The Never-Dying Man

Chapter 4 Trolls

Chapter 4

TrollsThe journey up through the mountains was as difficult as it had been the previous year. It was about the same time, and snow still lingered.

They took a different route from previously as they were not trying to find a pass over the mountains. It did not seem long before they reached the cave where Zplon had stayed with her remaining cub, Crthnl. Grnff had wanted to check on her, and as it was en route to where he had lost track of the trolls, he wished to make the slight detour both for his own sake and hers.

He told the Wolves that she had other yeti close by, but he was still concerned. The cave was higher in the mountains than the one where the yeti had rescued Wolf, but they tended to move higher in the spring and summer, as they did not like the warmth of the lower reaches of the mountains.

Eventually they arrived at a high valley where they could see a number of caves in the valley sides. Grnff made his way to one, and was greeted by a delighted Zplon. She hugged him, seeming reluctant to let him go, then she saw Wolf. Overcoming her natural fear of human, elf and dwarf, she came and hugged each of them in turn.

They introduced The Cat and Grimmaldo, and then Zplon turned to Grnff and spoke in the yeti's guttural language. Grnff translated.

'Zplon say yoo c*m into cayv. She get sumthing eet for yoo. And yoo see cub, Crthnl, too.'

So they entered the cave. All the original members of Wolf were quite at ease, but Grimmaldo and The Cat were decidedly unhappy. The Cat whispered to Carthinal.

'Is it safe here? These creatures won't attack us will they? I've heard things about yeti'

Carthinal smiled. He remembered their own anxieties last year.

'No, Cat,' he replied. 'Both Grnff and Zplon are friendly. I understand the other yeti are also not hostile normally. It is we who have given them cause to attack people by our treatment of them.'

The Cat looked a little less uneasy, but Carthinal noticed he kept his hand near his knife the whole time.

Soon, Zplon came forward carrying a small bundle in her arms.

'Crthnl,' she said, as she laid the bundle down on the floor before them. It was covered in silvery grey hair, and was wriggling. Two large black eyes opened at one end of the wriggling creature and it stopped moving to stare at the strange beings gazing down at it. It wrinkled a little black nose and four limbs appeared from the hair and began to wave around. Then a pink mouth opened and a wailing sound came from it. Grnff picked it up and spoke to it in Grosmerian.

'Yoo be not afrayd, lickl won. Thees are frends.' He rocked the yeti cub in his arms. 'This is Crthnl. I teech him Grosmrin.' he told them proudly.

'He's beautiful,' replied Thadora with a delighted smile.

The others agreed with her. The little cub was a very appealing creature.

'He's better looking than his name-sake anyway,' teased Grimmaldo. Carthinal swung a mock punch at the other mage, who dodged quickly.

'May I touch him?' asked Kimi shyly.

'Yoo may,' agreed Grnff, and Kimi gently reached out her hand and stroked the cub. He stopped wailing and turned his black eyes towards her. Then he began a little snuffling noise. Zplon made the sound the others had learned to interpret as a laugh, and said something to Grnff.

'She say Crthnl liyk yoo. Yoo soothe him good. Yoo want stay here and bee nursemayd?'

Kimi declined the offer graciously, but Asphodel saw in her eyes what she really wished.

They decided on two things that night. One was to set off early the next morning, and the other, after much discussion by the eight original Wolves, was to ask Grimmaldo and The Cat if they would like to join them and become members of their sworn company.

Both agreed after it was explained to them how their name and oath came about. Asphodel agreed to be the representative of the gods again, and the oath was about to be spoken when Thadora suddenly spoke.

'I've just thought of something.'

They all looked at her as she turned to both Grimmaldo and The Cat, mouth set in a serious mode.

'Something very important needs to be sorted out before we admit you to our band. You must answer this question truthfully.'

The others looked at her, puzzled.

'Tell me, Grimmaldo, Cat, can you sing?'

Understanding dawned on the faces of the others.

'Yes,' replied Carthinal. 'Red Cub's right. We must know the answer to that question.'

'I'm sorry, Carthinal, I sing like a crow,' replied Grimmaldo. The Cat also replied that he could not sing either.

The rest shook their heads and looked solemn.

'Can we allow them to join the Singing Wolves then?' Thadora looked round the group, face very serious.

'What's this about singing wolves?' The Cat demanded.

'We occasionally become travelling entertainers and sing for our suppers,' replied Basalt, enjoying this very much. 'We need to ensure our reputation is kept up. We're very popular in Quantissarillishon you know. Thadora, you're right. I'm not sure we can let them join us officially unless they can help us entertain if needs be.'

Then Fero seemed to suddenly get an idea.

'I know,' he said. 'Cat, you are a cat burglar. You must be able to do some tricks like tightrope walking and some tumbling. That would do. Do you have any “party-pieces”, Grimmaldo?' he asked the young mage.

Thadora was nearly bursting with trying to keep from laughing. She did not dare look at Randa.

Then Grimmaldo replied, 'I can do magic, of course, and I can play the grillin,' he mentioned a guitar-like instrument, 'but I don't have one with me.'

Eventually, Thadora could contain herself no longer and she exploded with laughter. The two victims looked surprised for a moment then joined in.

'That was really unfair,' laughed Grimmaldo. 'I really believed you. Popular in Quantissarillishon indeed.'

'That bit's true enough, believe it or not,' Carthinal told his friend. He went on to explain how they had arrived in the Elven capital city with no money, having had it all stolen by hobgoblins, so they had had to become entertainers to survive.

'It was fun,' Thadora told him. 'I for one would like to do it again sometime.'

The atmosphere then became more serious. The swearing in of the two new Wolves took place just outside the cave of their yeti friends. All renewed the vows they had taken, since they must also swear to the new members. They ended with a handclasp and all followed Asphodel in saying, 'We are Wolf.'

So eight Wolves became ten.

OoOoOoOoOo

They left early the next morning in the company of Grnff, having said their goodbyes to Zplon and Crthnl. Grnff led them for one and a half days through the mountains. There were no paths here to follow and it was cold. Spring had not yet reached these heights and the eight original Wolves were reminded of their previous journey through the mountains further north. Suddenly the yeti stopped in a place where the snow had been trampled and there was the remains of an old fire.

'Grnff trak too heer,' said the Yeti. 'Traks not cleer after. Grnff not skilld inuf to follow.'

Fero went over to the fire and examined it. Then he looked at Grnff.

'About how long ago were you here, Grnff?' he asked the Yeti.

'Many days. Abowt one turn of Silver Moon.' he answered. Wolf had learned that the yeti called the moon, Ullin, Silver Moon and Lyndor was known as Golden Moon.

Fero replied thoughtfully, almost to himself.

'That means about thirty-two days. Over five sixdays.' He then looked up at the yeti.

After so long, it isn't easy to follow a trail, Grnff, but I promise I'll do my best. You others, look out for anything unusual too. A broken twig, indentations in the snow or ground that may indicate that something had depressed the snow prior to another fall, a dropped item. Anything at all that may seem out of place. This fire is very old, and it could well be a month or more since it was lit. See how the ashes have been blown by the wind.'

He indicated a light dusting of grey over the surface of the snow that the others had paid no heed to. Then he began to cast around the area to see if he could deduce the direction that the trolls had taken with the captive yeti cub.

After they had all spent some time searching around the campsite, there came a cry from Thadora.

'Fero. Over here.'

'What is it, Red Cub?' the ranger replied, going over to peer at whatever Thadora was indicating. He saw a few white hairs caught on the bare twig of a bush. He called Grnff over.

'What colour is Tadra's hair, Grnff?' he asked the yeti.

'Tadra hav hair same az Zpln. Wiyt as snow,' replied the yeti, bending to look at the hair that Fero was indicating to him.

'Could this be from her?' he asked looking up into Grnff's black eyes.

'Yes,' replied Grnff. 'That iz her culor.' For a moment, his eyes lit up in hope; then he looked away. 'Maybe it'z her hair, but maybe anuther of cold folk past this way.'

Thadora looked up at her unlikely friend.

'We have to hope, Grnff,' she said taking the yeti's big hand in her small one. 'It's the only lead we have. We know the trolls stopped here, and that they had Tadra. We must believe they passed that way and that some of her hair caught on that bush.'

Grnff showed his teeth in his feral smile, but his eyes remained sad.

'Yoo arr riyt, Red Cub. Wee must be howpful. Wee hav no uther siyns. Ranger, Grnff think wee must go this way by wiyt hair.'

'I agree, Grnff. No one else has found any other signs.'

He made his words a question as he looked round at the others. They all shook their heads.

'Come on. This is the path we have to take then.'

They found a few signs that something had passed that way, but it was difficult to ascertain exactly when this passage had taken place, or even what had passed. There was no more hair, and a heavy snow had fallen obliterating all signs of any footprints as a wind had driven the snow so that even depressions in the previous snow could not be determined.

After plodding on for three more days the path they were following, which was little more than a game trail, began to descend in a south-easterly direction.

'Towards Erian,' Carthinal pointed out, musingly.

A further four days brought them to a steep-sided valley. A river wound through the bottom and the tall peaks of the mountains climbed skywards on either side. This was the land of eagles and vultures. These birds soared above them looking for game or carrion on the ground below.

The valley floor was green with trees and grass, and the newly sprung spring flowers lent their colour to the scene. The companions were pleased to see the river, and they filled their water skins and washed some of the worst dust and grime from themselves. The water was still very cold, falling as it did from the snows higher up, so they decided against bathing. Mountain streams flowed into the river from time to time, often in the form of waterfalls from the steep slopes above them.

They made camp in a clearing in the trees, which were mainly pine and spruce, and rested for a little longer than usual, allowing themselves a full day's rest, in spite of Grnff's anxiety to be continuing.

Carthinal pointed out that they would, in the long run, make better progress if they were rested and managed to catch some fresh meat. Fero and Asphodel went off on this task.

She had become quite proficient with her sling and so had decided to begin to learn to use a mace for fighting as her experiences on their previous travels had shown her that hand-to-hand fighting needed more than unarmed combat on occasion. She had in fact become quite good, but on this hunting trip, she would use her sling.

The hunters were rewarded with two pheasants, two pigeons and even a hare, so they returned feeling pleased. Everyone sat down and ate the fresh meat with pleasure after Randa and Thadora had cooked it with freshly gathered herbs and the roots of some plants that Basalt told them were very good to eat. Basalt brought out some of his precious dwarf spirits for after the meal and they spent the evening and the next day in resting, talking and singing.

True to his word, Grimmaldo did sing like a crow, but he tried to join in until the others laughingly told him to stop as he was putting everyone off.

Even Grnff had to admit that the rest day had been a good idea. The following morning they all felt much refreshed and set off at a good pace. There was no other way to go except along the valley so they did not feel it was necessary to hunt too closely for tracks, but Fero still kept his eyes open.

Two more days of travelling through the valley brought them within sight of a small village. It was built on hill that rose from the valley floor, with the little dwellings seemingly tumbling down the hillside, like the water of the many streams and rills they had passed.

At the top of the hill was a small temple dedicated to the gods in general, as was the case in many small villages that could not support many temples. They paused looking at the village, each debating whether this was the destination to which the trolls had carried Tadra.

'We should go cautiously, I think,' Carthinal said. 'Trolls don't usually enter villages of humans, but strange things have been happening. Trolls don't usually carry off young yeti either.'

All agreed with this, and as the village was still a few miles away, decided to proceed through the woods. Before leaving the track they had been following, Asphodel and Randa went to re-fill their water-skins from the river.

'Fero,' called Randa. 'Come here, but carefully.'

The dark ranger approached, wondering what had prompted the call. He found the pair looking down at the ground. His eyes followed theirs, and he saw footprints in the mud. Many were churned up and unidentifiable, but there was one clear print just like a small version of the yeti print they had seen in the snow the previous summer. He looked up and met Randa's eyes.

'Yes, Randa,' he said quietly. 'I believe it's Tadra. This print was made quite recently. She can't be far away. For some reason they stopped here, or hereabouts. What is more, she was alive at the time. Let's go tell the others.'

The three of them left the river and spoke to the others. They agreed to make camp in the trees and to cast around for any further signs. Shortly, Fero found signs of a group, whether people or trolls could not be deduced, passing along a narrow trail through the woods. This he and The Cat followed silently until they were sure they would not be detected, then they called the others. For the rest of the day they followed this pattern until they had to stop as night was falling.

The following day they started early and, continuing the same pattern, made steady progress. They were bypassing the village it seemed.

In the middle of the afternoon, The Cat suddenly held up his hand, and Fero stopped.

'Listen,' he whispered. 'Can you hear something?'

Fero listened, and sure enough, he thought he heard the sound of voices.

'We go on even more quietly now,' he whispered. 'If it's the trolls they may have patrols and will certainly have guards. Let's hope they still have Tadra.'

The pair crept on quietly until they smelt the strong smell of troll and found themselves looking down into a depression in the landscape. There was the trolls' camp. There seemed to be a dozen trolls in the camp, all busy with various tasks, and judging by the state of the camp, they had been there for some time. There were the bones of animals scattered around where the trolls had thrown them after they had finished eating, and it seemed that the creatures had no latrine area, for the smell of bodily wastes permeated the whole camp. The Cat wrinkled his nose.

'And people complain of the smell of the Warren in Hambara!' he exclaimed as a troll stopped in his tracks to urinate. 'These creatures are filthy. It's a wonder they don't die of terrible diseases.'

Then they saw a pathetic little figure. A very dirty, hairy creature was sitting near the edge of the camp. It was impossible to say what colour its hair was. It would have been about three feet tall standing up, they estimated, but it sat huddled up with its arms curled around its head. It had a chain around its neck and was tethered to a metal stake hammered into the ground. It was rocking backwards and forwards, making little whimpering sounds.

A large troll sat with a club close by, looking intently around. Obviously a guard. The guard said something in its own language to the creature and kicked out at it. The creature flinched and stopped moaning.

'Tadra!' growled Fero. 'That has to be Tadra.'

'What a way to treat a baby!' The Cat beat his fist into the ground. 'Let's get back to the others and rescue her as soon as possible.'

Soon all of Wolf were crouched at the place where Fero and The Cat had seen the camp and they began making plans for the rescue.

Trolls were notoriously difficult to kill, having tremendous powers of recuperation. Wounds closed visibly, and they could even regenerate lost limbs in a matter of hours. Consequently, they were almost fearless fighters. Only one thing frightened them, Carthinal pointed out, and that was fire. They seemed to be unable to regenerate after burning.

'So we'll have to use fire on them,' he finished. 'I can cast a fireball. Do you know any fire spells, Grimmaldo?' He turned to the young mage.

Grimmaldo grinned. 'Several,' he replied. 'I rather like fire.' He almost apologised to the group.

'If we wrap some arrows in cloth and dip them in lamp oil, we can set fire to it and fire those,' suggested Kimi.

Davrael smiled at her proudly.

'Good suggestion, Little Mouse,' he said. 'We'll have to sacrifice some clothing though.'

The suggestions continued, and they soon formulated a plan. They decided they could easily take on twelve trolls and began to prepare for their attack.

Bramble, that was the name Fero had given the dog, sensed their excitement and anticipation and he began to run round the group until Fero commanded him to lie down and stay still. The dog looked very woebegone as he was being left out of what was obviously to be an exciting time, and he slunk into the shade of a tree, tail down, with an expression of such misery that Fero took pity on him and called him back.

'I'm sorry, boy,' he told the animal, crouching down and rubbing his ears, 'but you were rather in the way with such exuberance. I didn't mean to exclude you. You will hunt troll with us later. Now just lie there and keep from getting under our feet.'

'You talk to that dog as though he were a human,' said Randa, bending down to stroke Bramble as she grinned at Fero. 'Anyone would think he could understand you.'

'He can,' was the reply. 'Maybe not the words, or at least, not all of them, but he can interpret tone and body language as well, if not better, than many people.'

Just then, Grnff, who had been watching the camp, held up his hand.

'Voysez. I think hyoomanz cum.'

The others fell silent. Sure enough, from the camp below, they heard the sound of human voices speaking Erian.

'Maybe our job is going to be done for us,' hoped Asphodel, who had little appetite for fighting even when necessary.

'I don't think so, Asphodel,' Carthinal said. 'They seem rather friendly with the trolls. A singularly strange state of affairs, I think. Come here and see if you can understand any of their talk.'

Asphodel was the only one of Wolf who could speak Erian. She had stayed there for a while on her way to Grosmer before she entered the service of Sylissa. She crept forward to where Carthinal was crouched.

'They are greeting each other. Formal greetings,' she told him. 'I don't think they know each other. The big troll seems to be their leader and is doing the talking. He's asking the leader of the men why they are late.'

There were about eight men that they could see, all dressed in armour and carrying swords and crossbows. None of them looked at ease in the trolls' camp, and several had cloths pressed to their noses and mouths.

'Don't blame them a bit,' whispered Basalt. 'That camp stinks.'

'The man is telling the troll chief that it's none of his business why they're late, and have they got the goods. The troll chief says yes, have they got the payment. The man says not to worry, they will get the payment the Master thinks is suitable after the goods have been transferred. The troll isn't happy about that. I didn't understand what he said, but I think he swore at the man. He says, 'What about the payment agreed?' The man wants to see the goods first. I'm afraid the goods they spoke of is Tadra.'

There was a growl from Grnff at this.

The man and the troll strolled over to where the guard was standing by the little yeti. They continued speaking, but the friends could no longer hear clearly. Then they came back past Wolf. Asphodel continued translating.

'There's some bargaining going on. It seems these men come from someone they call “The Master”. He wants the yeti cub for some reason, but the trolls want the reward before handing her over. There seems to be some bargaining, and I don't fully understand what is being said here.' She paused, wrinkling her brow in concentration.

'Ah! Now they seem to have agreed.'

The leader turned and said something to one of his followers. The man turned away and went towards the horses that had carried them into the camp. He took a sack from the back of one and carried it over to his leader who opened it and handed over three smaller bags. He spoke and Asphodel translated.

'He is telling the troll leader that the rest will be handed over after they take possession of the “goods”. As it is getting late, they will stay in their own camp tonight. Now there's some argument as to where Tadra should spend the night. Neither party seems to trust the other.'

There was further discussion, during which the man and troll agreed that Tadra would stay where she was for the night, and be guarded by a troll and a man. The following day, she would be removed to the custody of the men, and the trolls would get the rest of their reward. This seemed to please both groups.

'Wee must rescyoo her tooniyt,' said Grnff. 'If she go with men, wee may lose her.'

The others agreed and none of them wished to leave the little creature in captivity any longer than was necessary. They decided to go ahead with their plan, although the odds were worse with twenty to fight instead of twelve. They returned to their camp to wait for nightfall.