With a nod, they grasped ropes hanging down beside them and began to pull. As they pulled, the lift gained altitude. Rapidly. “Hey! Not so fast!” Grimbledung grabbed the side of the cage to hold on.
“Don’t look down, man,” suggested Teeth.
Reflexively, Grimbledung looked down. The gaps between the interlaced branches that looked small on the ground, now seemed to be as wide as his feet. “Gah!” He said as he repositioned his feet on the intersections of branches.
Teeth laughed. “Relax man; it will all be over soon.”
Grimbledung’s eyes got large. “What will?”
“The ride.”
“That’s a relief. You had me worried there.”
Teeth smiled at the Gnome. An almost friendly smile.
As the lift continued its upward journey, Grimbledung hazarded a look upward. They were almost halfway to the top. “You know, you should have a Brownie in here playing a lute or something to make the ride more enjoyable.”
“Yeah?”
“Sure. Some nice relaxing song.”
Teeth looked around the lift. “Don’t know if I’d want to be stuck on this thing with someone singin’.”
“No, no. Just some music. Nothing with words.”
Teeth shrugged. “I’ll bring it up.” He glanced at Grimbledung. “After the feast.”
“Sure! That’s a good idea. If you want, I can bring it up after we’re done feasting.”
Teeth stared at him.
“If that’s all right with you.”
Teeth continued to stare at him.
The silence became awkward.
Finally, the lift bumped to a stop. “Finally.” Nervously, Grimbledung moved behind the Elf.
An Elf approached them. “You’re back early.” He could have been Teeth’s twin.
“Yeah, man,” said Teeth. “Found something.”
“Shrooms?” Asked the other. “Could use some shrooms.”
“Me too.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
The two stared at each other for a moment. Grimbledung peeked out from behind Teeth. “Hey there. I ran into my old friend Teeth in the forest and he invited me over.” He stepped out of the lift onto the wide balcony. There were several structures on the tree- all spaced out along the wide balcony. Elves moved here and there, paying no attention to the trio at the lift. “Just to look around is all.”
“And come to the feast?” Asked the Elf.
“Oh, only for a bit. I really need to get back to town.” Grimbledung paused for the slightest of moments. “For my next treatment, you see.”
Both Elves took a step back from the Gnome. “Treatment?” Asked Teeth.
Grimbledung waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t worry. It’s not contagious.”
“What?” Said both Elves in unison. They both took another step back.
“Putsi flies.”
Teeth stuck out his tongue. “Sorry, Leaves.”
“Aww, man,” said Leaves.
Grimbledung blinked. “Leaves as in doesn’t stay?”
“No man. Leaves as in grows them, dries them, then...” He squinted at Grimbledung. “You the law?”
“No way.”
“Sure?”
“Yeah, sure. I’d have to tell you otherwise.”
Teeth nodded. “And sells them.”
“Far out,” tried Grimbledung. Both Elves stared at him. “So,” he pressed on, “I really can only stay for a bit. Maybe just for a snack. And a drink.” He began to walk towards the largest of the buildings on the tree. “Where’s the tavern?”
“Putsi flies?” Leaves said to his partner. “This far north?”
“You think he’s lying?”
“Let’s have doc check him out.”
The two nodded at each other.
“So, where’s the tavern?” Grimbledung called to them.
Teeth winked. “This way.” He pointed to a long rope bridge that led to another tree. “Follow me, man.”
The three moved to the bridge. “Is this thing safe?”
Teeth looked down at the Gnome. “You questioning Elf construction? That’s not cool.” Once again he shoved Grimbledung out onto the bridge. The shove was well past the limits of friendly.
Grimbledung stumbled out onto the bridge as vertigo washed over him. He focused on the far edge of it as he moved. It was too wide for him to grab both sides, so he held on tightly with one hand and stuck the other out for balance.
Things were not looking good
Who would have guessed that?”
“Quiet, you,” muttered Grimbledung. At himself.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Minotaur Poetry - It’s (not) as Bad as It Sounds
“What you folk doing here?” Asked the Minotaur. He had been trailing the strange trio for almost half an hour. Just as he was about to approach them, they took a call of nature break. He then patiently waited for them to return from their ablutions. There was no sense in being rude about it. “A Trolless, a Shambler, and a Gnoll. That’s quite queer.”
Nulu hesitated. Was the rhyme some sort of test? She looked at her companions. Truth be told, they were a queer mix. I’ll just test the waters. “It’s not queer at all; you see we’re looking for our friend. We’re hoping we don’t have to search this forest from end to end.”
The Minotaur snorted. What’s this? A challenge? “ I may be able to help you seek. Otherwise, you might be in here for weeks.” Settle down. Don’t force it.
“We would appreciate your help, good Minotaur,” began Nulu. Oh no! Minotaur?
The Minotaur shifted his war hammer in his grip and scratched the ground with large, black hooves. As he did, a glint caught Rat’s eye. He looked at the creatures hooves. They were shorn. Two long steel spikes stuck out from under each of his hooves. Rat realized that Nulu hadn’t finished her stanza and the silence was becoming more apparent. Rat was torn; a good rhyme was creeping around in his head but he was unsure of the etiquette of barging in. Maybe if Nulu gave him a look. Once she resolved her ‘Minotaur’ rhyme.
Nulu glanced at Rat.
Rat startled at her. What? That blasted Trolless! “With darkness approaching, we haven’t the time to search nearandfar.” He offered.
Klank sat on the back of the wagon. Gnolls had no propensity for poetry or song. Interpretive dance was their medium.
“One at a time, if you please,” said the Minotaur, addressing the minor faux pas.
Nulu exhaled loudly. She gave a respectful bow. “I concede.”
The Minotaur nodded his acceptance.
“We could still use your help though, if you’re willing.”
“What sort of help does this odd fellowship require? Is it just a passing fancy, or something sinister and dire?”
“Really?”
The Minotaur smirked as he hefted his war hammer to his shoulder. “Had it ready. Hated to waste it.” He twitched a long black ear festooned with a large gold ring. “What ya need?” He eyed RatShambler. Talking Shamblers were definitely something new. “Near and far. Very nice.”
“We’re looking for a band of Halflings,” began Nulu. “They were coming from Prost Garrison or thereabouts.”
The Minotaur nodded.
“And they had a Gnome as a prisoner.”
“Yer friend?”
“Yes,” said RatShambler. Because he was.
The Minotaur let out a deep, hearty laugh. “Your crew gets more and more motley looking as we go.”
Nulu nodded. “I suppose we are a sight to see. So have you heard of the Halfling party?”
“They split up.” He lifted his war hammer and pointed . “Most went thataway towards the road to Halfling City. Nice and slow like they’re waiting for stragglers to catch up.”
“Stragglers?”
The Minotaur pointed his hammer in the other direction. “Most likely the three of them that went that way towards TreeTop City.”
“I don’t know which is worse.�
��
“I agree, Rat,” said Nulu.
“Rat? Your Shambler’s name is Rat?”
“It’s a long story,” said Rat.
The Minotaur’s ears perked up. “Does it rhyme?”
“No.”
The Minotaur let his hammer drop to the ground. He leaned on its thick handle with one hand, and fiddled with the huge gold ring in his ear with the other. “Bah.”
“So do you know which direction the Gnome went?” Darkness was approaching.
“Talked to a Centaur. Said there was an Elf running with a Gnome on his shoulders towards TreeTop City. Damnedest thing he’d seen in a month.” He grunted wistfully. “I’d have liked to have seen that. Practically writes itself, that scene.”[10]
“Centaur? What doesn’t live in this forest?” Rat asked.
“Errm. Dragons?” Offered the Minotaur. He pulled on the long hairs under his chin. There were beads threaded in them. “No. We got one of them. Haven’t seen a Troll in an age.” He smiled. “Present company excepted, ‘course.”
“So we need to get to TreeTop City?” Klank asked from the back of the wagon. The others turned to look at him. .“How far away is it from here? Going to be dark soon, you know.”
“The cover of darkness might help us out.”
The Minotaur nodded at Nulu. “That’s true. Once those Elves get their feast on, they don’t pay attention to much else.”
“Which way is it?”
“Well, little Miss, if you follow this path along, you’ll be there in half an hour.”
Rat looked where the creature pointed. The trees did seem a little thinner along that route, but only barely. “That’s a path?”
“Sure. One of the better marked ones.”
Klank hopped off the wagon. “Well, we need to unhitch this thing if we’re goin’ that way.” He moved to Rat’s harness. “Shame to lose a good wagon.”
Nulu smiled at the Minotaur. “You in the market for a wagon?”
The Minotaur stood his hammer on its end and moved to the wagon. He picked up the entire back end of it. Easily. “Sure?” He dropped it back down roughly. “What you want for it?”
Nulu looked between him and the wagon. She had no idea.
“How about some nice Elvish climbing rope?” He reached into a small sack on his belt and pulled out a large coil of thin, silver colored rope. “Couple hundred feet or so.”
“That wagon’s not worth twenty feet of that stuff,” admitted Nulu.
“Got it for a dozen mushrooms. I’m going to see how high I can trade. Wagon’s a good jump. Puts me half way to a flyin’ carpet.”
Klank finished unhitching the wagon. “It’s all yers. Daylight’s fading, folks. Hate t’rush but...”
The Minotaur passed the rope to Nulu. “Good luck to you and your unusual band.”
Nulu smiled. “And with your trading.”
“Well,,” the Minotaur smirked, “th’ sky’s the limit.”
Nulu shook her head as the trio moved onto the austere path. As they went, the path seemed to alternate between being obviously present, and completely gone. At times they stopped while Klank smelled trees to decide where the path was. All the while, the twilight of the forest grew darker and darker. Finally, thanks to his Gnollish vision -and nose- Klank took the lead permanently.
After an hour of stumbling (and cursing) in the dark, lights from fires high in the trees caught their attention. At first, they almost looked like fireflies, but soon they grew into what had to be large fires. Up to a dozen of them, with smaller ones apparently lighting bridges between trees with how they seemed to float in mid-air.
“TreeTop City,” said Nulu as they stood under a particularly large tree. “Now to figure out a way to get up.”
“Toss the rope up there?”
“Toss the rope up there? What? As a peace offering? We should have counter-offered for a grappling hook.”
Klank nodded. “Well, there’s gotta be a way up. Let’s look around and see what there is to see.”
After only a little while, Nulu found a rope hanging down from an open hatch high above. In truth, she thought she had cleverly discovered a spider web and after shrieking several times, discovered it was merely a rope. Unfortunately not before Rat and Klank had come to her aid.
“OK, Rat. Keep an eye out and when we find him, we’ll make a quick getaway.” She looked up the rope that disappeared into the darkness above. There were knots tied regularly in the rope, but even so, it was going to be an arduous climb. “Let’s get up there, Klank.”
Klank also looked up the rope. “Shouldn’t I stay an’ keep an eye out with Rat?”
“Sure, sure. That sounds fine by me.” Nulu eyed the Gnoll in the darkness. “That’s just what I’ll tell your brothers what you did when we get back.”
Klank did a little hop as he moved to the rope. “Meet ya at the top.” He began to clamber up the rope, hand over hand claw over claw.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought you’d say.” Nulu grasped the rope and hefted herself up. Unlike the Gnoll, she put her feet on the knots to help her climb. “Keep an eye out, Rat.”
Rat nodded as the pair moved up the rope. For the first time in a very long time, he was glad he was a shambler.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Halflings in the Midst
“I’m really getting tired of this stinking forest,” said Skies as he yet again stumbled on an unseen branch. Since it had gotten dark, the threesome had slowed considerably. “You sure we’re going the right way?”
Righty squinted into the darkness. Here and there he saw flits of light from fireflies (white) and firepixies (red). Then he noticed some lights that seemed to hang in place high up in the trees. Yellow ones. Fire yellow ones. “I think we found it,” he said.
“That’s what you said the last time,” snapped Skies.
“And the time before that,” added Vast.
Righty pulled the two close so they could see each other in the dimness. “Look up there.” He pointed high in the trees. The two Halflings followed where he was pointing. “That’s a lot of lights up there. That’s got to be it.”
The other two nodded.
“We need to be careful; the last thing we need is someone sounding the alarm,” continued Righty. He reached over his back to his sheath and grasped a smooth wood handle that was sticking out of it. He pulled the thick black club out and hefted it a few times. “I keep this for close encounters.” He gestured with the thick club. It had steel studs hammered into it in tight rings. Several were missing. He threaded his hand through the worn leather loop. “Ready?”
Vast drew a dagger. His preferred choice of weapon for close-quarters combat. “Ready.”
Righty gestured at the knife. “Got anything less lethal?”
“What? Like strong language?”
Skies snickered.
Righty grabbed Vast by the shoulder. “Listen idiot. We want to snatch that Gnome away, not get involved in a blood feud. If we knock out a couple of Elves while we’re doing it, some of them might chase us but only for a little bit. He’s only one Gnome after all. We kill a couple of Elves, and we’ll have every one of them on our trail. Out for blood. At night in their home territory. Those aren’t good odds.” He let loose of the Halfling. “So get something less lethal.”
Skies searched around and picked up a thick branch. “Makes sense to me, Vast.”
Vast slammed his dagger into his sheath and also went about finding an appropriately debilitating weapon. Soon, he had a club of his own.
With a nod, Righty led the trio towards the lights high up in the trees. Soon they were below a large tree with what looked like torches lining a balcony. A long suspension bridge led to an even larger tree and balcony. It was bathed in light. “This looks like a nice quiet spot to get up there.”
Skies looked around the smooth truck of the tree then back up at the bridge. There were two figures carrying a third one that did not seem to be keen on being carried mov
ing along it. “That’s odd,” he said to no one in particular.
“Well, we found TreeTop City,” said Vast. “Now we just need to find a way up.”
Again, after only a little while, the three found a rope ladder.[11]
“We’ll go up,” said Righty to Skies. “Keep an eye out down here so we can make a quiet getaway, Vast.”
Vast nodded. “Just make sure you come back down this same ladder.”
With nods all around, the two Halflings moved up the rope ladder as the third kept watch.
Chapter Twenty-Six
It’s All in the Presentation
Grimbledung made his way along the bridge, focusing intently on the far side. To his side, the rope he was holding was over his head and the guide ropes running down from it were spaced out more than his body-width. For all intents and purposes, he was out in open space. “You Elves really need to make your bridges more hospitable for wee folk.”
“They never stay that long,” said Leaves. He was walking directly behind Grimbledung, hurrying him along.
“Short visits only?”
“Sure, man. Call it that.”
Grimbledung turned around cautiously. “What are your intentions, Elf?” He asked tersely.
“They’re honorable, man,” said Leaves.
“Sure!” agreed Teeth. “What do you take us for? Savages?”
“So, you’re not planning on eating me?”
Leaves shook his head. “No, man. We’re planin’ on eating you all right. We’ll just do it honorable like.”
“How do you honorably eat someone?”
“We use all sorts of spices and herbs so you taste real good.”
“And,” added Leaves, “we kill you first.”
Grimbledung dropped his hands to his sides. “Well, it’s hard to argue with that.”
“So you’ll come peaceably and stuff?”
Grimbledung took a step back.
“And not make a fuss, man?”
Grimbledung took another step back.
“Don’t do it,” warned Leaves.
“Gah! Help! Help!” Grimbledung screeched as he turned to run.
Leaves lurched forward and grabbed the Gnome by the back of the collar. “Quit squirmin’.” He put his hands under Grimbledung’s armpits and picked him up, swinging his legs towards his partner. As he hung over open space above the ropes of the bridge, Grimbledung grabbed the Elf’s hands and froze. As soon as he was back over the bridge, the flailing resumed.
Here's Looking For You, Grim (Tales From a Second-Hand Wand Shop Book 3) Page 16