by Shawn Muller
“My apologies, Jeroch. My sister’s visit has left me disturbed. It seems my thanks go to you Titanius, for defending my realm. I pray that your addition to Bob and his soon-to-be mercenary company will be of great help. Perhaps I should send you to the Fertile Plains to deal with the bandits before winter. No, rather not, I need you here to prepare for the troll invasion.”
“Tell me, how go the preparations?” he asked me.
“We currently have only the four of us in the company. I was hoping that Thackeray would have joined us by now, but he seems, resistant to the idea. We are trying to source a supply for our specific armour, as you are aware, and Farpae has informed me now that we have a tailor who will make our uniform similar to my current one, as well as boots and a few other items. I do need to ask you for permission for something though.”
Prince Marcus nodded for me to continue.
“I need to have an obstacle course built for us to train on, but I also need a small palisade wall to be built around our headquarters and the training area to keep any curious people away,” I asked.
“How big an obstacle course? And how big an area do you need walled off?”
“Well, from the outer wall where our headquarters are now, right down to the lake’s edge and probably as wide. It’s only temporary until we locate another suitable area in a quieter area,” I quickly added when I saw the prince’s eyes widen.
“I will grant this, but only until the next summer. By then I want to see progress. We have our annual war games midsummer against my brother Owyne, and I want to win it this time.”
“Thank you, my lord,” I bowed.
“Now, what are you going to do for the upcoming troll season?” he asked me.
“In all honesty, I don’t know anything about these trolls, so I am struggling to formulate an effective strategy. If you can provide me with intel on them, I can formulate the correct strategy to follow. Also, intel on how you normally deal with them would also be helpful,” I replied.
“Intel? What is this intel you are asking for?” Prince Marcus asked.
“Excuse me, Prince Marcus, its habit to speak like that. Intel is short for intelligence, information. It’s just the words we use when discussing information about the enemy etcetera,” I apologised, slightly red faced.
Prince Marcus stared at me for a moment, shook his head and turned to Jeroch with a slight smile on his face.
“Jeroch, please ensure that Bob has all the…intel he requires.”
“Certainly, my lord.”
We were dismissed soon after that and Jeroch asked us to accompany him back to his study where he could give us some of the information that I had asked for.
“Here is a book on the lore of the trolls. Feel free to take it with you to read it. Farpae can also be of help, as he has fought against them for the past few years. When you need more information, please do not hesitate to seek me out to ask. The prince has instructed me to assist you as much as I can. I do however feel that it is foolish, but Prince Marcus is an excellent judge of character,” Jeroch informed us.
We left the castle with the book under my arm, all of us gave Farpae a questioning look. He remained silent throughout the entire meeting with the Prince and Jeroch both. We eventually reached the headquarters just as dusk was setting in and I called a meeting soon afterwards to discuss the troll issue.
“Farpae, I can see that the trolls really bug you, for whatever reason. Can you tell us what it is?” I asked.
“It’s a touchy subject, very difficult to speak about. I lost somebody very dear to me during the last raid towards the end of winter last year,” he spoke in a quiet voice.
“A fierce blizzard blew in from the south which froze the lake quicker than the patrolling warships could break the ice. Soon a squadron was trapped in the ice just south of the island. The air was so cold it almost froze everything in its wake, including the crews of the ship. My brother was a captain on one of the ships, and,” he wiped tears from his eyes. “And while they were trapped in the ice a large band of King Trolls came upon them and slaughtered them all. The King Troll shaman had created the blizzard to freeze the lake over so that they could mount a raid. The ships happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. After the slaughter, the trolls mounted the heads of the sailors, my brother included, on pikes and marched to the city. Once at the city walls, the blizzard ceased as if it never happened, and before us stood about twenty King Trolls. I can see your look of disbelief that twenty King Trolls can hold so much fear in them, but when you see them you will understand,” he paused to take a swallow of wine before continuing.
“You see, there are four types of trolls. The Plains Trolls live on the plains surrounding us, standing at a mere one metre high. They are more of a pest than anything else. They eat crops and destroy grazing grounds. The farmers hunt them down because they breed as fast as rabbits, if not quicker. Lucky for us, the larger troll species view them as food as well. The next troll species are the Hill Trolls. They are also small, standing at about a metre and a half. They could easily be mistaken for a human child from a distance. But close up you see the difference - very hairy body, large wide ears and flat faces. They burrow into the hills leading up to the mountainous region south of us. Not as numerous as the Plains Trolls, they are brighter than them, often hunting the Plains Trolls down and presenting them as gifts to the remaining two troll species. Next are the Mountain Trolls. They are the same height as us humans, but very hairy and thick skinned. They look more like giant apes, thick brows, lower jaw that juts out, sloping forehead, their arms are longer than normal causing their knuckles to almost drag on the ground. They are not very intelligent, more animalistic and are used by the King Trolls to do more menial tasks,” Pausing for another mouthful of wine, Farpae sighed before he continued.
“That leaves us with the King Trolls, so named because they are as intelligent as humans, making them very deadly when it comes to fighting. While nobody has managed to return from their territory deep in the mountains, we have gleaned that they have a very complex society. They have metalworking knowledge, currency system and have very competent shaman who uses nature-based magic to good effect, like the blizzard last year. They stand at well above three metres tall, have very human characteristics, are very hairy, almost like fur that covers their body completely. They wear only loincloths when raiding us, but we learnt that those are trolls who are out to prove themselves, almost like a rite of passage. Otherwise they wear garments, body armour and even jewellery, normally made from bones from the animals or humans that they have killed. What makes them deadly is their ability to learn. They have learnt siege warfare, magic from our encounters during raids, full plate armour! Full plate armour on a three metre high monster! It’s enough to make a grown man pee himself, especially when their swords are longer than us. Luckily, they seem to have a sense of honour as well. They only attack during winter, wearing only loincloths and carry no weapons except maybe a few wooden clubs carried many by the Mountain Trolls who accompany them. And even the Mountain Trolls are kept on a short leash. Very few civilians are attacked unless they happen to be in the way. I feel that if the trolls had to mount a proper invasion, humankind would be wiped off the face of the world. So there we were, a force of twenty King Trolls dressed in their loincloths, facing us as we stood on the city walls. We were about a thousand men waiting to see what would happen next, all the ballistae and catapults armed and ready to fire. We all knew that some of us would not live by the end of the day. The trolls let out a war cry, which shook the very walls of the city and disorientated some of us and caused others ears to bleed. Then they threw the severed heads at us. Most sailed over the walls, but some, like my brother’s head landed on the wall, right by my feet. I was so shaken I fell to my knees and let out a wail of grief. This actually saved my life, as I fell to my knees, a volley of stones thrown by the trolls followed and caused many, many deaths and injuries on the walls. The trolls attacked then, runn
ing to jump up against the walls and to start climbing up and over them. The ballistae and catapults starting firing, scoring hits and killing or wounding a few. Our archers fired volley after volley, but most of the time the arrows just bounced straight off their thick skin. Soon the trolls were up the walls and on the ramparts, where they were attacked from all sides by spears. Some trolls actually laughed at this before lashing out and grabbing soldiers in their hands and ripping their heads off in one pull. Within minutes, hundreds of men were dying, and only a handful of trolls had perished. The trophies of the dead soldiers were thrown down the walls where the trolls jumped off after killing a few men each, the heads were collected in bags which the trolls brought before they started leaving one by one. Unlucky for me, one troll decided he wanted a few more heads. He stayed longer on the wall within spear range of me. We were stabbing wildly at it, slowly driving it back. I could see it started to hurt, it kept flinching back, and soon we thought we had it in retreat. But it was a ruse. It leapt right at us, brushing aside the spears like twigs. It grabbed a soldier right next to me, pulled his head off and threw it over the wall. The body was dropped right on top of me, pinning me down. The troll grabbed a few more soldiers before reinforcements arrived from behind and managed to drive their spears deep into its back. It roared in pain before stepping back towards the edge of the wall. As it teetered on the brink of falling over, I managed to drag myself from under the body. I grabbed a spear and drove the point deep into its right eye, piercing the brain. As it died there on the spot, a spasm shook its body and it right hand, claws extended, hit me full on the chest, ripping through my chainmail and leaving three deep gashes right down to my rib bones. It fell over the edge without a sound as I fell once more to the ground,” Farpae was quiet again for a few minutes before carrying on.
“We lost almost two hundred men that day, including the sailors and my brother, and we only killed six trolls and wounded maybe another four or five. It took me many months to heal, physically, but emotionally, anybody who faces them is scarred for life.”
On that dark note I called it a night and we all drifted off to our rooms to get some sleep.
I was deeply disturbed by the story. The prince had some notion that I would be able to save them from the trolls. I was not so sure anymore about that. Fighting humans was one thing, but fighting a fairy tale creature twice my size was something completely different. This would take a lot of thinking and time to figure out. Time, something I was running out of it seemed.
Chapter 3 – Preparations
The next day we were up and about before sunrise. I led us through some warm up exercises before a brisk jog for about an estimated five kilometres. This would become a morning ritual, as we all needed to get into fighting shape. I was puffing hard by the time we returned to the HQ, as it was unofficially called now. Farpae was left well behind as he was the most unfit of us all. It seemed that the military here did not worry too much about fitness. Titanius seemed the least affected his German willpower too strong to show he was just as out of breath as us.
A work crew was waiting for us. The foreman approached me and explained that he was to build our obstacle course for us and to oversee the construction of the palisade walls. I showed him what I wanted, and left him to scratch his head in wonder as to what we wanted it for.
After a quick jump in some cold water to rinse off the sweat, Max and Titanius took turns to lead us through a few martial arts moves and stretches, more to show Farpae what would be expected of him than anything else. It felt good to exercises again after sitting around and doing nothing.
By midmorning a very grumpy-looking Thackeray approached on foot, followed by Jeroch and a squad of soldiers.
“Good morning Bob, men,” Jeroch greeted us with a small nod.
“Morning, sir,” we replied, saluting him Earth military style.
“I brought you a few new members to train for now and to see if they meet your requirements. And I brought Thackeray with, seeing as I caught him hiding away in the castle.”
I looked over the twenty odd men quickly, noting that most of them were in some sort of shape and that they were armed with an assortment of weaponry. Scars crisscrossed their hard features, calluses on the palm of their hands showed extensive use of the weapons they were carrying.
“Thank you sir, I will take them through the paces and see who I can use,” Jeroch saluted a farewell and left us with the new squad and a dejected looking Thackeray.
“Cheer up Thackeray, it’s not that bad,” Max joked with him.
“I was nice and cosy in the castle, warm too,” he replied.
“Don’t worry, we will keep you nice and warm,” Max promised with an evil glint in his eye.
“All right, men my name is Bob, this is Max and Titanius. You all know Farpae,” I began by way of introduction.
“I know that you are all veterans, and you have had your basic training. We are not here to repeat that - we are here to build on it. I won’t lie. The next two weeks will be gruelling for us all. We will be going through a series of fitness tests and training. Those of you who make it through will be trained further. Those that don’t, well, thanks for trying, maybe next time,” I eyed the twenty men and Thackeray as they digested the news before carrying on.
“Max will show you to your barracks. Stow your gear there - you only need your uniform and boots on for now. Now move your arses! What are you waiting for, your mama to hold your hands? Move! Move! Move!”
Max led them at a trot to the barracks, the soldiers and Thackeray scrambling after him in shock at the change in my attitude. Titanius ran after them, yelling at the top of his lungs for them to hurry up. I turned and stared at a smiling Farpae, who turned and looked at me. His smile froze in place, before slowly melting into a frown as he realised he had to follow them. Our training had begun in earnest.
For the next two weeks we followed the spec ops training as close as possible, leading the new recruits, as we called them, through hell. Sleep was deprived, physical limits were pushed with running through the obstacle course as it was built, forced marches until late at night, eating was rushed down in five minutes, regular ten kilometre runs were made. The soldiers, us included, were pushing against our physical limits.
I remember hurling my lungs out the one day after a particular fast ten kilometre run. I wasn’t the only one. A few recruits dropped out after the two weeks, as well as one or two medical discharges for broken bones.
We were left with eleven recruits, including Thackeray who had turned out to be a hardy fellow. Farpae was pulled through, kicking and screaming, but he made it. The two weeks left our bodies stiff and sore, but every one of us knew that we had made it - we were on our way to being the best of the best.
Jeroch and a few other commanders thought I was dumb to do the training with everybody else. I turned around and told them I couldn’t expect somebody else do it if I couldn’t do it as well. I wanted men to follow me because they knew I had done it as well, and would do it again with them. That shut them up afterwards. Got a few dirty looks for it, but screw them - I wasn’t working for them.
Farpae ordered uniforms and boots for us from his contact. Our new platoon of almost-there commandos would at least be dressed the part.
A few days after our fitness test, I received word from the dwarven ambassador, who was asking permission if he could come and inspect us. Bemused by the request, I told the page that he could do so, tomorrow morning just after sunrise for morning inspection. We had received our uniforms and I decided it would be fitting to wear them on this semi-official inspection.
We arose before the false dawn the next morning to get ready. Our black boots were spit-polished bright enough to see our reflections in them, our uniforms were crisp from starch, and every detail was perfect and in place. Titanius led the men out to the parade ground and called us to attention. There we stood, sixteen men ramrod straight dressed in our Earth-like uniforms and boots. Within minutes the su
n peaked over the horizon, the few clouds on the sky were changing colour from a deep indigo to purple to red to orange as the sun rose higher in the sky. A faint breeze blew of the lake, clearing the little fog from the harbour. A few moments later horses could be heard, and the jingle jangle of men in armour. A herald blew a trumpet and cried out.
“Presenting his Royal Highness Prince Marcus Otis and his Excellence, Ambassador Granitetooth of Dwarfinaan!”
Prince Marcus approached on a white stallion, closely followed by Jeroch and Smoothie.To the prince’s right, was Ambassador Granitetooth, carried on a litter by four broad-shouldered dwarves, each fully armoured in plate mail and carrying wicked Lochaber-type axes. The dwarves gently put the litter down before straitening themselves into parade attention. Prince Marcus dismounted his horse, followed by the rest of his retinue of commanders and advisors.I marched forward, eyes front and made precise, right-angled turns to stand in front of the prince.
“Sir! Ghost Platoon is ready and awaiting your inspection sir!” I told him in my best drill sergeant voice.
