Ella and the Panther's Quest

by Lisa Anne Nisula

  “If you will agree to stop attacking travelers, then yes, she will.”

  “If she will make me something warm, I will not attack people who pay like normal. Is that good?”

  “It is. We have an accord then?”

  “Yes.”

  Nathaniel bowed to the troll. The troll looked confused, but he bent at the waist in an awkward attempt at a bow.

  “She will need to take some measurements.”

  The troll sat down on the ground. “Then measure.”

  Nathaniel came back to me. “I suppose you heard; he has agreed.”

  “Yes, I heard.”

  “Then get ready quickly, before he gets cranky again.”

  I found some light-colored cloth that was clean enough to write on and a pen out of my bag. Nathaniel waited until I was ready, then led me back to the troll.

  “What do you need?” The troll asked. His voice was still a growl, but I didn’t think it was meant to be frightening.

  “To measure your wrist, arm and chest.”

  The troll held out his arm. It was craggy, like a tree trunk, with dirt and leaves caught in the bumps and folds and moss growing in the damp crevices. I half expected to see wood lice crawling out from the ridges.

  Nathaniel stood near me, waiting. I wrapped the cloth around the troll’s wrist, trying not to touch the skin, and tied a knot where the cloth met itself. I wrote “wrist” on it, then went on to his arm. I couldn’t reach anything above the elbow. Feste wasn’t around, and I didn’t think he would have been tall enough to help me much. I tried standing on a rock. It wasn’t flat or very stable, and I wobbled as I straightened up. Nathaniel rushed forward and positioned his head so I could rest my hand on it and use him for balance. I was all right as long as I had Nathaniel for an armrest, but when I reached to stretch the cloth along the damp bicep, I almost fell off again.

  The troll watched me struggle, then he grumbled, “I can lie down.”

  “That would help.”

  The troll stretched out on the ground, sinking into the marshy soil. I approached his arm. I couldn’t reach under it to wrap the measuring cloth around. I stared at it, trying to see the arm without looking at the moss growing over his shoulder, while trying to think of a way to continue measuring.

  Nathaniel came to my side. “I will hold one end for you, if it would help.”

  “It would, thank you.”

  “Show me where.” Nathaniel took one end of the measuring cloth between his teeth and walked beside me to the troll’s arm. I found the widest part of the arm. I pointed to a spot I thought was centered.

  Nathaniel brought the cloth over and pressed his head against the troll’s bicep. I tossed the rest of the cloth over, then walked around the arm, edging my way between the troll’s forearm and chest until I was across from Nathaniel. I made another knot. “OK”

  I felt the cloth go slack and wound it up. I labeled the outside and was trying to find a way out without touching the damp skin when Nathaniel came around the troll’s arm and sat beside me.

  “I’ll hold this end if you’d like.”

  “Thank you.” I pulled out the final strip and handed the end to Nathaniel. He took it in his mouth and pressed it against the side of the troll’s chest.

  I let the cloth unroll behind me as I walked along the troll’s legs. I had to lift it up over his huge feet and drag it back up over the other side of his legs, then give it several tugs to get the strip up over troll’s stomach. The troll giggled, his stomach shaking. “That tickles.”

  I hoped Nathaniel was all right on the other side and not being rubbed or crushed by the huge arms. “Sorry!” Hopefully Nathaniel could hear me and know that I meant the apology for him.

  Now that I was over the biggest part of the troll, I started rewinding the slack into the ball until I reached a spot I thought was across from Nathaniel, and gently pulled on the cloth so it would be straight when I took the measurement. Once I had the spot marked, I gave a quick tug on the cloth and let it go, hoping Nathaniel would get the hint and let go too. I felt the cloth go slack and wound it in. “All done!” I called, then ran out of the way as the troll sat up quickly, almost knocking me in the head with his enormous elbow.

  I carried my measuring cloths to the tree stump and started ripping more cloth. I’d start with a sleeve. It would actually fit on the needles I had and give me a chance to be certain this would work. I could worry about longer needles as I finished the sleeves.

  When I had several yards of scraps wound up, I carried the ball to a flat rock that was almost at a comfortable height to sit on. Without a ruler, I had to figure out how many stitches to cast on. I managed by counting how many times I could place the swatch along the bit of measuring cloth I’d used on his wrist. Then I was ready to cast on and start knitting.

  Chapter 23

  I worked on the ribbing of the cuff until knit one, purl one was driving me crazy, and my fingers were sore from the inflexible yarn and bits of wood and dust that were still hidden in the fabric. The cuff was almost as long as my hand, so I decided it was more than enough, and there was just a squishy shell left of my cloth-yarn ball, so I probably needed some more yarn anyway.

  I got up and stretched my arms, then twisted to get the kinks out of my spine. If I was this stiff after a few hours, I wondered how I’d feel in a few weeks. I reminded myself that when I knit sweaters at home, I never worked more than the length of a movie on them at once. I hadn’t taken that into account in the estimate I’d given Nathaniel. I tried to encourage myself with the thought that it wouldn’t take, couldn’t take, as long as we had figured to finish the sweater.

  As I wandered over to the pile of clothing, I came up with another problem. When Nathaniel and I had been figuring how long the sweater would take, neither of us had thought about the time it would take to rip cloth and wind it into balls. I realized I had no idea how long that part of the project would take. I’d never had to wind more yarn than I’d need for a scarf, and that had taken an hour. And then there was the ripping and the knotting. So much for shortening the process. I was getting the feeling we would never finish. I considered mentioning my worries to Nathaniel, but he had been so determined to appease the troll, seeing it as a part of protecting his people, that I doubted it would do any good, and I wasn’t completely certain I’d be glad if it did.

  As I approached the clothing pile, I could hear Nathaniel talking, but I couldn’t make out any words. It almost sounded like he was mumbling, which worried me. I’d never heard him anything other than articulate. With images of him captured and gagged by Crawa or being smothered by the troll running through my head, I sped up. I didn’t know how I could help him in any of the situations I was dreaming up, but I was certainly going to try.

  When I got there, I found Feste using his two front legs to hold down a piece of gray cloth so old I couldn’t identify what it had been. Nathaniel grabbed the corner between his teeth and ripped off a strip. He dropped the strip at one end and started again. He’d ripped six strips before he noticed me. When he did, he started batting at the strips with his paws, as if he were trying to pick them up. “Do you think these will work? I haven’t figured out how I can knot them together yet though.” He didn’t look up at me. Instead, he focused on getting the strips into a neat pile.

  I struggled for words. “The knotting’s the easy part; it’s the tearing that takes forever.”

  “If they’ll work, of course.” Nathaniel stopped fumbling with his paws and went back to the edge he’d started ripping.

  I picked up the strips he’d torn, drawing one through my fingers to untangle it, shaking out the dust and bits of dirt, winding it into a ball, knotting the next one to it, then drawing a new strip through my fingers and starting again.

  Nathaniel had the corner of the cloth in his mouth, his eyes on me. I understood his expression. “These should work fine.”

  Nathaniel nodded and started ripping more strips.

  *
<
br />   The light was becoming reddish and the sun was falling behind the trees when Nathaniel came over to my rock, his mouth full of cloth strips. He dropped them on top of the pile I’d started and sat beside me. “That’s a lot done.”

  I looked at the tube I’d knitted. If I kept on at this rate, I would finish the sweater sometime in the next year.

  I must have waited too long to answer since Nathaniel went on. “It’s getting late. There’s a nice spot for you to rest, if you’d like.”

  I was going to protest, to tell him I could keep working, and not show him any weakness, but I spoiled the whole thing by yawning. “All right.” I pushed the knitting to the centers of the needles so it wouldn’t fall off and followed Nathaniel.

  Nathaniel had found a patch of soft moss in the shelter of one of the lean-tos. I wrapped myself in the cloak and lay down. I felt Feste curl up at my feet. It was a comforting feeling, having someone I knew nearby. I shivered a little and drew the cloak more tightly around myself.

  And then there was soft fur brushing my neck and a warm body pressed against my back. I smiled as I fell asleep.

  *

  I was awakened the next morning by the sunlight shining on my face. There was no warmth other than the soft black fur beside me. I shifted and sat up. Nathaniel slipped away.

  After a breakfast of hard bread and pears, I went back to knitting. Nathaniel watched me eat and saw me settled by the lean-to with my knitting before he went to the pile of clothing and pulled out a few pieces. Feste followed him. I kept half my attention on Nathaniel, half on the surrounding forest. The troll crashed around a bit, scaring away birds and squirrels. I lost track of him in the trees and everything was quiet for about fifteen minutes, then he crashed back out, licking his fingers. I could feel his eyes on me. I looked up and smiled. That seemed to encourage the troll. He lumbered over and sat near me.

  I tried to ignore the troll by focusing on the knitting. It wasn’t easy; every time he shifted his weight, the ground trembled a bit, and his shadow blocked most of my light. I distracted myself by trying to figure out how to work around a knot.

  A few minutes later, I could feel the troll’s hot breath on my shoulder, and I forced myself not to shudder away. I tried to ignore him, but I could see from the corner of my eye that he had leaned in close and seemed intently interested in me.

  I felt another pair of eyes on me. I hadn’t heard Nathaniel approaching, his mouth filled with strips of cloth, his eye on the troll. He glanced at me, met my eyes, and nodded. I felt better at once. I could see the end of the ball coming up and put aside my knitting to pick up some of the new strips.

  “Why did you stop? I was watching.” I could hear the start of a tantrum in the troll’s voice.

  “I have to add to my yarn or I can’t go on.”

  The troll watched. “How long will it take?”

  “I don’t know. I have to knot all of these together.” I gestured to the pile of cloth in front of me.

  “And then you will go on?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Can I help?”

  I almost dropped my yarn in surprise, but I recovered in time to say, “I’ll show you how.” I glanced at Nathaniel. He looked just as surprised and shrugged a little. As I turned toward the troll and handed him some cloth strips to practice on, I could feel Nathaniel’s eyes on me. He stayed close, never turning away from me for more than a few seconds, while I demonstrated an overhand knot to the troll.

  The troll already knew how to make knots, since he used them in his lean-tos and other shelters around his camp, but it took a while for him to understand that he needed to make the knots near the end of both strips. After half an hour, the troll was able to knot together long strips of cloth that held together when I tugged on them. I started a ball for him and he wound the rest of the strips on it. I was able to leave him to knotting while I attached the little bit I’d prepared to the sleeve and went on. Nathaniel went back to ripping cloth, but stayed within view of me and the troll, only leaving to get more cloth to rip and doing that as quickly as he could manage.

  Everything was peaceful until, “I don’t have any more.”

  I could hear the whine in the troll’s voice again and looked back at him. The troll had knotted all of the strips Nathaniel had been bringing over and now he had a good sized ball wound, about five inches across.

  “I don’t have anything else to knot.”

  Nathaniel came over to us, the fur on his back raised, until he was close enough to hear the troll’s words. He watched the troll for a minute, then said, “I can show you how to make more.”

  The troll followed Nathaniel to the pile of clothes. I watched as Nathaniel caught a bit of gray-green cloth between his teeth and pulled it free of the pile. Before he could drop it and explain, the troll had thrown himself on the ground, causing Feste to scramble out of the way and making the whole pile of clothing shift, covering Nathaniel in an avalanche of coats. The troll grabbed a pair of trousers between his teeth and waited for Nathaniel to continue the lesson. I smiled as Nathaniel stared at the troll, deciding exactly how to go on.

  “You have a big advantage over me. You have hands. That will make it much easier for you.”

  I saw Feste come out of hiding and tried to catch his eye and smile at him, but I wasn’t sure where his eyes were. He noticed me and I saw him shake a bit, which I took for laughter.

  The troll took the trousers out of his mouth and held them.

  “Now, you see how thick these are? That’s how you want to tear them.” Nathaniel watched the troll move the cloth back up to his mouth. “You can use your hands. Unfortunately, I need Feste to act as my left hand.”

  The troll snapped his mouth shut and held the cloth between his hands instead, waiting for more instructions.

  Nathaniel kept explaining to the troll how to rip the cloth, reminding him every few minutes that he didn’t have to use his teeth since he had hands, and explaining how thick to make the strips. Nathaniel was patient, never raising his voice or snapping, even when the troll forgot and started tearing things with his teeth again.

  *

  The next morning, the troll started tearing cloth as soon as it was light enough to see. By the time I had eaten breakfast under Nathaniel’s watchful eye, the troll had ripped as much cloth as Nathaniel had in a whole afternoon.

  Nathaniel leaned toward me. “I think I can leave him to it this morning.”

  I nodded. “He’s certainly enthusiastic.”

  “Will you be all right if I go for breakfast?”

  As he asked, I realized that Nathaniel had hung around me all day yesterday, watching me whenever the troll was nearby. I hadn’t seen him eat anything and he hadn’t been out of my sight long enough for even a snack. “Of course, I’ll be fine.”

  “If you need anything, call for me. I won’t go far.” Nathaniel melted into the trees.

  I kept an eye on the troll as he worked. When I ran out of yarn, I started another ball for him to wind, but I waited until Nathaniel came back from his food hunt with a large branch from an apple tree before I tried to get the yarn from him.

  I approached him, holding out the small ball I had started. “Could I take that one so I can knit with it?”

  The troll stared at me, confused. Then he seemed to remember the point of all the tearing and knotting, and dropped the ball he held, grabbed my small one right out of my hand, and went right back to work. He sat quietly, looking ready to stay there all morning, not bothering anyone.

  I brought the new ball back to my rock and tied it onto the end of my knitting, then put the sleeve aside. Food seemed more important at the moment.

  I plucked the apples off of the limb Nathaniel had brought me and ate two right away. They were very good, and I hoped Nathaniel could tell that from my expression. He was still watching me. When I’d finished, I put the rest of the apples in my bag.

  “Do you need anything else?” Nathaniel asked, pacing a little, a
s if he were eager to run off and follow my orders. I would have loved to have something for him to do, just to see him scramble to obey.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Oh. That’s good then.” Nathaniel shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I’ll scout around and see if there’s anything we should know about.”

  “That’s an excellent idea.” I hoped I sounded sincere and not like I was trying to make busy work sound important.

  “I won’t go too far; if there’s any trouble I’ll hear it.” Nathaniel padded off into the forest again. I watched him until he disappeared from view, then went back to work undisturbed by anyone.

  Chapter 24

  After three days, the lovely silence became too much. The troll sat quietly, alternating between tearing strips of cloth, which seemed to be an afternoon occupation and was accompanied by enthusiastic whipping around of the strips, and knotting, which was a quiet morning and evening activity. Nathaniel spent most of his time in the woods, sometimes with Feste, sometimes alone. He would run back at any sign of trouble from the troll, so I knew he wasn’t going far, but other than the occasion branch of apples or pears that he would return with, I had no idea where he went or what he did.

  As I sat alone on my rock, I tried to let my thoughts swirl through my mind and relax me while I knit, but my thoughts had found a rut and refused to be budged. I was uncomfortable, cold, the prisoner of an unpredictable troll, and very scared.

  I heard the crashing of branches that meant Nathaniel was back. I watched him pace the camp, his tail twitching. I wondered what he kept going to look for in the forest, and my mind found another well-worn rut, wondering what he had meant when he’d said there were worse things than trolls in these woods.

  Nathaniel stopped half-way through one of his circuits and turned. He caught me looking at him. “Are you all right?”

  Why had he asked that? Were my thoughts that transparent? “Fine. A little stiff I guess.” I realized I wanted to talk, anything not to be alone with my thoughts. “Have you seen anything interesting in the woods?”