They walked toward the last toothy peak separating the old kingdoms from the new. For some odd reason, Boil didn't say a word. Grump frowned and glared at the goblin from the corner of his eye.
Boil rubbed his knuckles over and over like they were marble that needed polishing. Every so often, he would shoot a glance at Grump, then quickly look away.
Whatever. As long as he isn't talking, Grump thought.
Around midnight, they halted. Grump pressed his fists against his hips and tapped his toes on the rocks. Boil still hadn't spoken, and the reason why finally hit Grump like a slap in the face. "Oh, you're a smart one, aren't you?"
Boil arched a brow. "What? I didn't say anything."
Grump readjusted Rose and passed a tongue over his tusk. "You're trying to make me like you. You're keeping quiet because you think that's what I want."
Boil coughed and pressed a fist to his mouth. "Like you? What? Why? I don't need you to like me. I'm Boil. I'm a famous greenskin rogue." He crossed his arms and stomped toward the mountains. "C'mon, Grump. The wizard's waiting, and I want my wish."
The damnable goblin would do anything for a friend. Grump smirked and glanced down at Rose. "Poor guy's lonely."
Like always, she didn't respond. His smile melted into a frown. "No, it's most certainly not me who's lonely. I don't need a friend."
Grump's frown deepened to a scowl. "We're nothing alike. Nothing at all!"
He looked up at a wall of mist swirling where the shape of a goblin had just disturbed its placid movements. The fog quickly mended the hole, leaving no trace of the greenskin who made it.
"I should be nicer to him," Grump murmured to Rose. "He's been helpful. Hells, he's even been nice. I know, I know, he's only doing it to get you to the wizard, but it's not like I've got to be such an ass the entire way. We both know he'll only change up tactics again if being quiet doesn't work."
He sighed and strolled toward the rolling mist. "Let's just let him think we're friends. At least then he'll act normal. Can't stand all that fake acting. Never have, never will."
Grump patted the satchel and breathed the moist air. The soupy grey enveloped them, hiding all hint of mountain and goblin guide. His huffy breath tore at the grey. "Where is that greenskin? Boil? Boil!"
A few seconds passed. Grump's hand went to Rose. Every swirl and sigh of a gloomy tendril formed Boil's outline, but when Grump approached it, the illusion vanished.
He left me, Grump thought bitterly. They always leave—
"Grump?" Boil called, close but oddly soft, like a whisper hissed.
Grump almost laughed at Boil's voice. He bounded toward it, heavy steps crunching on the mountain gravel. "Where are you, you slick little goblin? Stay close to me. These mountains are dangerous."
"It's another one of those cairns," he said. His voice came from ahead, but no matter how many steps Grump took, he couldn't find him.
Grump cast about the chill, soupy fog. "Would you hold still? I can't see a damned thing in this." He took a deep breath through his nostrils, inhaling trails of mist. It smelled stale, like old bread left in the back of the cupboard where it was too dry to mold so it turned to rock instead. Mountain air should be fresh, crisp, without a hint of ... of this. This wasn't mountain air. This was something else, something unnatural.
"Magic." Hunger rippled through Grump. He bent his knees and scanned the grey. "Boil, something's not right. The fog doesn't smell like it should. Does it smell off to you?"
Tendrils curled and whirled before him. Grump swiped his hand before him but caught only air. After a moment of waiting in the eerie quiet, he called again. "Boil!"
His Hunger lashed through his blood like the first violet whip of lightning cast from a thunderhead. Rocks clattered somewhere beyond his sight, and he froze.
Trolls were big creatures even if he wasn't the largest among his kind. But for monsters of such size, they could stand still as the stone they would become beneath the summer sun. So he stood as a nightmarish statue surrounded by curling mists, ears and eyes open to the world. No sound of his companion disturbed the night. He squeezed Rose's bag, slowly reaching for his shovel.
I will keep you safe, he thought to her. Not even they can hurt you.
A great whoosh slapped his back as the wind changed directions. It raced forward, the mist rushing in great slate streams to a source ahead. It swirled like a mighty cyclone, and then it vanished into the ground.
Grump swallowed. His once cloudy world crystallized, a mountain valley just beneath the last mighty summit blocking their path to the old kingdoms. Stars twinkled in an unbroken sky, washing that crooked crag in milky tints. Not a soul aside from Grump and Rose occupied the desolate valley. Not much at all occupied the valley, save for an odd lump of rocks a few yards away that looked suspiciously like a toppled cairn.
Slowly, he relaxed, allowing a deep breath to cool his burning lungs and slow his Hunger-fueled heart. "We're alone," he whispered, a parting trail of mist slipping from his lips before vanishing into the night.
Those rocks teased an answer, and Grump feared he knew what that answer might be. Quieter than a fly skipping over cotton, he edged closer and closer to the loose pile of stones.
He reached the rocks. Grump leaned toward the pile. "Boil? Did you bury yourself?"
Nothing moved beneath them. Grump huffed. "Boil."
Still, no reply. He kicked the stones and snorted, half-expecting a greenskin entombed and broken beneath them, but nothing but dust and dirt appeared beneath.
Grump straightened and whirled around. After a good long look at absolutely nothing, he returned to the rocks and scratched his head. "That stupid goblin had to be here. Where's he gotten to?"
He leaned over and wiped the stones apart. His hand swept over something odd that tickled his instincts. With a great breath, he blew the thin carpet of dirt and gravel coating the granite slab of the valley floor. An odd, dark line scarred the granite. He might not have noticed it at all if the goblin hadn't vanished on him, but leaning so close to the ground, Grump could spy the crack without much trouble.
A few probing pokes revealed more about the strange seam in the stone. If he pressed his hand against it and threw his weight into the rock, the ground would shudder and give, if only an inch. Frustrated, he wedged the blade of his shovel into the fissure. A deep growl rumbled from his throat as he wrapped his hands around the handle and shoved the full force of his strength into his arms.
Rock cracked and shattered. The ground trembled and sloped inward. Grump cursed and scrambled backward, heart lurching into his throat as he lost his balance.
He tipped forward, rolling toward the now gaping hole where the toppled cairn plummeted. Grump twisted around and grabbed the stone lip as the rock beneath him gave way to a void. He gripped the edge, wincing as the shattered granite cut into his palm.
Swaying, sweating, and listening to gravel tumble into oblivion, Grump waited for the mountain to still, praying to his ancestors for some dash of good fortune. At least one must have heard and took pity, because the mountain quieted. The rocks stopped falling. He quit swaying and hung over the black.
It didn't take long to climb out of the precarious trap. When he did, he kissed the ground and checked Rose for bruises.
Grump turned to the hole and shook his head. "Stupid, stupid, greenskin! I told you to leave them be. Told you!"
His voice echoed down the chasm like a boulder. Grump's eyes widened, and he scrambled back. He stared into the black and waited for a response, but nothing broke the silence save the whistle of a biting wind chilling the sweat rolling down his back.
He tucked Rose against his chest and exhaled through his nose. "Stupid greenskin," he repeated, this time nothing more than a whisper.
Turning around and twisting to his knees, he hopped to his feet. His footfalls crunched in the gravel as he walked around the hole and toward the peak dividing him from the wizard and his wish.
Grump marched onward, eyes
fixed on that peak, hole shrinking behind him. He scrunched his nose and clenched his teeth. "He deserves this. I know where to go. It won't be hard finding this Grand Mountain if it really is that grand."
He brushed his hand over Rose's satchel. "I mean, if he's this much trouble, he's bound to be more a burden than a help, don't you think?"
Grump wriggled his lips and huffed, glancing down at the bag. "I know, I know, I wouldn't have found you or gotten the chance for a wish without him, but he's such a stupid greenskin! They're a dime a dozen. And...." Grump paused and glanced behind him. "And the others are down there ... the haunts. It's too dangerous, Rose. Too dangerous by far."
The wind rolled over his shoulders.
"I am not a coward," he snapped. "I'm just trying to keep you safe."
He opened Rose's bag and glared at the ball of peach sleeping within it. "Of course I can do both, but—"
Grump groaned. He twisted toward the hole and stared at its black mouth. "Fine. I'll do this, but only for you, not because I like the damned chatty fool."
As he made his way to the chasm, he patted his chest pocket. The pipe still weighed it. His mouth watered at the thought of a good puff of thimbleweed, but he decided against it. "Maybe I'll have a bowl if we get out of this."
He reached the chasm. His toes dangled over a quiet black. He hugged Rose and nodded, checking that his shovel was secured tightly to his back. "When we get out of this. It doesn't seem so deep, and truth be told, I've survived longer falls."
Grump took a deep breath. "Here we go. One. Two. Three!"
He leapt into the black. The night shrank into a point overhead as the wind howled through his ears. He grimaced as his feet thudded hard on smooth rock. Air rushed from his lungs, and his shins throbbed with a deep ache. After a few deep breaths, he stretched his ankles and stared into the impenetrable darkness. "I'm going to strangle that goblin after I save him."
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Caged
A tunnel long and dark curled like a boa's throat deep into the mountain. After a short while, Grump's eyes adjusted, and pale silver revealed the smooth ridges of the passage's curved walls. In the distance, the source of light feeding his eyes lingered in the black like a single star peeking through a storm.
Grump swallowed his fears at what may lurk within the mountain and concentrated on the path ahead and the goblin who needed him.
Eventually, he reached the tunnel's mouth. He lingered there on the edge, peering into the dim room beyond. Lichen clung like a bad rash in splotches on the wall and cast an oddly warm light that shifted between blue and green. Ropes drooped across the ceiling, their lines weighed by a menagerie of pelts, feathers, and assorted bones.
A skull stared at Grump from its perch, crying out with hollow eyes. He grimaced at the sight and shivered, squeezing Rose's satchel tight against his chest. "Don't look. They're just meant to scare you."
Several other tunnel mouths dotted the chamber's walls. The throaty monster of a passage suddenly looked a lot more like the belly of a hydra than carved rock. He huffed, scratching his head and wondering which of these paths might lead to Boil.
Grump passed his tongue over a tusk. "Where are you, Boil? Damnable goblin."
Take a wrong turn, and he'd get lost. The haunts would find him. He would fail. Again.
"No. I will not fail. Not this time."
Hunger heated his blood, and his nostrils swelled. Grump fought the urge to smash his fist into the wall and instead closed his eyes and breathed. The sounds of the cave drifted around him.
A shrill squeak tickled his ears off to the left, so quiet it was more the shadow of an echo than an echo itself. His eyes shot open, and he bounded down the tunnel toward the source. The passage curved and curled and turned and twisted until Grump no longer had any idea which direction he faced.
For a long, sweaty while, only the pitch black kept him company. He ran his hand along the wall, feeling the smooth undulations of the carved rock. There was strength in stone, a steadiness that pressed the wrinkles from his nerves and gave him the courage to delve deeper into the unknown.
Rattling ricocheted down the corridor. Light washed across the wall like a blood moon slipping from behind a cloudy veil.
Grump skidded to a halt. Voices, rough and carried on throaty growls. Laughter, rolling awkwardly from tongues like a square crate down a steep and rocky hill. His heart thudded against his ribs fast as a hummingbird's wings. He sucked in a breath and slowly, so slowly, inched around the bend.
That same splotchy lichen bubbled in patches along a rounded cavern with a ceiling so high it vanished into black. In the center of the room rose an elevated platform ringed by a chasm at least as deep as the room was tall, for black swallowed it just as it devoured the ceiling.
Iron cages hung at alternating heights from the high ceiling. Some cages were small, some large enough to hold a troll like Grump. Glowing lichen glommed to their bars and lit the pocked and scratched metal. The steady drip-drip of water echoed around him. The air tasted moist and reeked of sweat and terror.
Grump pressed his forearm over Rose's satchel and tiptoed across a stone arch connecting the tunnel to the central platform. "Don't be afraid," he whispered to her. "I'll always be here to keep you safe. I promise."
A similar bridge appeared opposite his, leading into another tunnel. Fading firelight glistened on that entrance in alternating oranges, revealing murky shadows vanishing around a bend. The reflected firelight against the stone died, leaving Grump to see by the oscillating blue-green lichen peppering the walls.
He breathed a sigh of relief and pressed his hand against his chest. "Phew."
"Grump?"
Boil's squeaky voice sent a jolt rocketing down his spine. A small cage creaked on its chain, swinging lightly over the chasm. Grump pressed his finger to his lips and stole to the prison. Two large, ruby eyes stared at him through the bars. A pointed, crescent smile swelled beneath them. The greenskin latched onto the iron and jumped. "You came? I mean, of course you came! You really do care about me!"
"Shut your mouth before you bring them down on both of us," Grump hissed. "What did I tell you about knocking over cairns? Look what kind of trouble you've caused for me and Rose!"
Boil rolled his eyes and slapped an iron bar. "Could you scold me later, Mother? Get me out of this freaking cage before they come back!"
"A...t—t—t—troll!"
Grump's lips swelled in a frown as his Hunger smiled and rippled through his blood. He turned to the mousy voice, brandishing his shovel like a broadsword. When he saw the one who spoke, his frown deepened. "Ancestors save me. I knew I caught a human stench."
Fair folk filled the rusted cages dangling over the abyss. Eyes, so many eyes stared at him. Tears polished them. They glittered in the low light like a ribbon of stars circling the platform, broken only by the bars they cowered behind.
The fear in those faces tamped his Hunger. He blinked, and from the angry haze, cages of humans came in to focus. How did fair folk find their way into the haunts' domain? Ten, twenty, twenty-five or so he counted; men, women, and a few ragged children cloaked in frayed scraps matted by so much such filth Grump cringed.
"I'm not here to eat you, fair folk," he said, shaking his head at the terror in their eyes. "I'm not your enemy in these mountains."
He stepped forward. They shuffled backwards, slapping their backs against their cages, their bony arms and taught skin trembling against the bars. Grump tightened his jaw, exhaling through his nose. "Humans. You're all the same. Let's get out of this mess, Boil."
"You're a monster," one of them said, a woman he thought, from the hair framing her face in greasy knots and ash and dirt covering her slender features. The whites of her eyes nearly glowed from within the sooty oval of her face. She thrust her sharp shoulders out and lifted an angled chin toward him. She trembled less than the others, but he still caught the knocking in her knees.
"I'm no more a monster than you,"
he snapped. The scar on his chest itched. He ran his hand along it, grumbling.
"You're a troll. That's a monster. People aren't monsters."
"I've seen your battlefields, woman. Your armies kill ten thousand times more of your kind than I've ever done. Besides, the meat I eat is deer and hare and the like, not little boys and girls who wander near my home." He straightened and smoothed his overalls. "In fact, I've never even killed a human before. You're very welcome for that."
"Really?" Boil arched an incredulous brow. "Nobody believes that."
"Nobody asked you!"
The woman lurched toward Grump, wrapping cracked and bleeding knuckles around the bars. "If you've truly never killed a human, then help us. Help free us from the haunts!"
Grump wrinkled his nose like he just whiffed a goat's fart. "I'm no hunter of humans. Doesn't mean I'm their savior, either. Find your own way to freedom. I barely decided to free this one." Grump jabbed a thumb over his shoulder toward Boil's cage. "I can't rip apart all these bars and scoot you all out of here without bringing them down on us, now can I?"
"You won't even get him out of here without our help, troll," she said.
"The name's Grump, woman."
"The name's Elyse, Grump."
He snorted, swatting the air. Humans, elves, dwarves; it didn't matter. Fair folk had the worst manners. He turned to Boil's cage and tested the iron. It didn't seem that strong. Rust flaked onto his knuckles as he shook the metal. "Stand back."
Boil jumped to the back of the cage and grimaced. "Make it fast."
Grump yanked the bars. They didn't budge. He huffed, jerking again with more strength. Still, the prison didn't open.
"Stupid cage." Grump clenched his teeth and pulled as hard as he could. His pulse throbbed in his neck. His muscles strained. He pulled left and right, jostling Boil hard against the corners.
"Grump!" Boil yelped as he hit a bar. "Grump, for the love of the emperor, just stop!"
Grump & Rose Page 25
