Curse of the Weretroll (rewrite)

Chapter 21

     Branch paced around his cage anxiously, feeling much better then the night before. His wounds had mysteriously healed over, and he no longer felt the pain coursing through his body. Poppy really was a miracle worker...

With a soft whimper, the wolf headed over to the edge of his cage, beginning to chew fiercely on the bars holding him captive like some kind of trophy for the entire village to gaze upon, the terrified child trying his hardest to escape his small prison... he had to get out of there... before the trolls had the chance to finish him off...

But no matter how hard he tried... now matter how much he chewed... the survivalist just couldn't seem to break through the sturdy bars of the epically durable cage... and even worse... it was one of the traps he had designed for village safety. Why did he have to be so good at building things!?

With a sigh, Branch gave up on his failed escape attempt, looking up towards the sky to gage the time.

To his horror, the village grump was distraught to realize that the sun would soon be rising any minute now...

Would he transform back into a troll at the first rays of the new day? If he did... then everyone would know what he truly was... a monster...

With a soft whimper of pure terror, Branch began once again pacing around his cage, trying desperately to come up with a plan... a plan to save his secret... a plan to save his life...

The cage wasn't very large, but it was just big enough for him to walk in circles around the perimeter... so that's what he did... he paced in small circles, his heart pounding right out of his chest...

'I have to get out of here,' he thought to himself in a panic. 'I have to...'

—————

Up on a hill top, Poppy was sitting in the tall flowered grass, looking sadly down at the wolf who was pacing worriedly in his cage...

A tear came sliding down her cheek as she watched him, clearly seeing his pure uncontainable terror even though she was rather far away...

"Aaaaaaaaaoooooooooo!"

The young princess' heart shattered at the horrible sound of this poor animal howling out in fear, almost as if he were begging for someone to come and help him... to save him from his disastrous fate...

'I have to get him out of there...' she decided, a determined look coming to her face as she wiped the tears from her beautiful pink eyes. 'But how...'

—————

Still down in his cage, Branch continued to pace back and forth, periodically howling up at the sky to voice his worried thoughts...

That is... until a particular smell suddenly came to his nose...

His head jerked up quickly at the familiar scent, instantly seeing a red glitter troll in a police uniform approaching him... the same troll who had forced Poppy away the previous night...

Seeing this threat quickly approaching, Branch growled softly, slinking back in his cage to get as far away from him as possible, afraid of what this troll was going to do to him...

"You don't scare me..." the officer stated firmly, giving the wolf a firm glare to back up his words.

Branch gulped at the horrible glare he was getting from this troll, his ears drooping down low as he stopped his growls, replacing them with silent whimpers of fear...