Book 2 Ch 5: Trolling

Michael was awoken by a light shake of his shoulder. He looked up to see Marcus holding a finger to his lips before he went to wake Davi. They were in an empty longhouse that seemed to exist to store the sheep during the coldest parts of winter. He cast muffle on himself and gathered his things as he watched Marcus awaken the others and tell them to do the same. He was surprised when he saw that Francesca had a muffle spell of her own, and once they were all together, Ollie added in a spell of his own that seemed to hide their shadows and muffle their movements even more. Once they all gathered their things, Marcus had them move slowly for the back door where he very gently, pushed it open and gestured them outside before having them move further out.

Once they were nearly a mile away, Marcus turned to them.

“There was a bounty hunter in town,” he said as he made certain that his pack was secure at his back.

“Just one?” asked Davi. “We could easily handle one.”

Marcus shook his head. “I’m not sure. This guy felt… off. Kind of like Bayle when he was fighting except the man was just walking and talking calmly.” He shook his head. “Besides, the villagers could’ve gotten caught up in it and I didn’t see a reason to risk that. The last thing I heard was him letting them know that we were takers. They didn’t take it well.”

“You heard him?” asked Ollie.

“Yeah. I was… bartering for extra supplies.

Michael sighed. “And I was just feeling proud of you for considering the villagers’ safety.”

Marcus shrugged, “Our lives are important too.”

“Fair enough. Do you think we’ll be able to stay ahead of him, or should we set a trap instead? He may be strong, but with all of us prepared, I feel like we could probably take on most. May be better than looking over our shoulder.”

Marcus shook his head. “There are a number of branching paths on this road from what I remember on the map. If we’re lucky we may be able to avoid him entirely, and if not then we can hopefully find a better place for an ambush.” he gestured around to the mostly open hills and plains around them, “hard for us to hide for too long out here, especially not knowing what abilities this guy has.”

“If I could divine him, I may be able to figure it out.”

“Unless he notices you before you notice him.”

“He didn’t notice you.”

“He almost did, and I was in pitch darkness several houses away with a muffle spell from Ollie.”

Michael looked at Ollie with a raised eyebrow.

“Do you ask friends why they need healing, or do you just heal them?”

Michael sighed. “Very weak excuse, but debating everyone’s morality isn’t why I’m here. I’m not your dad.”

Pyotr and Lance both snorted at that drawing a glare from Michael, who dropped it and sighed.

“Old habits die hard I suppose.”

They traveled at a quick clip the rest of the early night and most of the morning without stopping. There were a number of smaller side roads that Marcus began to take them down, taking some time to cover their tracks with Ollie’s magical assistance when they did so. The main road had more travelers and their own travel wouldn’t be easy to distinguish from anyone else’s, but they ran the risk of running into more travelers that could let others know they’d seen them. Eventually they reached an old wooden bridge that hung over a quickly flowing river. They were all approaching it, when Marcus suddenly held out a hand for them to stop, and drew his rifle.

“You must have a bit of elf in you,” said a deep rumbling voice from under the bridge. “To have heard me lurkin down here.” A large gray-brown hand slapped wetly onto the bridge as a massive bipedal creature pulled itself out from underneath it. It was shaped like a man, with two arms and two legs, but its face was long and almost conical with large tusks and rows of teeth like a sharks in its mouth. It was covered in river mud that had mostly dried across its skin, but was otherwise naked. It reached back under the bridge to take out a large wooden club that looked to have once been most of a medium-sized tree.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Troll,” said Lance as he drew his sword. “Haven’t ever seen one in person.”

The troll picked at his teeth with a long nail on his pinkie finger as he looked them over with small black eyes.

“More of you than I can eat. S’unfortunate.” He cocked his head as Lance’s armor reflected a bit of light into his eyes. “Think you’d mostly be a bit too crunchy for me anyway.” he swept his eyes across all of them and settled on Francesca. “Hows about you just give me ‘er and let the rest of ya go, eh? Good deal?”

Michael stepped forward a few steps. “Honestly? Not the worst one I’ve heard.”

Francesca glared at him, and Davi stepped a bit in front of her defensively.

“Good, a sensible humie. Not lots of those. Just toss her over to me and you can be on your way.”

“Whoa whoa, I said it wasn’t the worst deal I’ve heard, I didn’t say we were taking it.”