?" Jolith asked dumbly but in a dubious way.
Burgsith ignored it. "From the daylight hours of nine to six travelers are permitted to use only ladders for entering Shady Sull when it has risen from the ground. Travelers are not allowed on the premises in these hours unless they have a pass from a town guard or from Manager Cupercus."
Orion assured himself with the touch of his sword. Burgsith watched him handle the hilt warily. "So, you're saying that we're violating town rules?"
"Yes. If you do not sway from your current position on Shady Sull territory, you will be immediately arrested. What say you, now?"
A group of trolls gathered themselves from the forest. They glued their filthy little hands to their maces and axes, forming a semicircle around the group. They readily moved in to attack, and didn't really care for arrest, as cuffs could not be seen on their belt loops."Arrest these trespassers," barked Burgsith. "I shall continue patrolling the front. Resistance means death."
Before anyone could protest why they were being arrested anyway, Burgsith kicked his horse. The steed whined as to why he had to obey, but with another jab to the stomach, he galloped deep into the forest. The left trolls cornered them, wielding their weapons with a tacky behavior.
"Okay. Does anyone know why he is arresting us? Aren't we going to be given a chance to retreat to Shady Sull?" Orion brandished his sword, Jolith his axes. Flit picked out one of the trolls with determination.
"Because you scum deserve utmost torture if not worse," snarled one of the trolls. "Let's have at 'em, boys!"
"Well, actually, I don't really care if we were going to be given a chance," Jolith said lastly, putting himself into a stance.
A brawl broke out. Flit promptly jumped after the chosen troll, smashing him with the awesome force of his mallet. He struck him down continuously, turning to another. Three trolls uneasily advanced on Jolith. They wobbly posed their maces at him, of which Jolith found to his exposed amusement. He tore through two at once with his axes, cleaving one down the center and the other horizontally through the waist. With that he picked up a squealing troll over his head and launched him over the perch, sounding with a splatter on the rocks below. Unable to tear through his foes or break them with a hammer, Orion skillfully disarmed a troll with a kick. He then armed himself with what time he had with his woven shield, and drove through another, purging his sword through its gut.
"Why have your kind entered the use of Shady Sull!" Jolith bellowed rather than questioned.
He picked up a lowly troll by his collar, gusting him five feet above ground. The troll struggled and Jolith, having a count of zero patience, thrust him over the perch with the same fate as its companion. Knowing that asking questions of a troll did about as much good as querying a tree, Orion and Flit didn't waste time with talk. Together as one force they plowed through what was the rest of the "Troll Patrol", ending it when Orion cleaned his bloodied blade on the vest of one of the corpses.
Though he had a strong dislike of killing, Orion did not dither when it came to a life or death duel. Especially with a troll, or any of their kind for that matter.
"Their stupidity matches their strength," Jolith sighed, reattaching his axes into his belt.
"Dumb beasts. I was going to go to Shady Sull anyway," Flit shook his head."I wonder why Cupercus would even allow trolls to patrol Shady Sull, let alone pay them, Orion scratched his beard.
The sun was now coloring the sky with daylight, erasing the morning. The troll corpses bled green muck that made it's way into the forest. Their stench, thought bad while alive, grew worse at death. The housetops that towered over the trees and rose into the sunlight showed the three sanctuary from any other possible Troll Patrols like a lighthouse paving a lit trail for passing ships.
"Let's go," Orion led the way down the cliff face. Jolith and Flit followed pleasantly, knowing that their long journeys to reach this hangout for them and their friends was over. But what new quest had sprung up? Why were trolls allowed to even enter Erance, capital nation of what was good in the land?
For sure, they would find out.