The Forbidden Lands (Wattys 2015 Winner)

Chapter Eight

"But there could be hundreds of different creatures. It will take a year, not four months!" I complained.

"There are six races of creatures with knowledge and society. Humans and trolls are two. You will research each of these creatures, and take that knowledge back."

"Are pixies a race?" I asked.

"No, the creatures that are vain or dangerous do not have the same skills other races have. They are closer to animals than humans," he said.

"Oh. What are the four other races?"

"The merrow, the stiria, the elves, and the faeries."

"What are stiria?" I asked, the word sounding unfamiliar.

"Beings of snow and ice," said Coten with exhaustion. The words must have been taking up all his energy.

"Can you tell me any more about the enchantment?" I inquired.

"Six Enchanters cast the spell long ago. If you can find all six of them, you'll be able to break the Enchantment, I believe. You might be able to find out more in the elves' library."

I pondered that. The Enchanters could be anywhere. Who knew if they were even all human? "Very well," I said, "I'll help you."

"Start with me then, I suppose," said Coten. "You can sketch me."

I pulled out my sketch book happily.

"Oh, no, no, no," Coten said. "Don't use that. It will surely not survive all that is to come." He handed me a leather-bound book. I opened it. The pages were made of thick, blank paper. "Use this."

"Thank you," I said, turning to the first couple of pages, and beginning to draw Coten. Troll hands were extremely large for their bodies. Their heads seemed large as well. For their size, their chests and shoulders were extra broad and muscular. Coten's skin looked like a coarse piece of sandstone, but I'd seen darker and lighter shades of brown, red, and black. He wore a crude sort of robe.

"Why don't your clothes burn?" I asked.

"It's our secret. It use to be our main export. We make it ourselves."

"You cannot tell me anything more?"

"No," he said.

"Can you tell me what humans did to the trolls last time one visited?"

"They kidnapped our oldest, wisest troll. The previous High Chieftain," he said bitterly.

I wrote what I could down. Coten told me a lot of things, but he soon grew tired of conversation. After I was finished, the day was almost over.

"Now you can watch us, and learn more. Watching is better than talking," he said wisely. I followed him below.

The trolls were just waking up. They headed to the market in groups and families. I sketched their homes, which were carved into the cavern walls.

I spent the night observing. The trolls' largest meal was in their morning; a morning that I considered to be night. They feasted at a long table that stretched from one side of a cave room to another. It was much longer than the tables in Castle , seating nearly two hundred. Another sat next to it, seating half the amount of the first.