I was in a state of shock. Did she just truly say what I thought she did? I stood there staring at her, my mouth hanging open. She waited expectantly, but when I still didn't say anything, she started to fidget. "Cenin?" she asked. I still couldn't get my body to move, let alone say anything. For a few seconds, I began wondering if she meant that in the troll lingo, but then I remembered what she said before she said that... that she... Oh my god... Did she really say that? Maybe she misunderstood, or maybe I misunderstood. Maybe she didn't mean it as I thought she did. But what if she did? She shifted from foot to foot. I guess she took my silence as a human. She took it as rejection. Her beautiful green eyes started to tear up. "You pox ridden, slime covered, dung smelling, detestable rat! You must find my presence grandly amusing! Since I feel the opposite, surely it is only logical for me to leave! You disgust me!" I think I dropped my heart when she said that. I couldn't feel it beating in my chest anymore. My chest felt hollow, and burned. It felt like I was dying. "Na'... Na'nal?" She had been about to turn away when I called to her. And when I saw the tears streaming down her face, it suddenly clicked. She meant the second half as a troll. She loves me as a human, and hates me as a troll. "You hate me like a troll." I couldn't stop the smile that slowly split my face. I saw her eyes widen as I smiled. "You're as contemptible as a drowned dog filled with maggots, your bloated carcass an unsightly thing washed up on shore." My smile only grew bigger, even though I was still partially getting over the initial human reaction of heartbreak. "And you are the most vile thing I have ever lay eyes upon. I would die before inviting you to join me as I travel as far away from here as I can. Your mucus colored skin and sulfur smelling breath sickens me. Your presence is an insult." "Do you hate me... like a troll?" she finally asked, her wide green eyes filled with a new spark. "As you love me as a human." I replied. Her eyes lit up, and she bound over the shards and into my arms. I almost fell over, my knees still weak. My life, it seemed, was turning more into a fairytale then I ever thought it would. I never thought I would run into elves or fairies, or trolls for that matter. I never thought I would cross the invisible bounds of reason and venture into a new world. I never thought, and this one still really blows my mind away, that I would fall in love with an elf troll girl, let alone she would love me in return. ... Come to think of it though, exchanging insults as a way of expressing ones love for another... Bah, that still throws me for a loop. But, when I finally figured out she meant she loved me as a human, I was dancing like a pro in my head. Yet, funny thing. AFTER all this initial happy, happy, joy, joy stuff... it registered that ... I had to figure out how to court... a troll. Heaven help me. How on earth! ... do you court a troll? Really now. I know they throw insults back and forth, but how would you honestly court a troll? Any thoughts? Ideas? Or have I really got it wrong and they don't actually court at all? Thirty seconds after my imaginative Lord of the Dance streak, I came crashing back to reality with two hundred pounds of questions and no one to give me answers. Talk about a deer in the headlights. I was that darn deer twice in the span of five minutes. And, not only that, I still didn't know if Na'nal would come with me or not. Oh, and if I could get the caravan agree to take her. But, as twisted as fate can get, Gren came over. The smirk on her face was kind of irking. "Well, well, it seems things went better then I'd hoped." I wasn't able to control the blush that stained my cheeks. Na'nal however, grinned at her from ear to ear. "Horrible. It went horrible." At least Gren had been around Na'nal enough to know what she meant. She only smiled before turning her attention to me. "We leave in six days. If you're still wanting to tag along, be ready by daybreak." Na'nal turned to me in panic, her arms tightening around my neck. "You're leaving?!" "Yes, my feet aren't ready to settle down yet. They still yearn for travel." "Why didn't you tell me?!" "I was going to. Actually," I think my blush returned. "I was, uh, going to ask if you wanted to come with me. If you wanted to, I mean." Her eyes widened. "I mean, uh, well, you're doing so well and all with learning about human ways, and uh, I thought maybe..." "Could I really?" She locked eyes with me. "Would you really take me with you?" I smiled, pulling her closer. "Of course I would." I paused a moment. "I'm saying this as a human, okay?" I turned my gaze back to her green orbs. "Your presence would be greatly welcome. It would make me really happy, if you came with me while I travel." I wanted to place my forehead on hers and just hold her close, but I restrained myself, my blush returning. Is it really possible to fall in love with someone in such a short time span? And then decide to ask them along as you continue on your journey? Does love really happen this fast? Or did I bump my head somewhere? I always thought love would never be this easy. ... Actually, wait a sec. That's not right. Easy is a lie. It was damned hard! Especially with that whole hate is love and vice versa. It got really hard from there. Just the first, 'I love you' thing, went easy. After that? Well.... Lets just say that after that we ended up hitting one too many pot holes. ... Well, more like ditches, roadblocks, sudden dead ends, bottomless pits, and.... Err, okay, back up. We as in 'our relationship' didn't hit that many snags. We just hit... err, 'life' would be putting it too simple. Remember that whole journey thing I mentioned? Weeellllll .... My darn feet led us into a few adventures that we could have been just dandy avoiding. Um, but that all comes later down the road. Back to Gren watching impishly as Na'nal and I talked. "I, speaking as a human, want to come with you," answered Na'nal. "Please?" My whole face got red. When did she learn the word please?! AND, how to use it so expertly with those puppy dog eyes?! Darn it Gren! "Y-you can come." She squealed, burying her face between her arm and my neck. "So I should tell the others we have one more along for the ride?" Gren's remark snapped me out of my dazed state. "P-please, if you would. I'll make sure we're ready to head out when you are." Gren smirked again, her arms crossed over her modest chest. "About that jar." I looked at her blankly. "Jar?" She guffawed. "Yes, the jar you broke." I followed her gaze. "Aw jeeze! I broke it?! I'm sorry! Um, what do I need to do in return?" Gren laughed, then shook her head. "No, don't worry about it. You've been working hard enough as it is. Just finish moving the rest." "Are you sure?" "Yes. I have to be off, now. I was supposed to be back at camp a while ago to help with preparations. You might want to finish letting people know that you're leaving, take care of any loose ends." "Thanks Gren. I do have a few things I can think of." She grinned, waving as she trotted off. I turned my gaze back to Na'nal. "Well, I need to finish moving these jars, but after I'm done, we can go start getting your things ready." "Okay. I'll wait over on the bench." With her watching, and after the excitement of current events, I got the rest of the jars moved in two thirds the time it took me to move the first few. Everything after that, went like clockwork. We went and got organized and packed, we talked to everyone we needed to, and then we went to bed early and rose the sixth day and headed out. Now, that was just the story of how we met. And also, as I mentioned before, lets you know, and hopefully understand, that when I'm insulting my beloved, I'm actually complimenting her. But, that isn't the end of the story. You see, things really started to happen after that. A lot of things. It wasn't shortly after we left that we ran into our first pothole. After the first pothole, a dozen more seemed to follow. Really, when we finally thought we were through with one incident, the next came up to bite us in the butt. I still swear to this day that Trer'mon had a hand in all of it. He, of course, denies it. As if I believe him. He is a fairy after all. They only tell you the whole truth when it suits them... Which is really whenever they feel like being nice. Really nice. But, anyway, it's easier to continue from where I left off, after I met Na'nal. Everything happened so quickly after that, it wouldn't make sense to jump around all over the place trying to tell you in a jumbled mess. So, I'll just tell you as they came. Though, I must admit I did skip a few earlier adventures, but, though they were exciting, they weren't as life altering as when I met Na'nal. There you have it. She's my everything in life, and I'm not afraid to say so. Even though I had adventures before I met her, the adventure of meeting her is always where I feel like it REALLY started. Sometimes I get teased. People saying, "was there ever really a time for you BEFORE, she entered the picture?". I always laugh and tell them it just didn't seem like much without her in it. Grant it, I was a nervous wreck for a while because I didn't know how to proceed with things. Really, courting a troll, is ... something else. I still don't think I ever got it right. I barely taught her how to be human enough that we managed alright. Either way, our time with the caravan helped tremendously. While we were with the caravan, she learned how to do a great deal of things. She can actually cook a good meal now. Forgive me, but trolls must have sandpaper for tongues, because all of their food, be it taste or texture or sight, can make even the most strong stomached hurl. It was the hardest thing in the world, trying to figure out whether to insult her as a troll or a human when I ate her first few attempts at cooking. I know that it sounds horrible of me to say that, and I'm sorry, but, if you had eaten any of it, you would understand completely. She also turned out to have a knack for finding and mixing herbs. She has quite a variety she carries around in case of emergencies, such as for wounds, poisons, and illness and such. The healer riding with the caravan took Na'nal under her wing and taught her a great deal of things, herbs being only one of them. Lets just say, when I come home all banged up, she knows how to put me back together. My sweet Na'nal cannot sew. We've tried the venue many times, and in the end, she's too impatient, and adoringly clumsy. I'm afraid everything she attempts to make... really isn't anything but a mess, an unidentifiable mesh of string and cloth. There were also several times I had to comfort her for the many pricks on her fingers. Now days, if something needs mending or sewn, she gives it to me and walks off in a huff. She has learned some patience with animals, but she still needs to be reminded now and again. Her patience for animals is often very short. I can't count how many times she's gone of screaming curses at horses, dogs, mules.... Not muttered curses, no. I'm talking full blown, fist shaking, red in the face, top of the voice, screaming. When she gets to that point, everyone knows to call for me. I'm the only one who can get her to calm down. The last person who tried to calm her almost got his teeth knocked out. The last two skills my Na'nal has, this isn't to say she can't do other things, but I have to admit these are my favorite, are her skills in dance and the flute. I cannot help but brag. Na'nal's dancing, is enthralling. She's beautiful. Once she got the hang of it, she soared with it. I do not know how she manages to leave her unsteady feet behind, but when she dances, gone is my clumsy Na'nal, and out is her graceful fluid side. Her dance is breathtaking. Her flute playing? I always get lost to her music. Though she cannot sing, and she's a little too clumsy with her hands to play a stringed instrument, she plays the flute like she's played it all her life. Yes, of all that she can do, I love it most when she dances or plays. Though I must admit, it's also really nice to know that if I'm broken, she knows how to fix me. The first trial we were to face, however, was a simple split of the road. Sounds rather funny that a simple split in the road would be our first adventure. But let me explain better what happened. We had stopped at the split to consider which way to take, all knowing that if we went right, our travel time would be cut tremendously, and we could make it to the next town by sunset. However... "What's going on?" I asked, Na'nal a few steps behind me. Moen, the caravan leader, Gren, and a woman named Collense, were eyeing both paths warily. "We're trying to decide which way to go," answered Gren, looking up from the map the three of them were looking at. "But didn't you tell me the right one is shorter?" "Yes, but there have been rumors going about that people using the right one haven't been returning." "Not returning?" Moen nodded. "Yes. There are no sure reports, because supposedly all who have gone in, haven't come out. But, there is something in there keeping them from coming back. It's just, no one knows what it is." I eyed the dense trees towering over the well worn road. "So, in other words, it would probably be wise to take the longer route?" Gren shrugged. "Pretty much." A high pitched shriek made all of us jump. A woman came racing around the bend on the road to the right. She ran towards us blindly, her gaze locked on the road behind her. Moen and Collense jumped out of the way, letting the woman run headlong into me. We both fell to the ground. The woman screamed louder, blood running into her eyes from a gash on her forehead. I sat up and put my hands on her shoulders, pushing her slightly away so I could look at her face to face. "Hey, hey, HEY!" My shout made her stop screaming and actually look at me, her jaw hanging open in shock. "Are you alright?" "I-I-I-I...." I sighed softly, relaxing my grip slightly on her shoulders. "Are you alright?" I asked again. She whimpered, but slowly nodded, tears coursing down her face. "What happened?" "Ambushed! Giant, things! So fast! We tried to run, to escape! But-but..." she let out a shuddering gasp. "They got them all! All of them! I'm the only one...! I'm the only one that...!" She broke down into sobs, hands covering her face. I frowned, looking up at Moen and the others crowded around us. "Will you look after her?" Moen's frown deepened. "Why? What are you going to do?" I gently passed the sobbing woman to Gren. I stood up, brushing off the seat of my pants. "I'm going to go see what attacked her." "Are you stupid? Obviously her caravan couldn't handle it. What do you think you can do?" "I'm just going to take a look." "People don't go take a look unless they plan on pursuing the matter." "It's not safe to leave things as they are. What if another caravan goes in there unknowingly?" "So?" "So, I need to see what's in there so I can pass the word or put up a sign. We can't let anyone else wander in there without letting them know something's in there." "Of course we can. We already know something's in there. She's proof enough for that." She jerked a thumb at the woman. I shook my head. "That isn't enough to go by. People will still go in, thinking it's just a ruse." "That's their problem." I smirked. "It is at the moment, but things could get worse, you know." I gripped my sword and checked to make sure nothing extra or noisy was weighing me down. Moen grabbed my arm. "You're not a bad fighter, but I don't think you can handle this, and I'm not sending any of my women in there with you, either." I shrugged, slipping out of her grip. "Listen, I'm going in whether you like it or not. If I'm not back before dusk, leave." I couldn't help but glance at Na'nal, who was currently bent over the women to check her wounds. I lowered my voice. "If I don't come back, please take care of Na'nal." "Can I really not talk you out of it?" I grinned crookedly. "'fraid I can be as stubborn as a mule sometimes. This just happens to be one of them." I looked towards the road. "Hope to see you soon." I squared my shoulders and continued down the road to the right. I could feel the worried gazes on my back. There was a short outcry from Na'nal, but it was silenced shortly by Moen and Gren, who held her back. I entered the wall of trees, and entered into silence, turning the bend and leaving all of them behind. The silence was the first thing I noticed. It was dead silent, even the wind not daring to stir the trees. I'm glad I learned how to make my steps silent, so at least I might have the advantage of surprise. There weren't any animals either. Nothing moved, not even a stray bird in a tree. It felt empty, haunted. There was no life anywhere. It wasn't for a long while that I finally noticed the webbing. At first, it was only here and there, little bits clinging from one tree to the next, or covering a little bit of this bush or that shrub. The farther I went, though, the more I began seeing, till all the trees were covered with thick white webbing. I pulled my sword out, my skin crawling. I could feel eyes on me, following me, but not a single sound greeted me. The hair on the back of my neck rose, and I instinctively ducked and rolled away. A swishing sound greeted my ears, a slight breeze rustling my hair as a long scaly tail whipped over my head. I came to a crouch a couple yards away, coming face to face, for the first time, the creatures that plagued this path. I nearly jumped out of my skin. Hovering before me was a monster I hadn't seen before. It had a long snake like tail, the torso and head of a man, four legs and mandibles of a spider. Its nose was only a couple of holes where the nose should be, and his eyes were small and elongated. It's scales from the tail also ran up its back to end in a V shape between its eyes. It struck again, moving so swiftly I couldn't avoid it completely. A simple tap on my shoulder sent my flying into a tree. I sat for half a breath in shock. How on earth could such an awkward built creature be so agile? Let alone, how could it be so strong, too? I had to act fast when it came again. I jumped behind a tree and avoided its third attack. The tree wasn't so lucky. There was a nice sized hole where the spidery leg made contact. "Crap." The next few moments were a blur. I don't really know what happened, and I think instinct had a lot to do with my survival. The next thing I knew, the monster was standing above me and my blade sunk deep into its chest. I learned something else about the monster, and I learned it the hard way. No, it wasn't the webbing it could shoot from its mouth, though that wasn't exactly fun either. No, this was a lot more painful lesson to learn, one learned a little late. As the purple blood seeped from the now dead monster, it fell, quite well, all over me. Down my sword, onto my hands, dripping onto my clothes face, and torso. I was fine for the first few seconds, pushing the dead husk starting to curl off of me. Suddenly, I was on fire. My skin burned, and my clothes hissed as they slowly began to be eaten away. Everywhere the blood had fallen, was being burned. I ground my teeth. Acid. "Damn thing!" I cursed to myself. I was about to rip my sleeve to wipe off the blood, when the hiss of a second creature made me leap away from my first kill. I swallowed hard. I was surrounded by the monsters, all varying in size, but none as big as the one I had killed. "Damn pox ridden, pieces of..." I growled, then launched myself at the closest one. What else could I do? But, curse me for being stupid enough to see what the heck was causing all those disappearances. I should have left it well enough alone. This is why Trer'mon always teases me. Sometimes I wish I had the power to go back and slap my past self. I would knock some sense into my dense little head. My quick attack worked. I took the first one by surprise, killing it swiftly before dashing away to try and take on the next two. I took the fight into the trees, leaping into the nearest one. They could climb as well, but they couldn't leap from tree to tree as swiftly as I could. I used that too my advantage, striking those left on the ground quickly, then jumping away to strike one coming out of a tree to get me. I still couldn't avoid all the attacks though. I was still tossed about like a rag doll, and blood soon splattered my entire being, burning my flesh ever so slowly. I lost track of time in that mad dash for survival. I had to keep moving so fast and rely so much on my instincts, I didn't get a chance to register what all was happening. It was only a stroke of luck, and the blessings of having lived with the wildcats, that I made it through. I was the last thing standing. Their dead bodies were lying scattered around me, curled up in fetal positions. I was barely standing myself. I looked like I went through a blender. I waited for a while, to see if any others might jump out at me. None did. I felt exhausted, and my skin burned where the blood acid touched. There was too much blood acid covering me to have any luck wiping it off. I looked around, my sword still ready in my hand. I had to bear the pain, and it did take my mind off other wounds I might have. I was too afraid to assess my situation until I knew someone was there to take care of me. I figured I would go into shock and end up dead because I wasn't close enough for someone to help me. I heard a soft moan. I swiveled around, my sword at ready. Nothing moved. The moan came again. Slowly, I made my way toward the source. I parted the webbing with the tip of my sword, and gasped. A man lay captured within the webbing. He was in a cocoon, very much alive. I scanned the rest of the area and found similar cocoons. I immediately began searching the webbing in hopes of life. Some revealed dried husks of people or animals, sometimes birds, their wrinkled dry skin flaking away in the wind. Yet, there were still many filled with people and animals that were alive. I began freeing them as quickly as I could. "Cenin." The voice took me completely by surprise. I whirled around to have Trer'mon staring at me from the tip of my sword. I blinked, then quickly pulled away my sword. "Trer'mon! What are you doing here?!" He gazed around. "I was going to ask you the same." I felt a tingle run down my spine. "Trer'mon, we have to free everyone and get them out of here as fast as possible. I don't like the feel of this place." I gently fingered the web. "And, a fairy magic show of flames might help clear this place up. I don't want them coming back." He watched me, then looked at the fallen monsters. "They're demons. They shouldn't even be here. How they escaped their domain is beyond me. However, you are correct. Nothing must remain, not even their corpses." He looked at me worriedly. "I'll be fine. You start ridding us of the bodies, and I'll finish freeing those trapped in the webbing." "The demons venom will wear off, but not very fast. If you want haste, I'm afraid the going will be unavoidably slow." I gazed at the group I had already freed. "Maybe so, but I wont leave them behind." I quickly went back to work, Trer'mon wandering off to start ridding us of the demons' husks. We worked silently and efficiently for a time. I had finally gotten all the people out, and Trer'mon had begun burning the webbing. He let out a whistle. "I'm glad we're taking care of this!" he called. "There are egg sacks here! Much longer and they would have hatched!" I shivered. Such a thing was not appealing at all. Having to deal with them once was enough for me. To this day they sometimes haunt my dreams. A high pitched inhuman screech made both of us stop dead in our tracks. We turned at the same time. Looming at the edge of a bend in the road, was the largest, ugliest, and meanest looking demon of them all. It had hair and scales everywhere. It's abdomen was twice as large as the others, and its whole body a third longer. There were obvious swells in the chest area, making this the first female one I had seen. It was staring hard at Trer'mon, who was currently burning one of the said egg sacks. I moved an instant before the demon did. I dashed forward, picking up a rock. I stepped between Trer'mon and it, then threw the rock as hard as I could. My aim was true, striking the demon square in the head. A deep gash bled from above her eye, making her pause in her ballistic rush. It screeched again, and fighting off my frozen panic, I pivoted and took off as fast as I could down the path. I ran away from Trer'mon and away from the helpless people I had rescued. Now, what hadn't occurred to me at the time, was which way down the path I was running. If I had, I would have chosen a better direction. You see, I took off down the road TOWARDS the caravan, and my dear Na'nal. I was leading the danger right to them. I, however, was about as blind as a bat in daylight, by that time. I was half delirious from being tossed about and being bled on by acid. I didn't realize my mistake at all... until I rounded that last bend, and there they were, in all their glory, sitting right in the middle of the road where I had left them. What luck. By this time, miss spider snake thingy, saw all the nice little flies just waiting for the picking, and was getting ready to have a hay-day. I was such an idiot. Miss spider thing veered off and went for the next available target, which just so happened to be Moen. She, bless her soul, was fast enough to draw her weapon and get in a quick slice, making the demon turn away. The demon moved on to Gren, who, by this time, was armed and ready as well. Collense tried to come up behind it, but it spun around and knocked her back several yards. Me? I had stopped running completely and was stupidly watching everything unfold. My sword hung limp in my hand, and I just stood there and gawked. The others were getting desperate to hold off the demon, and I just couldn't tear my eyes away. I watched in silent awe as they got flung this way and that, sometimes managing a lucky strike, but I didn't do a thing to help them, even when the other women grabbed weapons to help retaliate. Na'nal's scream was what finally brought me to my senses. The demon had bowled over the others and finally came face to face with a target it knew it could easily overtake. Na'nal was cowering against one of the wagon wheels, her eyes as wide as saucers. It moved swiftly, coming to a stop just in front of her. The others were shouting, trying to gather themselves to aid her. The demon ignored them, knocking the few that were close away with its tail. It hissed, its tail slithering across the dirt. The demon actually managed a horrific version of a smirk. As battered and sore as I was, rage filled me, giving me strength when I should have none left. The demon cocked its head, twisting it to the side, before thrusting its head forward again, mouth gaping. Na'nal's scream filled the forest. Authors note: I might not be able to update for a while after this, but please bear with me. I do plan on continuing this tale.
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