The five of them are talking about who will sleep and who will stay up to guard the camp. I offer to take the watch, because I am not tired, and with some reluctance they accept. I notice right away that even though I am supposedly the guard, the two real guards who aren’t injured are only pretending to sleep. Good work, troll senses. Also good work, guards. You are doing a fine job protecting your lady.

The third guard is asleep and I can hear his breathing hitching now and then. It seems that a weak healing potion wasn’t enough to fully take care of his wound. I look at the last one I have. It’s the same.

Potion of Healing - Weak

Eyes of Alchemy tell me this, but something else tells me that using a second weak healing potion won’t help. He needs either a stronger potion or just some time to rest up. It seems I have not only troll instincts, but alchemy instincts too.

I get an idea. My side still aches from the fire. I tilt my head back and drain the contents of the healing potion down my throat and wait. Nothing happens. I guess I can’t just make potions from my blood and then use them to get around my vulnerability to fire after all. Darn. That was my I am a genius!!! moment. With a second’s pain I replace the two potions by draining a little of my blood. Now I’ve got two weak healing potions in my bandolier. Shouldn’t I have another potion? Oh, Marika kept the potion of fury.

An hour passes. One of the other guards falls asleep, then the second one does as well. Theo is sleeping too; he snores a little. But there’s another sound, almost too quiet for even my senses to pick up. It’s Marika, and she’s… crying?

I carefully get up and cross the campsite. Even though I am very big, it seems I can move quietly when I want to. Once I am beside Marika’s bedroll I crouch down. She must sense me because her eyes open immediately.

“Sir troll.” I wince, but she doesn’t notice. “I’m sorry. This is unbecoming of a noble lady.”

I shrug. You’re trying not to be a noble lady, right? My thoughts don’t get through, but the feeling behind them does. I point back to the trees, where I tossed the remains of the orcs. Then I point to myself, and then to her.

“You’re right, it’s been frightening for me. Do you know, before today, I had never seen a monster, let alone a forest troll? Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to offend.” I shrug again. “I was so sure I was gong to die, or worse. Then you came, and I thought, out of the frying pan and into the fire! But you turned out so different than I expected. Maybe…”

I wait, but she doesn’t continue. After a minute or so she lies down again. “I’m sorry. I’ll try to sleep. If I don’t I’ll be a burden tomorrow.”

Oh! I can help her. I tap my pouch to get her attention, and then whisper. “Create a potion of dreamless sleep.” The familiar tinkle of glass on my scales tells me it worked, of course, and I hand the potion to Marika. The liquid in the vial looks like glitter floating in the deepest blue of the night sky.

“Your potions are so big,” she says. “Is it because they are sized for you?” I lift both hands and shrug. “What will this one do?”

I lean back on the ground, put my hands under my head, and close my eyes. I take a few deep breaths and try to smile without showing my teeth.

“A good sleep? Is that it?” I nod. “Will it harm me at all?” I shake my head. She reaches out. “Thank you, sir troll.” I wince again, and this time she notices. “What is it? I am sorry but I don’t know your name.”

I point to myself, and then to her, just like I did earlier. She brightens up in understanding. “Are you a woman, not a man?”

I nod vigorously and smile as wide as I can. Marika lays back. “Oh, that’s much better! I was feeling so, so, constrained traveling with four men! Another girl to talk to is perfect!”

I nod to the potion and then point to her. Marika smiles and lifts it. “Thank you, lady troll.” She drinks it all at once, although the last little bit is almost too much. My potions really are big for humans.

Almost instantly she falls over. Her head almost misses her pillow, but I catch her and gently guide her down. Once Marika is lying comfortably, I pull her blanket over her and return to my position to continue watching. I notice that one of the guards was watching the whole time. As I pass him he whispers to me. “Sorry, m’lady. But trolls… they all look the same to me.”

I grin and this time I don’t worry about showing my teeth. Yes, I’m a girl, and don’t you forget it! He smiles shakily back and rolls over. It seems that I’ve won him over as well.

While they sleep I consider something that I learned earlier. When I aided the injured guard, my Eyes of Alchemy muscle flexed inside my head. It was his blood that drew my attention.

Human Blood - Strengthen Effect

It seems that human blood is an alchemical ingredient, and it looks to be very useful. Not on its own, according to my alchemy instinct. But added to other ingredients, it would make for a more powerful potion. However, there’s a problem. How can I collect human blood without causing alarm?

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

The injured guard changed his shirt and pants once he could move a little bit, and his bloody clothes are beside his bedroll. I can smell them easily. I could just reach over and take them…

No, I won’t do that. If they wake up and see me doing weird things with blood, they will definitely get suspicious. I would! I decide instead to wait until I can ask them somehow. I spend the rest of the night trying to figure out a way to pantomime “can I take your bloody clothes for making potions with?” and come up with a few not very good ideas.

Morning comes and the five humans break camp. They are fast and efficient. I half hope that they are going to cook a hot meal, but instead breakfast seems to be some kind of very hard bread and very salty meat. I decline both. They probably didn’t pack enough food to feed me as well as themselves. I’ll just find something on the way.

Marika thanks me for the sleeping potion. She says she expected bad dreams after all that happened, but none came. She’s happy, so I’m happy. I’ll have to keep an eye out for more Giant Torpor Fungus while we travel.

Through gesture and repetition, I finally get the guard to let me see his clothing. It’s ripped as well as dirty, but the blood still lights up in my Eyes of Alchemy. It’s still good! Once I have his clothes in my hand, I stuff them in my pouch, but the pouch doesn’t like that. It spits the clothing out right away, but strangely, they are clean. Well, there’s no blood left, at least.

That makes sense. My Alchemy Pouch only holds alchemy ingredients, not dirty laundry. My mental alchemy ingredient inventory tells me I have just enough human blood for one potion.

The wounded guard is struggling. He can walk, but his injury slows him down, and we are making terrible time. I can tell the others are concerned. Perhaps they have to get to a certain place by a certain time? I consider picking up the guard in a princess carry. He is definitely lighter than an orc, and I could carry him easily. But when I clumsily gesture and offer, he looks horrified. I guess that’s too much for his manliness to take.

Instead I choose to make one more potion. A nick in my palm and a quick dip into my pouch gives me enough of my own blood to make a healing potion, and I picture the human blood that’s in there too. Then I speak quietly. “Create a strengthened potion of healing.”

Potion of healing - Potent

Oh yes. This potion is a little strange looking. The green of my blood is slightly brighter, and the red of the human blood is a rich, ruby colour. They don’t mix together in the vial. Instead they flow around each other like a lava lamp. I hand it to the injured guard and then pantomime drinking it.

He looks at it and narrows his eyes, but he drinks it while everyone stops to watch. Is potion drinking a spectator sport? When he finishes, his eyes widen.

“Name of the gods themselves, that’s amazin’! Look at this!” He moves himself around in circles, twisting and bending his waist. “I’m set right now, m’lady! Even my bad knee’s fixed up!” He lifts his breastplate and shows his belly. There isn’t even a mark where the orc speared him.

Theo is looking at me strangely, as is Marika. “How did you make that?” he asks.

I shrug and lift both hands. Marika speaks up. “The alchemy guild is gong to be very interested in you. Making potions without equipment is something I’ve never heard of.”

“You can find powerful potions in dungeon chests, but that’s not a reliable source,” says Theo. “A potion that powerful would be expensive to make and take a lot of time. But you just opened your hand and there it was. Can you make more?”

I shake my head no, and then nod yes. I point at my pouch and open my hands to show they are empty. Theo figures it out.

“You don’t have the ingredients?” I nod. “Ah. That’s a relief, honestly. If you could just produce such things out of thin air, that would cause a lot of trouble. I’m a little bit glad that you can’t.”

While we walk I can see that Marika is watching me. She has something on her mind, but she doesn’t mention it. That’s fine, she can talk to me when she’s ready. Just when it seems that she will open up, though, I smell something. It’s the same meaty smell that the deer gave off, and my stomach rumbles.

All the humans look at me. I shrug in embarrassment. “Are you hungry, lady troll?” asks one of the guards, the one I healed. His name is Caine. His companions are Tyler and Andrew.

I nod and lift my hands to my head, spreading my fingers like a deer’s antlers. They understand immediately. Without further ado, I step into the woods.

Once I am away from the path, I feel strangely at home. The troll in me knows how to hunt, and I let my instincts take over. The smell is easy to follow. I am almost silent as I pass through the underbrush, and when I see the deer, it sees me as well. We lock eyes and it is frozen. Maybe it knows it can’t escape, because it doesn’t try to flee when I approach. With a quick movement I kill the deer and throw it over my shoulder. I am tempted to tear into it right there, but I know the humans will appreciate fresh meat, and it’s almost camp time anyway.

Being a troll feels amazing! I’m so strong and I feel like I’m invincible. But the burn on my side reminds me that I am certainly not. Still, it’s so much better than… before. When I slept in the hospital bed. When I couldn’t breathe without a tube. When my arms were so weak—

I shake my head. No. That’s not me! This is me. I look down at myself. I’m eight feet of mean green potion machine, and while it’s not what I would have chosen, it’s what I’ve been dealt. One thing being sick for so long taught me was that you can complain all you want about your circumstances but it won’t help anything at all. In fact it makes it worse; you forget to look for the good things. And I feel chock full of good things right now. The thoughts put a smile on my face as I return to the camp.

I am right; everyone cheers the idea of fresh meat instead of salted. However, I have no idea how to process a deer! Luckily Tyler and Andrew take over and have me hang it up in a tree. I experience a strange feeling; the human part of me is squeamish when then clean the deer but the troll part of me wants to eat the whole thing, guts and all. I am not yet that far gone! Maybe if I was alone, though.

I watch the whole time in case the Eyes of Alchemy see something useful, and they do. It’s the antlers that flare up in my sight, which makes me happy because the idea of deer guts in my pouch is kind of gross.

Deer Antler - Alertness

Both antlers together make enough ingredients for two potions. I consider making the potions now but decide against it. If we need them later I’ll make them at that time.

That night passes peacefully. Once again I am not tired. Do trolls just not sleep? I feel like I could sleep if I wanted to but I am not bothered by the lack of it. I can’t get the concepts across to my companions to ask them, so I don’t worry about it. Maybe in Montcalm there will be a book I can read about trolls.