The Prodigal Troll

by Charles Coleman Finlay

  "Let's vote," Stump said. "All those in favor of trying to rescue-"

  By the time they decided as a group to get something done, it'd be too late. Windy knew they had to act now, but she didn't know what to do.

  Maggot stirred on her shoulder. "What's wrong, Mom?"

  "The girls are caught up there. If the sunlight reaches them, they'll fall asleep and drop. Even if they could hold on, the sun would shrivel them up."

  Rocky's mother ripped away huge chunks of friant rock in a frantic effort to carve footholds in the stone. Windy stood below her. "If the girls fall," she promised, "I'll catch them. I'm right here with you."

  "Thank you," said Bones. Her feet slipped before she'd climbed twice her height.

  Windy braced and caught her. It knocked her backward, and she felt Maggot's weight slip from her shoulder and roll free. That was something they'd practiced. If she ever fell on him, he'd be crushed. She extricated herself from Bones and looked around to make sure that he was all right. When she didn't see him, she started turning over rocks. "Maggot! Where are you?"

  "He's up there," Bones said.

  Windy lifted her head and saw him halfway to the girls, spidering up the cliff. The skin wrapped around his neck gave him a hairy appearance. She jumped after him, but Bones grabbed her. "Don't! You can't make it. You'll fall."

  "But he doesn't know how to climb a wall that high!"

  "Could fool me."

  Windy held her breath. Maggot reached a tough spot and crossed horizontally until he found another handhold above him. He did everything just like she'd trained him, keeping three feet on the wall at all times. If anything happened to him ...

  Along the trail to the cave, the other trolls had finally voted to rescue the girls, but no one volunteered to go get them except Stump. But Windy's mother thought Stump was too heavy and wanted someone else to make the climb. So now they were proceeding to another vote.

  Windy shook her head and looked helplessly above her as Maggot overtook Blossom and began talking to her. He put his hand over her face, and it was enough to break the sun spell. She resumed her journey down, keeping her eyes on the ground the whole time.

  Bones caught her off the wall and hugged her. "I was so scared!" Blossom said, tears pouring down her face, and then she squirmed away from them to run to her mother.

  Higher up on the cliff, Rocky wouldn't budge. Maggot talked to her; Windy could see that much. He pointed down, but Rocky refused to turn her head. He tried to cover her eyes, and she shook her head free.

  "She'll come down any moment now," Windy said soothingly, eyeing the slow advance of sunlight down the stone. Most of the trolls had headed off for the caverns without waiting to see if the other girl could be saved.

  Bones chewed on her knuckles. "She's so timid, so much more timid. I don't know if she'll make it."

  Windy's mother and Stump joined them at the base of the wall. The band must've voted for Stump to make the climb. He paused briefly to look up at the motionless figures of Rocky and Maggot. "Looks like I still have two to rescue after all. I better hurry."

  He headed up an older trail-a dead end that Windy had forgotten-that would take him near their position. Windy watched him make his way up, wishing she'd thought to try that way herself, when she heard her friend gasp. She craned her neck around just in time to see Maggot slip. She screamed, but he pressed himself flat and found another foothold some ten feet farther down. "What happened?"

  Bones covered her mouth. "She hit him."

  "Of course she did," Windy's mother said. "The stupid boy threw that nasty skin over her face!"

  Windy noticed her mother's choice of the word boy, but didn't comment. "Come down!" she cried up at her son. "Come down now!"

  He ignored her and inched his way back up the rock. Stump was at the proper height on the trail, but he had a hundred-foot horizontal climb to reach them. As he began his slow way across, Maggot started yanking on Rocky's feet.

  Bones gasped. "He's going to pull her down. Stop! Stop! Wait for Stump!"

  "I don't think that's what he's doing," Windy whispered, not quite sure herself what Maggot was attempting. Although the skin covered her eyes, Rocky still wouldn't move.

  "Hold on!" Stump shouted. "I'm almost there!"

  But he wasn't close at all, having reached a spot where his toes could find no hold. Windy's mother tugged at her arm. The whole eastern sky glowed orange above the rim of the mountains. "Come!" she said, her voice as hard as granite. "We saved one girl and we must go down to the caverns. At once!"

  "Wait," Windy implored.

  The deep shadows of the canyon barely shaded them, and she too felt the compelling need to run; but then Maggot's plan worked. He took Rocky's foot and put it in a lower toehold for her. She shifted her weight down to it, and the spell was broken.

  Slowly at first, then more quickly, they came climbing, sliding, down the rock face. Stump called encouragement on his own speedy descent to the trail. The children were halfway down when a peregrine falcon, flying out of the sun, dived at them curiously. With the day fear on her, Windy expected them to be dislodged by the plummeting bird, but they didn't even notice it before it veered away.

  "Come on, you're almost here," Bones called.

  Rocky pulled the skin off her face, letting it flutter to the ground as she scampered down the last part of the slope and into her mother's arms. Bones swung her daughter up on her back and hurried off with Windy's mother down the trail for the caves. Windy backed away, under the trees between the cliff and river where night still lingered. "Keep coming, Maggot! I'm right here for you!"

  His little spider arms and legs trembled as he moved cautiously from hold to hold. Stump slowed in his dash down the trail. "Your son's a good troll," he said as he passed Windy.

  "Thanks," she answered, looking up at the frail little figure clinging two dozen feet up the wall. He fell.

  She lunged forward to catch him, cradling him in her arms and hugging him tight to still his shaking. The skin on his chest and under his arms and on his thighs was scraped raw. His fingers and his toes were bleeding, and his teeth chattered. She picked up his skin and covered him as she hurried toward the refuge of darkness.

  "We saved them, didn't we?" he said proudly.

  "Yes we did," she whispered, in the voice that was just for him. "You're a good troll."

  "I'm the best troll. Even Stump's not as good as me."

  Her mother waited for them, frowning, just inside the cave. The gray old troll took one look at them and yawned. "I suppose it's too late today to call for any votes. Let's wait and see what sunset brings."

  Windy smacked her lips in agreement.

  "But you let go of Ragweed. He mates with someone else."

  Windy lifted her head, smacking her lips again, relieved. When her mother snorted and moved off into the deeper dark, she rocked Maggot in her arms. "I'm never going to let go of you again, you hear me?" she whispered.

  He laughed at her and struggled to get loose.

  he roar of the waterfall filled Windy's ears even though she was still too far away to see it. She paused in the bluish night, scratched her broad nose, and inhaled the distant mist. The tang of spruce and hemlock needles mixed with dozens of smaller, nearer fragrances, but she didn't smell the single scent she sought. Somewhere along the way she'd lost track of Maggot.

  He'd been gone two whole nights. True, he was old enough to take care of himself now, but she fretted when he disappeared in the daylight. She wanted to stop him and knew that she couldn't.

  She continued on toward the Blackwater Falls, her back and shoulders aching. It didn't help that she'd searched for him so long yesternight she'd been forced to dig under the roots of a windblown tree at dayrise. A whole day sleeping hunched up like that was enough to make any troll sore. Her stomach growled as she walked, reminding her that all she'd eaten in more than a night were the few mouthfuls of mushrooms she'd sniffed out among the decaying roots.

  I
t had been a hard season, with a late frost that killed off most of the blossoms followed by a dry summer that withered up the surviving fruit. For the past few years there'd been fewer animals coming through the high passes and precious little carrion. The dyrewolves and lions and great birds all fought over the scraps, so the only way a troll ate a decent bit of meat was to stumble on it first. She'd said as much to Maggot, and he told her he had an idea and would catch up with her. Now he'd been gone for two whole nights. If his plan was stealing something from the wolves, he'd end up carrion himself.

  She sniffed the air again.

  He had promised to meet her at the falls. Maybe he waited for her there, his scent lost in the mist. She hurried on, passing through a grove of cherry trees that had given up their fruit-what little there was-months ago, in the spring. It was still enough to make her mouth water. There were maples beyond them, the leaves turned crisp with the fall. She found one sprayed with an unfamiliar odor and paused to lick at the stain. Some young male troll marking his territory, eager to prove himself. One more danger for Maggot.

  If Frosty's band was around here, then courtesy required her to let them know that she was coming. Windy reared up and pounded out a greeting high on her chest, a sound so deep it made the air tremble a mile or more away. Bum-ba-dca-dum-duet "A stranger, but a friend," the rhythm said to those who listened.

  Not wholly a stranger, in truth, since she and Maggot had passed this way before. But not part of the band either.

  Not part of any band.

  For too many years, she and Maggot had been rootless, blown about from place to place like leaves in a storm. But she wouldn't have it any other way if the alternative was losing her son.

  She repeated the greeting and sat down. While she waited for an answer, she picked through the long grasses and fallen leaves looking for something to eat. Finding nothing, she continued on her way. With all the thunder from the waterfalls, she doubted anyone heard her.

  The gibbous moon sat at zenith, flooding the landscape with pale, colorless light. Not a good night to be out. The panic it caused her was muted by the thick canopy of the trees, subsumed by her worry for Maggot and the hunger in her belly. When she reached the rocky open area around the falls, the light pained her eyes even if it didn't blind her.

  In front of her, the water dropped sixty feet, half in a single sudden plunge. Flowers of spray blossomed off the dark black rocks. Halfway down the falls, a triangular ledge jutted out at an angle, broad on the left end and blending into the straight drop on the right. The music of the water changed as it poured over this surface and crashed among the jumble of boulders below.

  Unappetizing ferns and vines covered the hillside beneath the tall spruce trees and hemlocks she'd smelled earlier. Mist hung in the air, moistening her dry, cracked skin. Despite the danger of the moonlight and the trolls she hadn't yet seen, Windy ventured right down to the pool and waded out into the cave-cold water below the falls. It eased her aches and took the edge off her torpor. She bent down out among the slick, dark rocks and drank until she didn't feel thirsty.

  She noticed a sluggish silver flash deep in the water. Fish. She stepped slowly over to where she saw them, dangling her hand openpalmed with one finger bent, flicking the pink-nailed tip slowly back and forth like a hapless worm.

  A large, juicy trout swam almost within her reach, then zipped away. She concentrated on the movement of her finger, hardly daring to breathe as she tried to tempt the fish back again. It slid in for a second look, gliding into reach of her palm, when something splashed in the water beside her and scared it off. She looked up and saw a group of trolls gathered in the meadow beside the pond. Several had stones in their hands.

  She waved to them and climbed out of the water. She counted eleven-four adult females and three adult males with two little ones that made her smile; another male and female appeared to be about twelve winters old, the same age as Maggot. Ready to mate. The oldest female was Frosty, who'd been First of the band for as long as Windy could remember. She also recognized Big Thunder and his son, Little Thunder. The young male was probably Little Thunder's boy, Fart. Although they had started calling him Stinker the last time she and Maggot visited. She didn't remember the girl's name.

  "Forgive me for hunting in your pool," she said to Frosty, shouting above the din of falling water. "I didn't see anyone."

  "S'alright," Frosty shouted back, looking over Windy's shoulder into the woods. "You still keep that animal around?"

  There was no rancor in her voice, so Windy tried to keep it out of her response. "He's my son."

  "He was one ugly little monster."

  Windy didn't hide the anger in her voice this time. "Not to me."

  Most of the others wandered off, turning over logs and rocks as they searched for food. Frosty shrugged, scratched herself, and waddled down to the edge of the pool. "Heard he's traveling by daylight now. Can he really do that?"

  "Yes."

  The old troll made a strange, noncommittal shape with her mouth. "Well, it's good to see you anyway. Your smell is welcome."

  "I like the way you smell also," Windy replied, though it wasn't strictly true-Frosty had a mossy scent, and there was something growing in the cracks of her skin. Windy wondered where the trollbirds were, who plucked out such things. "Where's the rest of your band?"

  "This is all of us."

  She wouldn't have believed it, except she'd seen other bands dwindle just as fast. "What happened to them?"

  "Accidents. Two males caught out in daylight. And then people, blackhairs, are moving through the mountains, heading east. They kill the game as they go, and sometimes kill us, though we chase them away. After they came through last year, we caught the coughing sickness. Ten of us died. Are you looking for a husband?"

  "No."

  "Because we have no unmarried males. But, ah, if you were willing to share a husband-"

  Windy didn't grab at that fish. "No, I'm not interested."

  "Ah, well. We have two children here now; that's more than we've had in many years. It may be getting better soon."

  "I hope so."

  Another female pushed in between them, Little Thunder's sister, Rose. "If she's not here to mate, then make her go away. There's not enough food as it is."

  Rose wanted to be First; that was obvious. Windy stayed silent.

  "I don't see her taking food out of your mouth," Frosty said.

  Rose slapped her hands on her chest, in the mildest form of challenge. "She's not one of us. She doesn't belong here."

  "We'll take a vote, then."

  Windy had become accustomed to this ritual. It followed her and Maggot around like a buzzard. She was smacking her lips in acceptance when a flat, familiar drumming sound broke the rhythm of the falls. She turned and saw Maggot striding out of the trees, standing straight despite all her efforts to get him to stoop in a better posture. But her heart leapt up in joy at the sight of him. He was safe. That was all that mattered.

  Rose laughed out loud at the sight of him. "He is ugly," she said to Frosty. "And a runt."

  He was very small for his twelve winters, not even six feet tall although getting close to it. She hoped he wasn't fully grown, though she feared he might be. Most trolls reached their full height by his age. He was undersized in other ways too, all viny muscle with no belly on him at all, and legs so long and slender they looked deformed. His arms couldn't even reach the ground when he bent over, not unless he crouched. His skin was pale and smooth too, so thin it broke at every quick abrasion. And his bristly black hair had grown long and horribly shiny. It hung down his back with ragged ends where she'd chewed it off.

  But ugly?

  Never. Not in her eyes.

  Stinker, the young male, loped over toward him, bared his teeth, and pounded his chest in warning rather than greeting. It must have been Stinker's spray she'd smelled. Maggot didn't back down, and though the sound of his little fists on his scrawny chest was as feeble in comparison as
the teeth he also flashed in response, something about him made Stinker stop.

  "Hey, Fart," Maggot said. "Good to smell you again."

  "Hey." The troll's browridge rolled down. "You still stink like milk."

  Which was an insult. Windy hurried to her son's side, ready to intervene. "These are our friends, Maggot."

  He smiled, a broad and genuine expression that contrasted sharply with the purple moons of sleeplessness puddled beneath his eyes. "Oh, good! I've been trying to catch up with you. I have a surprise."

  And then without another word of proper greeting, he sprinted back into the forest. A rock flew through the air behind him-hurled by Rose-but it fell well short. He returned a few moments later dragging a buck deer, one of the furtive whitetails with six points on its antlers. It was lashed with lengths of vine to a pair of long poles. She didn't know where he'd learned such things. A troll never thought of new things like that.

  The other members of the band came running. The animal was a couple nights' old, and Maggot had obviously done much to conceal its scent from scavengers. It smelled of mud, and urine, and stinkweed, but underneath all those things, it smelled wonderful.

  "Carrion?" Little Thunder asked.

  "No," Maggot said, standing upright and staring eye to eye with the comfortably squatting male. Windy had the sudden realization that he stayed in his aggressive posture all the time simply to be as big as the nonaggressive trolls. "I hunted it and killed it like a bigtooth would."

  Little Thunder hooted in derision. "How? With your fearsome teeth?" He bared his own and everyone laughed.

  Everyone except Windy. And Maggot. He bent down and took something from beside the deer. "With these teeth," he said, and showed off the sharpened sticks he'd played with lately.

  Little Thunder flashed his teeth again, rising up on his hind legs to his full eight feet of height, and then retreated. Some of the others banged warnings on their chests.

  People used sharp sticks like that to hurt trolls, which was why trolls stole them and hid them deep in caves where people would never find them.