Zote gathered up dry spruce wood and oil to build a fire. He cut up the giant snake, skin and all, to roast over the flames. The aroma of the cooking meat permeated the cave, reaching the noses of all its creatures. Soon the mice and rats moved in Zote’s direction hoping to snatch a few scraps. He threw bits of food into the corners of his cave and smiled as the mice scurried off to get it. This kept the mice, with their rosy pointed noses and hairless tails, fattened and happy.

  Laelia thought about the mice that Zote had thrown her to eat on the first day she was in his cavern. She now understood that Zote captured the mice with the fattest bellies and tied them up by their tails for another of his favorite meals. Black lizards with turquoise stripes stopped doing their push-ups and scurried over to eat morsels of meat. She suspected the lizards would be hung up to dry and made into Zote’s lizard-flint earrings.

  In spite of Laelia’s fear of Zote and revulsion at the death of this magnificent snake, the aroma of cooking snake meat awakened her hunger. Her appetite vanished as soon as she saw Zote shuffling toward her with his dirty hands full of chunks of snake meat. Placed on the floor of her small cage, the delicious smell of the white meat overcame her utter distaste of eating a python and her disgust over the hands that held it. Laelia, in order to survive, must eat whatever was present. She bit off little chunks and was surprised at the snake’s sweet taste.

  In the quiet moment while she ate, fleeting thoughts of her mother ran through her mind. She knew her mother had named her after a lovely lavender orchid that was the same color as her eyes. Laelia tried to remember the orchid’s scent. On misty mornings, its licorice perfume often lingered in the bog. For a brief moment, tears welled up in her eyes.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Her mother taught her to be proud of her unusually pretty face. As Laelia matured, she learned the power of her pretty face and sunshine smile. To profile her delicate features, she preferred to wear her long black hair swept up, twisted and knotted on top of her head. Curly ringlets framed her round face and pert little nose. Interlaced with wispy curls cascading down her long neck were swinging, teasing earrings that sparkled lavender. She recalled the mountain trolls in her village; most were ugly and ornery. She wondered if Zote was fascinated with her because she was pretty.

  The alluring aroma of roasting meat brought Laelia back to the moment. She turned her attention to Zote, watching him while he sat in the corner of his cave. Eating the succulent snake meat, he smacked his lips as he licked the fat off his fingers, irritating her with his repugnant sounds.

  The little mountain troll waited patiently for the right time and then gathered up her courage. Well aware of her own charm, she used a sugary voice in her softest manner to ask Zote why he had kidnapped her. He shouted in his deep bass voice that he would give her back to her brother when he owned Mt. Grieg. With his response, she felt more confident and began to badger him, hoping to learn just how dim-witted he really was and then plot her escape. Zote, now suspicious of the little mountain troll, shouted in his thunderous voice, “Be still!” This outburst created a slight quake, releasing more gas vapors from fissures in the cave’s wall. Frightened, Laelia crept under the animal skins in her cage. Escaping Zote’s fury, she surrendered to the numbness of sleep.

  Zote shuffled over to the fire and put additional snake flesh on its hot stones. The greasy smoke poured out of the tunnel’s mouth.