18. Surprise

“Strangely, the leader of the new dwarves, Headsman Grunel, has arranged for a third goblin delegation to visit his growing mountain settlement. By latest reports, the humans living there now outnumber the founders two to one.

If history is anything to go by, those who shelter and help humans will soon be betrayed and destroyed by them.

But if not all goblins are the same, then perhaps that assessment is unfair.

Still, I was surprised by the invitation. All our prior visits gave me the sense that the dwarves, Grunel included, were disgusted and repulsed by the goblins. Even I must admit that the formality and bombast of a diplomatic feast will be lost on nearly all our peoples.

Part of me wonders if this is some sort of a trap. Perhaps growing oversight from The Small King, and otherworld visitors prying into my affairs, have made me all too paranoid.”

Chief Ugu scowled, his grimy teeth bared in a scarred sneer.

“Do not move,” he demanded in a lisping snarl, and the command was echoed quietly along his scrawny clan, spreading along the edge of a cliff where they all perched.

He and all his clan were hidden by vantage and by squat bushes from the valley below, which lay covered in pale green moss and yellow tufts of long grass.

Skeletal trees were dotted here and there, as if reaching forth to grab a passerby.

Ugu had been right to plan the ambush in this valley. Seeing the great creature of green wax lumbering below, he knew there would be no better place to attack than from this high vantage. But Forgo had been wrong.

On the cliff opposite, waited the hunched, pale yellows goblins of Saka’s clan. The useless shaman had said that Saka would stay out of the way. Yet the wiry goblin, standing as tall as his curved spine allowed, stood staring at Ugu’s clan.

Ugu hated Saka. The coward made use of venoms and hissed as if he were a snake. He covered himself in mud and berries to make his scaly skin patterned like one as well.

Unlike Chief Ugu, Saka had not fought against Harak. He had simply bowed to Harak as he had bowed to Bragak Moonbear. Ugu scratched at the ugly scar running across his face and wondered if he should have done the same.

The distant footfalls of the enormous troll reached Ugu’s ears.

He would need to attack soon, or the creature would pass by the valley and cross into the tunnels ahead. He knew that Saka would not attack, but the coward would doubtless tell Chief Harak of Ugu’s actions. And the Chief might decide that Ugu had stolen his honour, and then demand another duel that would cause more harm than a scar.

Saka raised his hand, beckoning, as if he wanted to speak.

Chief Ugu bared his grimy teeth. He jutted a hand towards the giant troll below.

Saka slowly shook his head.

Ugu hesitated. He did not care what Saka wanted but there was a strangeness to his gaze that Ugu had never seen before. The serpentine coward’s eyes were entirely sure.

Chief Ugu wondered if Saka’s own shaman had seered the same as Forgo. Perhaps that meant that Saka wished for the giant troll to go on and slay Chief Haruk. And then Ugu could slay Saka and he would finally be Great Chief. As he had long deserved.

He scowled down at the waxy green figure below, enormity clear now the troll passed beneath Ugu’s feet. He was surprised to see a third among them now. The troll carried a black manling in its great hands as if it were sleeping or wounded, while the womanling sat perched on the giant creature’s shoulder.

Chief Ugu plucked up a rock from the cliff’s edge. His fingers tightened around the rough surface. From this distance, he could crack open the head of the womanling. He wound his hand back, and was about to launch, but she turned.

The womanling smiled knowingly up at him. Like Saka, she slowly shook her head.

Chief Ugu spat, nearly dropping the rock, and then hurled it instead.

***

Fragor heard a frightful crunch.

He stumbled to a stop, too slow to catch Astrid now she flopped from his shoulder.

In his haste to cushion her fall with his great foot, Fragor sent the black man hurtling through the air, his dirty dress flapping in the wind until he thumped into a nearby tree.

Horns, shrill and discordant, sounded out from the high rises at either side of them. Then more stones and rocks began to hurtle down, thumping harmlessly from Fragor’s waxy figure now he desperately tried to shield Astrid.

Blood pooled from her pale cheek, where split flesh gave way to gleaming teeth.

The giant troll emitted a great humming sound, wrathful and confused, which reverberated throughout the valley, up to the tall cliffs at either side and back down again. The sound reached the ears of the black man, who murmured in discomfort.

Fragor did not know what to do. Astrid was bleeding, and sleeping. And she looked like she might never wake. Panic began to overwhelm him. He hunched over her, more rocks sailing down as the chaotic din sounded out overhead, and as more projectiles sailed down, clattering across the ground or crunching into the moss not far from his friend.

Fresh wax began to drip around her as well, some landing on her skin which sizzled.

Fragor suffered a fresh wave of terror. He could not protect her until the goblins ran out of rocks, or stopped, because his own skin was leaking. “Acid! Wake now, Acid!”

He tried to scoop her from the floor, but his hands were huge and ungainly, and more wax sloughed way and fresh liquid spilled forth, burning the fabric of her grey cloak.

Fragor needed to be smaller. But becoming that small would mean losing wax that would pool around Astrid and burn her. And then he wouldn’t be big enough to stop the rocks. He noticed the black man had gotten to his feet, leaning on the withered tree. “Oh!” the troll shouted. “Man! Man in dress!”

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A sharp rock struck the trunk beside the black man, bouncing harmless into his shoulder. The Void Walker frowned now he took in the valley around him.

“You are helping,” declared a hopeful Fragor. “You are helping. You are helping!”

A flurry of rocks sailed towards the black man’s head, but he waved an idle hand, and a gust of wind swept them harmlessly aside. He then looked at Fragor, shaking his head.

“Please!” cried Fragor. “Please helping!”

The Void Walker strode forth, twirling his finger which whipped up protective winds, then looked down at the bleeding girl. “I do not belong,” he said, his words lengthened by a guttural accent. “You should not have helped.”

“I am helping!” Fragor declared in a piping shout, remembering her had saved the black man. “You are helping!”

“No,” said The Void Walker with a regretful shaking of his head. “It cannot be.”

“Please!” cried Fragor once more. “Lift, Acid! I will carry!”

The black man frowned down at the girl, examined the giant troll’s crudely shaped limbs and seemed to understand. “Yes… but—” He began, freezing when he touched the wounded girl’s grey cloak. “Half a cloak,” he murmured, his weathered features settling into a determined stare. “Of course,” he added with a resigned smirk. “Here I do belong.”

Fragor reached out his arms to take his wounded friend, but the black man shook his head and smiled. “This way, my friend,” he declared. “I will help. Stay in my shadow.”

Blood trickled from The Void Walker’s nose. He rubbed it clear, and the wind dropped. “Still spent,” he said disagreeably to himself. “Quickly, my friend. Quick as we can be.”

The discordant chorus grew louder above. Stones and rocks bounced off Fragor. Fearful for his new friend and his old friend, he scooped the pair up into his great arms and bounded off towards the distant tunnels. “I am helping, I am helping, I am helping.”

***

“You are Fragor,” was the first thing the black man said, his words and drawling, after he had demanded to be set down. “The First Troll.”

“Yes,” answered the waxy green giant in his high pitched tone. “I am a troll!”

They had left the goblin clans behind them, though some had—in enthusiasm both misplaced and fatal—tried to give chase by jumping into the valley bellow.

“Why you not with The Small King?” the man asked.

“Hm…” answered Fragor. “Not knowing! I am walking. I am helping. I am fighting.”

“Ah.”

“You know?”

“No, brother. This I do not know.”

“What is… ‘brother’?”

“Ah.” The Void Walker bared his crooked teeth in a confused smile. “Means… friend.”

“Friend,” said Fragor, stepping forward, his great shadow eclipsing the black man. “Acid is brother…?” he excitedly pressed.

“Ah… eh…” The black man shook his head. “Yes, no. No matter. You must shrink.”

“Shrink…?”

The Void Walker waved lazily to the cavern mouth yawning to darkness ahead. “The way is ahead lays narrow. You must go… smaller. But, first, step back. I am not wanting to be burned by your wax.”

“Hm…” Fragor leaned over the much smaller figure of The Void Walker. “No.”

“It must be so.”

“No…” he repeated, with an angry, sullen edge.

“You friend—Acid—is hurt. There is no way back. I cannot take us to any other place without being hunted.”

“Oh. I will fight them!”

“The paths I make are much smaller than that tunnel, brother.”

“Smaller?” Fragor shrieked, stomping his great feet. “No!”

The Void Walker’s weathered face hardened into a glare. “Fragor. It must be so.”

“It will not be so!”

“Fine,” said the black man. “I will take the girl someplace safe. You wait.”

“No!” Fragor shouted, his great wax hands tightening into fists. “You go!”

The black man’s dark eyes narrowed to slits. “Troll. I do not care for your tone. My head aches, while your voice is shrill. I cannot leave the girl. I promised… well, I will.”

“You will go. Or I will eat you!” warned Fragor happily. “Grow even bigger!”

The Void Walker sucked breath through his teeth, then ran hands through his tangled matter hair. “Fine. You leave me no choice.”

Fragor reared up, ready to fight, but the black man dropped to his knees by the grey-cloaked figure of Astrid instead. He lay both his muddy hands upon her pale skin, and closed his eyes. Blood trickled down his left nostril, and then from the right.

The flesh of Astrid’s cheek began to knit together, bone webbed over with muscle, which in turn was covered by folding flesh. The Void Walker started to shake now purple bruises faded to red and then softened to pink.

“Oh!” declared Fragor in wonderment. “You are friend brother!”

The black man paused, his skin sweaty and grey, and blearily looked up at the troll. “Shrink…” he slurred. “Over there. It must be so.”

“I—”

The Void Walker collapsed atop Astrid, who started awake with a breathless murmur.

“I am thinking. I am thinking. I am thinking.”

***

“See…?”

Chief Ugu turned his scowl on the hunched, serpentine Saka. Standing this close, Ugu could reach out and snap the skinnier goblins crooked spine, but Saka had claws and knives around a tendon belt that might be tainted with all kinds of poison.

Beneath them, seen from a cavern overlooking the sheltered valley, the troll had wandered away from the tunnels to shed a small lake of sizzling wax. No longer the size of Braguk Moonbear, he stood only a few heads taller than Ugu.

Saka’s ferine eyes were knowing slits. “Now the troll can be killed.”

“Forgo said the troll would kill Harak.”

“Great Chief Harak,” Saka reminded, hissing laughter. “Where is the shaman…?”

“Dead.”

“Oh.”

“I killed him.”

“This I guessed.”

“What do you want?” Ugu demanded, stepping forward, forcing the skinnier goblin up against the cavern wall. Even with the curve in his spine, Saka stood as tall as did Ugu.

“What did Forgo seer?” Saka asked as answer.

Ugu spat, stalking back to the ledge. The troll picked up the black manling, and then he and the womanling strode towards one of the tunnels together. “He seered what I said.”

“What else? You would not kill him for seeing Harak’s death.”

“He said I should not attack the troll. He only seered bad things. For this, he died.”

“Hm…”

“What?” Ugu snarled.

“Hubu, too, seers Harak’s death. I think we should follow the troll. And make certain of the seering.”

“So says Great Chief Saka?” Ugu mocked.

“Great Chief… no. All Great Chiefs are different. Yet all the same. Dead. Or soon to be. But Harak has the best land. If he is dead, that is better for Saka. And better for Ugu, too. If you wish to be Great Chief, I will not argue. So long as I can have my share of the Pass.”

Ugu grumbled wordlessly to himself. “Unlike Forgo, you speak sense. I will agree.”

“Good,” hissed Saka, baring his sharp teeth in an eerie smile. “First, we follow. Then, we kill. Harak, the troll, and the womanling. They must all be killed and eaten.”