by Trista Shaye
“We’re not here on sabotage,” Matilda said, trying to reassure him of their intent, though she might have secretly wished they were there to cause trouble.
“How I know you not telling me lie, huh? How I know you not using me to get at trolls, eh?”
“We’re not here to use anyone, just to ask some questions,” Diana spoke up, stepping forward. She wasn’t sure what Matilda was doing, telling the troll they were on a mission, but a gnome trying to barter with a troll was going to get them absolutely nowhere. “We want to help.”
“Help?” he looked down at her with confusion on his face, “What you mean by help? Help fight gnomes?”
“No, we want to help you fix your land. I’ve heard about all the things that have happened here and there are things, bad things happening in my realm, too. I’ve come to try and set them right. Please,” Diana pleaded, “we need your help. If we get found by the troll guards we’ll get thrown back over the border –”
“Probably something worse,” Matilda muttered, casting her gaze about.
“And we’ll never be able to help restore The Marsh to what it used to be.” Diana stepped forward and held out a hand in a gesture of friendship.
Just then they heard some shouts and the lights that had been far off began to bounce closer. They would be found very soon if Shaarg didn’t make up his mind to help them. They couldn’t run off and leave him; he would tell the guards about them and they’d be caught; but neither could they stay there just waiting.
Shaarg sniffed at Diana’s hand and saw the panic in each of their eyes. He snorted again. “Fine, Shaarg help. But in return, you return color, and you tell me about mission.” He walked past them on two legs, then leaned forward and began bounding on all fours into the marshland.
“Quickly now!” Matilda turned and urged them on. “Don’t lose him, he’ll lead us to a hiding spot.” She made sure the two friends had begun to run after the troll before she took a final look back at the approaching guards and sighed. “Or he’ll lead us straight to prison,” she mumbled to herself, but there really wasn’t another choice.
They sat quietly in the little cave Shaarg had lead them to and listened to the pounding of troll feet around and above them, along with the shouts of the guards in the gloom crying out to find the intruders. Diana swallowed nervously and Kendel tried to keep his breathing even. Eventually, the shouts faded and the footfalls grew fainter until they couldn’t hear them anymore.
“What were you doing at the border? You’re not a fighter or even a guard, and they don’t let most kids near the skirmishes,” Matilda asked their guide.
“Me chief’s son.” Shaarg declared with a proud pound to his thick chest. “I ask question here. In payment for safety, I get to know who are and what want with Shaarg and troll lands.”
“I’m Diana,” the fairy began, pointing to herself. “Diana Alderoot of The Magic Vale. And I’m a fairy. This is my first time in your land; I’ve never left my home before.”
Kendel sank back onto a stone further inside the cave and motioned for them to ignore him. “I’ll just sit here and work on fixing what I broke,” he said sheepishly.
The troll was far less scary then the mage had first realized, and even though he had thought he wouldn’t be able to cast magic when he was frightened, he had. And he had cast a spell he hadn’t even known existed before and done something he had never even imagined. It was all rather odd and he felt he would need a good long time to think about it, let alone reverse it. But he had to, it was part of the price they owed. So he sat and he thought and he let the others talk about the things that were going on.
“Fairy a friend of gnomes?” Shaarg asked, looking skeptically between the two.
“Well, we are,” Diana said, gesturing between herself and Matilda. “We just met yesterday but Matilda’s helping me to figure out why everything has happened and why bad things keep happening. I suppose I have one other gnome friend at the moment, but I might make more, if given the chance.”
“Mat-ill-da?” Shaarg pronounced. “I think there a bounty for a Mat-ill-da, a quite large one. One any troll, even chief’s son, would like have.”
“She’s worth far more than that not turned in!” Diana hurriedly said, stepping in front of the gnome woman. “She’s invaluable.”
“Invaluable?” he sounded out the word and thought on it with his head turned to one side. His rocky body was large and he would be scary if you didn’t know that he could talk. “So I could ask far more than just bounty’s worth?”
“No.” Diana shook her head. “That’s not what I mean. But yes, she’s worth more than the bounty. But no, you shouldn’t turn her in and you shouldn’t ask for more.”
“So I should ask for same as offered before?” Shaarg sounded like he was getting confused.
“You shouldn’t ask for anything!” Diana declared, getting a little frustrated that he wasn’t hearing everything she was saying, “Don’t turn her in. Not if you want us to fix what’s going on here.”
“What’s going on here?” The troll sat down by the opening to the cave so no one could go in or out.
“Well, I’ve heard that the wildlife is going missing,” Diana began.
“Wildlife? What wild-life?”
Diana wondered if he was pulling her leg but sighed and tried to explain.
“I mean the frogs, the toads and the salamanders. They’re disappearing, right?” she asked, wondering if indeed she was right or if all of this was just a wild goose chase.
Shaarg nodded his head and the two little teeth that poked out on either side of his wide mouth poked out more prominently as he frowned. “Yes, they been harder and harder to find. Even pet salamander, he left.”
“Why?” Matilda spoke up, her curiosity unable to keep quiet any longer.
Shaarg looked at her then back to Diana. “Cause wizard curse our land. He put spell on it. He take away color, like your friend.” He pointed to Kendel and grunted, “But not color of clay and dirt, color of life. The creatures you say, they gone and leaving. We do not know where. The grass, it dying. Sometimes in its place we find ooze, black and bubbling and hot as fire to touch. It burns and it eats away at whatever it contacts.” He looked down, a sad expression crossing his stiff brow. “It even eat away at troll skin.”
Diana didn’t know what to say to that, but it sounded terrible and she felt sorry for Shaarg and his people. “When did this start?” she asked quietly.
“About two moon cycles ago. Some say they see figure out on marsh at night. Dark and cloaked in mist and shadow, unnatural. From the east by border of dragon realm he was spotted first and then ever closer to heart of marsh. As he came in further, so did fear in creatures, driving them away, and so did ooze and destruction of our land.
“We try scare him off. We set traps and wait. Many times he avoid them and disappear in cloud of fire and smoke. But once,” Shaarg said, looking up at them with narrowed eyes, “we catch him.”
“You caught him!?” Diana exclaimed, utterly shocked. “You caught the wizard?”
“Yes.” Shaarg nodded his head, and shifted his weight to one side. “They brought him to father, I was there. I remember.”
“What do you remember? What he looked like? Maybe what he sounded like?” Diana eagerly let her questions fall, what luck to have found a troll who had actually seen the wizard and been witness to his capture!
“I not remember face, nor voice. He had shifting eyes and nothing could cut through haze that shielded him from our eyes nor could we hear real voice. But I remember how he made me feel,” Shaarg said, pausing. “Afraid.”
Kendel swallowed and realized he hadn’t been doing a good job of not listening and concentrating on what he needed to, but he reasoned it was important for him to hear this, too.
“What did he say?” the mage asked, getting up from his seat and step
ping into the dim light that shone through the cave entrance around Shaarg’s large body from the moon outside.
“He said he let realm rot, from inside out and nothing could stop it. He said he watch us slowly fade and when we all gone, and stench of our marsh washed away, he build his kingdom in its place, a kingdom that stretch from one end of Castle Majestic all way through The Marsh and The Garden Glade.”
“I don’t doubt The Dappled Peaks are on that list, as well. And obviously The Magic Vale.” Matilda spat to the side in disgust. “No one deserves that much power, it makes people mean and just hungry for more. Nothing like that has ever been done in any one of our realm’s histories.”
“How did he escape?” Kendel crossed his arms, realized he was still utterly covered in filth, and quickly cast a spell to clean himself up and put everything in order.
Diana was at first curious how the mage knew the wizard had escaped, but then she realized he must have, to have brought about the fairy rings in the other realms.
“He use the spell he use before and in fire and smoke he gone. But not before he wound my father.” Shaarg grit his teeth and his anger showed. “My father is slowly being taken like marsh itself. Their lives now linked and black ooze is slowly covering his body. I was out at border tonight looking for anything might help to slow process. I thought this mage was wizard and I thought I surprise him. But he is not same, I can see this one’s face clear.”
Shaarg thought for a moment, then looked up with something in his giant white eyes. “I think to self then, maybe he help. Maybe he help my father, maybe he save marsh, maybe he know answers. That why I helped you stay hidden and that why I will help you stay safe.”
“I don’t know the answers and I’m not even sure I can give you your colors back, Shaarg,” Kendel said with a dropping head. Then suddenly, there was a flickering in his eyes and he looked up with something Diana hadn’t seen in him before; courage.
“I don’t know what we can do,” he continued, his fists clenched. “But on my word, I will help Diana, and you, and Matilda – all of us – I will help figure it out. Somehow I used magic tonight I didn’t know I had. I can help fight this wizard, whoever he is. But first, we need to figure out where he got this spell from that he used on your world. I’ve never heard of it. It sounds similar to what is happening to The Magic Vale and the gnomes’ realm, and yet … different. I have a suspicion, but I’m not sure.”
Shaarg nodded several times and stood on all fours again, moving away from the cave entrance. “I take you to father, he help us as we help him.”
Diana gave Kendel’s arm a thankful squeeze as she firmed her shoulders and nodded. “We will go with you. Where is your father right now?”
“He at chief’s den, there all generals meet with him and discuss fight with gnomes and all things of importance.”
“He’ll be alone when we get there, right?” Matilda asked, unsure if it was wise to march a wanted gnome woman straight into the chief’s den with all the bigwigs sitting around.
“He never alone,” Shaarg said, shaking his head. “Even more now that he is not able to walk much or use his right arm. But it ok, I will not let them take you in for bounty – you worth more and I tell them it joke what they ask for you.”
“I’m so at ease now.” Matilda said sarcastically.
“Come, come, follow me,” Shaarg said, motioning and backing out of the cave. “We go to heart of marsh, chief’s den.”
Fifteen
Diana had to close her eyes as tightly as she could, hold her breath, and try desperately not to think about what kinds of gross things were in the waters of the marsh; the waters they would have to be taken through to get to Shaarg’s father and the chief’s den. Apparently it was under the water itself.
The young troll decided to take them one by one from the cave to the edge of the marsh piggyback style. They found it a little uncomfortable due to the rockiness of his skin but it was the only thing they could think of. Shaarg took Diana second, after Matilda, and Kendel was last.
When the troll burst from the marsh into the underwater cave entrance with the mage clinging to him, Diana jumped a little, not expecting them so quickly. Kendel clambered off of Shaarg a bit clumsily and swiped at his clothes. He sighed, told the two girls to stand together and behind him, then waved his hands and removed the muck and slime. Shaarg just shook the water and mire off his rocky hide and ambled forward on all fours, motioning them to follow as he led them deeper into the cavern.
As they followed a passageway that would lead them to the main cave and the chief, Diana couldn’t help but wonder at their surroundings. At first, she hadn’t really thought The Marsh a very lovely place. It was smelly, wet, flat, and nothing but dull colors. Even though it was dark and a lot of the natural foliage that grew was being replaced by black slime, she hadn’t felt she would want to come back for a visit anytime soon, for nothing captured her attention. But now, as they walked beneath the surface of the land, she realized there must be a little bit of beauty in every realm, you just had to know where to look.
Above them, glow worms hung from the ceiling of the passageway, letting out a soft blue light that seemed to hum a little in the darkness, a pleasant, barely audible sound, but there if you paused to listen. Lightly glowing rocks of many colors lined the sides of the passage and there was even some glowing fungus that Diana had never seen before. It was fascinating. Even the texture of the rock all around them was interesting and beautiful. It appeared to wave along, not that much unlike a river, and the divots and bumps made it look like running water in the glow of the worms from above.
“I feel like I’m walking through a tunnel in a stream,” she whispered to Kendel who was behind her, Matilda and Shaarg at the front.
The mage only nodded for he, too was mesmerized.
They came to the end of the tunnel and entered a large cavern beyond that opened down into a massive bowl shape. Mosses and lichens hung from the ceiling and dotted the walls down into the depths. Cave bats swiveled their heads towards the intruders and perked their large angular ears at them, their glowing green eyes were but slits as they beheld the travelers. Carved into the side of the cavern were stairs that lead downward and Shaarg motioned for them to follow him again as he began to descend the smooth steps.
“This secret place,” he said softly, at least as softly as his voice would allow. “Never before any but troll allowed within, not even wizard prisoner know of this place.” He turned and Matilda had to stop short so as to not run into his broad face.
“Yes?” she asked, trying not to be rude as he stared her down. She knew she needed to be polite and on her best behavior for Diana to learn what she needed to from these beings, but the gnome’s guttural instincts told her to spit in their faces and run. She swallowed her excess saliva.
“You had better hold tongue and speak nice. And you better never tell no one, gnome friends of yours, where this be.”
“I couldn’t find it in the marshy water again even if I tried.” She sighed and rolled her eyes. “But I won’t tell anyone, you have my word.”
Shaarg gave one last hard stare and then continued his downward climb with the companions ogling at the place behind him. Matilda stuck out her tongue, but deep down she actually felt a little bad about it and she quickly put her ill temper away.
They reached the bottom of the bowl-like cavern and Shaarg lead them up to a small side door in the cave – a basic wooden construction with a knocker on it. He knocked, told them to wait till he called for them, and then went in and closed the door most of the way.
Kendel swept his gaze about and peered upwards at the cascading vines and mosses – it was quite a neat little atrium of sorts. “We need something like this at Castle Majestic,” he whispered to himself. “We need a garden or something.”
“You don’t have any gardens, or plants or things?” Diana asked, i
ncredulous. “It sounds –” she was about to say ‘awful’, but remembered what she had felt about this place and how she had been wrong. So instead she said, “Different.”
Shaarg kicked the door open for them with his back leg, not bothering to turn around. The three friends paused for a brief moment, looked at each other, then filtered in, one after the other.
Either Shaarg had forgotten to mention that they weren’t trolls, or he had mentioned it but the shock of seeing the new comers for themselves was too much, and the whole room let out a collective gasp and then erupted into growls and shouts.
“Um, Shaarg.” Diana leaned over to talk to the troll, trying to keep a smile on her face so the rest of the room would know she was friendly. “Did you mention we were, you know, different?”
“Kind of.” He sniffed and looked to be waiting for the chaos to die down so he could explain things to his father and the generals. “But they not listen well or understand much, they think Shaarg still too much a child to speak of such great matters as catching evil wizard.”
“They don’t respect your words? You’re the chief’s son, though!” Diana felt a little angry at the rough looking trolls around her. How inconsiderate of them!
“I still child, no matter whose am. Only father listen to me.”
“Well, he’s the chief so he should make everyone else deal with it.” She put her hands on her hips, then on her ears. She couldn’t keep smiling when the ruckus was this loud and her head was starting to pound because of it.
Before them in a circle, not unlike the council in The Magic Vale, sat five troll generals. Well, sat was not the right word for it. They were bouncing up and down, spinning in circles, and otherwise doing anything but being still. Their war paint and colored bodies were quite the sight to behold. Diana and the mage had really only gotten a good look at Shaarg and then only after Kendel had stripped him of his own paintings. Each troll looked different and each had various patterns and hues all over them.