Chapter Eight
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I waited for Alianor to return, but she never did. Instead, a male troll came to collect me.
"Coten has requested your presence," the old troll said.
"Is he going to eat me?" I asked timidly.
A low, hoarse chuckle followed. "Trolls don't eat humans. We eat plants. Delicious."
My shoulders relaxed.
"That doesn't mean they won't kill you though."
My shoulders tensed once more.
"Follow me," he said gruffly. "Door's open." I tried to make a run for it, but he caught my dress with his overlarge hands.
"Don't try leaving," he said. "It won't help your case, and you'll never escape."
He kept a tight grip on my tunic, even though I wasn't going anywhere. The warmth from the caves was making me sweat uncontrollably. I could hardly breath.
"It's so hot," I complained.
"That's why we made you stay in that cold room. You'd die if you slept in the heart of the caves."
"Oh, you have my thanks for trapping me in there," I said cynically.
We arrived in front of two stone doors. They were carved beautifully, with patterns of plants and fire. Two people . . . er, trolls . . . from inside opened the doors, despite the apparent heaviness of them. On a platform sat six carved-stone thrones with a troll in each one. One throne was larger than the rest, so I assumed he was the troll in charge.
"Human," said the troll-in-charge, "we--"
"Evelin," I interrupted him.
"What?" he said, seeming deeply offended that I had interrupted. Maybe that was another thing about troll customs. Be quiet, and do not interrupt.
"My name is Evelin, not 'Human,'" I said.
"Very well," he said slowly, while frowning. "Ev-u-lin, we are the Council of the Trolli Chieftains. I am the High Chief. We are head over all trolls. We have decided what to do with you."
What would they do to me? I swallowed nervously. The High Chief Troll continued, "You will stay above ground for a week near our caves during day. Trolls will come above, and you will study them each day of the week. At night you will sleep in the safety of our caves. Then, you will study more creatures, until you have enough information to convince the idiotic humans of our existence. You will return in less than three months with humans to help us. Chieftain Coten will explain more to you." I saw Coten sitting among the Chieftains and looked to him.
"Come with me, human," he said. "We must return to the surface."
"It's Evelin," I echoed.
At the surface, Coten began to explain the troll problems to me. "A long time ago," he started. "Humans and trolls lived together. But man decided we were too dangerous to live among men. They cast an enchantment on Havane and trapped us here, along with other creatures. We had to leave our homes and food and were forced here. But the population of trolls is too high for all of us to live together. We need to be free, to have more caves to live in, to return home."
"I see."
"That's where you come in," he said. "Whenever a human comes to the Forbidden Lands, we keep them here out of revenge for what their forefathers did. But we have decided that you must take all the information of us back to your king, and find a way to break this enchantment," Coten said.
"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.
"Come sit with us, Human," said Coten. "You must be hungry."
"That's all right," I said, not looking up from my sketch.
"I insist."
"No, thank you," I said as I shaded my depiction of the chandelier-like lantern hanging from the ceiling.
"But learning about a troll's diet is surely an important part of your research, true?"
I looked up. He had a point . . .
"Come, Human."
I relented, standing up and joining the table. The rocky stool was a bit small, but I didn't mind. I was quite short myself.
A collection of vegetable-based dishes sat on platters. Each troll had his or her own goblet, with a burning liquid inside. The trolls grabbed what they wanted, without a plate or eating utensil. When their fingers became too messy, they stuck them in the goblet, and the fire melted away any food residue.
"Here," Coten said. He handed me a goblet. Inside, a black, tar-like substance was lit on fire.
I pushed it carefully aside. "No, thank you."
Coten grabbed a steaming vegetable that looked as if it were purple carrot. He popped it in his mouth and reached for another. I drew the vegetable, and reached for one myself. It burned my fingers, and I dropped it on the table. The troll across from me shot me a questioning look.
I frowned, and picked up the carrot again, biting into it. It tasted similar to a potato and a carrot, but with a slight flavor of minerals. Overall, it was quite bland. I picked up my pen to record that, when suddenly, a burning sensation filled my mouth. My face turned red, and I looked around frantically for something to drink.
"Spicy!" I wheezed.
The trolls around me laughed roughly. I grabbed a pitcher of (warm) water and poured it down my throat. I emptied the whole thing, until the burning in my mouth faded. I could still feel the food traveling to my stomach, where it stopped.
The trolls were still laughing. I glared at them. "Why did you tell me to eat that?" I asked Coten angrily. "It could've killed me."
"Do not insult our cooks," Coten scolded, although his shoulders still shook with silent chuckles. "All trolli food tastes that way."
Deathly spicy, I wrote in my sketch book. Do not eat, unless you have the desire to create a forest fire in your throat.
I glowered at Coten. "What am I supposed to eat then?"
He shrugged. "Mayhap we have some nasty carrots left from the famine a couple years ago." He signaled to a troll walking by, and whispered something into her ear. She nodded, and looked sympathetically at me, then turned away. She returned moments later with a plate of regular, warm carrots. For the first time in my life, carrots tasted like heaven. I'd never really liked them much before.
Trolls chewed without a single sound. They shot me annoying glances at my chewing, which seemed extremely loud compared to the silence.
"Why are trolls so quiet?" I asked Coten.
"We are beings of fire," he replied. "Fire does not make loud sounds. It crackles and flickers. As do we."
I wrote that down.
"Fire is chaos, though," I argued. "It causes destruction. Yet each of you are very calm and collected.
"Controlled fire is not dangerous. It stays wherever it has fuel. We control our fire."
I scribbled down notes. It intrigued me.
"What happens if a troll does not control his or her fire?"
"It goes out," he said simply.
I interpreted it. "They die?"
He nodded.
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Well, another chapter up. Hope you liked learning more about the trolls! Please support my story so others can discover it! Thank you!
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