TWANK !
- AOOOOOWWWW !!! Something howl in pain.
Poppy froze, widening her eyes in terror. She had recognized the sound of a trap which had been activated and had just caught something ... and this something growled and scratched the ground a few meters from her.
Slowly, trying to slow her panic breathing, the pop queen rose on her trembling legs. She turned her head as gently as possible to look behind the tree where she was. There, a few meters away like she had supposed, the rope of the trap was stiff as something was pulling on with all its might to free itself.
Her heart was beating at a mile an hour while she panicked slightly; the creature was hiding by the tall grass for now, making it invisible. All Poppy heard was growls and groans of pain.
And she advanced.
She didn't know why, but she moved on. One foot in front of the other, sneaking silently until what the trap had captured. Her heart was beating faster and faster, her breathing was more and more going fast as well... Finally, she found herself just in front of it, still hidden by tall grass .... She took a deep breath ...
Suddenly, she spread the tall grass.
What she saw froze her.
A troll, a gray troll who stared at her in terror. At first, she thought he was a zombie, because of how he was dressed ... but his blue eyes diving into hers immediately told her that he wasn't a zombie, not even a rock troll.
The poor boy was tied up.
The two trolls remained frozen for a moment, staring at the other in surprise before the male began to growl at the queen of pop. Poppy stepped back, and went back behind the tree, thinking that if he hadn't been trapped he would surely jump on her .... the only thing she was sure was that this troll was not like others.
The adrenaline had dropped so quickly, she just fell unconscious behind the tree. Believing that she was gone, the wild troll started to growl and scratch the ground again, trying to escape.
When QueenPoppy woke up again, it was still night. It took a moment to remember what had just happened ... She got up again and listened; she couldn't hear him anymore ... was he gone?
To make sure, she went back to where the poor troll had been caught. This time, she slowly pushed aside the tall grass, and she saw him, still traped and lying on the ground, uttering little whimpers of despair and pain. At this sight, the heart of the pink troll broke into a thousand pieces. No matter who he was, she knew he shouldn't be in that trap right now.
So she slowly approached him. Too exhausted, he looked at her, crying like a puppy would in fear because there was nothing else he could do.
- Shhh ... She murmured, poor boy, this is not your lucky day, is it? ...
For the first time, this seemingly wild troll seemed to respond, uttering another sound and looking at her with blue eyes filled with tears. Poppy slowly raised her hand towards him, at first he tried to move away, barely crawling and crying more:
- No, no shhh ... She reassured him, its okay, shhh...
He looked at her again, her soft voice calmed him down so he stopped moving. Again the queen brought her hand to him, he did nothing so she stroked his mane of black hair. He let out a little cry and closed his eyes, lulled by her sweetness. Finally, finally someone who understood him and wouldn't hurt him.
Someone who would protect him.
Poppy continued to stroke his hair. The question that needed to be asked was; What was he doing there? Why did he act like that? But Poppy didn't care, all she knew was that she had to help him.
The trap, normally, should have been a net which would have lifted him from the ground, without injuring him ... but this trap was badly set and had catch his right leg. It was wrapped in tight ropes which, if it was not cut soon, would cut its blood circulation completely. But the results were already pretty serious; the strings were soaking in his blood cause he had to pull to hard on them, causing a shearing effect and she had to quickly clean and bandage his wounds before they became infected.
She searched her hair for something to cut the ropes and finally found old scrapbooking scissors. Seeing the blades, the poor gray troll began to cry more loud than ever:
- Shhh ... I just want to take that off of your leg... She whispered, pointed the strings around his leg.
He seemed to understand and ran his hands - or rather his paws - in front of his face, closing his eyes unwilling to look. She couldn't help but smile and leaned over to cut the ropes, being careful not to hurt him more.
- It's okay ... good boy, it's almost over ... She whispered, she spoke to him as we would with a dog... but he was kind of one.
She tried not to cry when she saw the damage on his leg ... poor boy, he didn't deserve that. She removed the ropes and threw them further before taking out something to disinfect the wounds of the gray troll. When she had finished, she put bandage the wounds before stroking the black hair of the male again.
- How did you end up there? What do you have around your neck? ...
She parted his hair slightly to look, it was a kind of black necklace on which he was engraving the name that the rock trolls had given him ...
- ... Armado? It means weapon, you have nothing of a weapon ... who put this necklace on you? It is certainly not your name ... What is your name?
He looked at her with wide eyes before starting to chew the corner of her cape. She frowned and tried to call him as she took off that stupid necklace that was too tight for him:
- Hmm... No ... something simpler huh?
At the same time, he had grabbed a piece of wood between his teeth and continued to nibble on it. She threw the necklace away. She knew he would follow her everywhere now, up much like a dog brought a branch to its master.
- ... Branch? She tried
In response, he turned his face to her and licked her hand with thanks sounds. It was quite strange, but this troll was like a dog, so she assumed it was logical .... Branch, it was his real name. It was then that she noticed the scars on his face, his eyebrow, his arms, his back ... The poor thing had been beaten, no doubt.
- It was the rock trolls, right? She says, understanding why he was disguised like that, QueenBarb did that to you?
Hearing the name and suddenly regaining his energy, Branch got up on three legs, seeming to panic. He grabbed her cape between his sharp teeth, starting to pull on it, seeming to want to say something to her. Poppy laughed and forced him to let go:
- No, no ... I have to go back to camp, they need me ... you know, house. Do you have a house?
- Aurf! He bark, he walked awkwardly towards the other direction, he wanted to go towards the forest.
He wanted her to follow him, but she smiled at him and walked towards the direction of the camp. Branch barked again, he hesitated and followed her, his hips waddling awkwardly due to his handicap. He went with surprising speed in front of her, trying to make her back off.
"Protect ... protect her ..." he thought as he tried to push her with his forehead.
She smelled like the one he was supposed to bring back, but now that she had saved him, he couldn't do that. Because he knew that at the big rock of fire, they would hurt her like they hurt him ... he couldn't let that happen.
- What are you doing ? No, I can't follow you, I have to go home, the pretty pink troll tells him.
So she walked away from him and continued on her way. Branch made another bark, frightened. He knew what was going on, and that they shouldn't go there. It was dangerous. So it was why he began to follow her, hopping on his three legs. Poppy looked at him, sighing when he noticed this, but a smile appeared on her face.
He wasn't soon to leaving her, she had untied him, but now he was tied up to her.
As the two new friends left, in the bush, on the "Armado" necklace, a small red light was blinking.