by Faith Naff
After slicing through another goblin that leapt into his path, the dark-haired human raced across the shore after Shimmer. He wasn’t sure why he was so enthralled in keeping this one particular elf out of harm’s way. Perhaps it was the fact that she had sought him out during the ceremony. Perhaps he was just holding on to any kind of elven companionship that didn’t seem built on a foundation of distrust. Whatever it was, he was determined to save this girl from danger, even when that danger was her own, foolish self.
Shimmer was already too far away to catch up to before she was standing at the feet of the wildly flailing troll. The young girl’s head only came up to the creature’s knee. It still had Snowflake clutched in its right hand as it flailed away at the elves below with its left. Each swing of its enormous hand sent waves of elves flying into the air. She could hear Snowflake crying now that she was close. Through her tears, the helpless elf prayed to the Lady for her life to be spared. The poor girl was terrified and powerless to save herself.
Shimmer was close enough now and the troll was turned away from her. If she didn’t take this chance, she would never get another one. Summoning up all the courage she had she lifted the helmet high above her head. “Lady, give me strength!” she shouted. With all her might, she thrust the pointed spear of the helmet into the back of the troll’s right leg.
The troll threw its head back, letting out a roar that made the surface of Sky Lake ripple. It dropped to its right knee as its arms both flew out in front of it. The grip on Snowflake was released, sending her flying through the air and splashing down into the lake a good forty yards out.
Shimmer watched in horror as her bloody and beaten friend was tossed through the air and into the black water. “Snowflake!” she shouted.
“Out of the way!” the human shouted. This elf girl was foolishly brave, but she had done something remarkable. Her attack on the troll had pierced a vital tendon in its leg, preventing it from standing back up. With sword in hand, he dashed towards the shore.
Shimmer was still standing behind the troll as it roared in pain upon its knee. Its fists pounded the ground, making the rocky soil beneath her nearly too volatile to remain standing on. A goblin lost its balance as it ran towards her, but fell with enough forward momentum to reach her.
As the dark-haired human ran towards the troll, he thrust his right arm over his head in a chopping motion. The action sent the sword in his clutches hurtling towards the diving goblin like a throwing ax. The blade pierced into its sternum and altered the trajectory of its momentum. Surprised and in pain, the goblin fell to the ground just short of its target. It curled up where it lay on its knees and elbows as its blood poured out onto the shore.
Picking up speed, the human grasped at the hilt of the dagger on his left leg and another strapped to his right hip. With the daggers in hand, tips pointed downward, he leaped onto the back of the fallen goblin and pushed off into the air. He seemed to be flying as he soared towards the back of the massive troll. With a quick, downward thrust from each arm, the human plunged the daggers into the back of the troll, holding him in place against its spine.
The troll threw its head back, roaring again from the pain inflicted by its new attacker. It tried to stand, but could only hobble in a circle on its one good leg. Its arms flailed over its head, trying to reach behind itself and pull the assailant from its back.
Seeing the large troll hand descending towards him, the human quickly let go of the blade in his right hand. Still holding the left dagger, he swung backward, allowing the fingers of the troll to miss him by a few inches. With a quick kick off the troll’s back, he regained his hold on the released dagger. As the troll continued to flail about, the human used his daggers to scale to the top of its back. Reaching the troll’s neck, he pulled his daggers free and thrust them simultaneously into its eyes.
Suddenly blinded, the troll twisted sharply. Its human assailant held to the hilts of his daggers as he attempted to stay atop the creature’s head. This only made the blades dig deeper and make the troll flail more wildly. As the massive creature thrashed about, its hands were finally able to reach back and grasp its unwelcomed guest by the shoulders. Before the human could react, the troll tossed him overhead, sending him flying across the lake and splashing down into the water. Though its attacker was dislodged, the damage was already done. With a bad leg, two blind eyes, and dagger tips scratching against its brain, the troll stumbled forward into the water, landing face first and drowning in the choppy water.
As the dark-haired human’s head broke the surface of the water, his eyes scanned the area around him. Out on the water and away from the chaos, it was easier to take a pause and reflect on the gravity of the situation. The shores of Sky Lake within elven territory were pandemonium. Elves and goblins clashed with each other in a flurry of combat and confusion. Even from here, he could see elves fighting and dying on a night that, only moments ago, was full of celebration and joy.
A flurry of splashing and shouts tore his attention away from the battle on the shore to a young elf woman flailing about in the dark water. He swam to her. Taking his right arm up under her shoulder he helped the battered female to stay afloat. “You must be Snowflake,” he said.
Snowflake calmed herself now that she wasn’t acting alone to keep her head above the surface of the water. She was exhausted, her vision was blurry, and the icy-cold water caused the lacerations across her body to sting. Before finally passing out against his shoulder, she managed to groan out a muffled “thank you”.
The dark-haired human, with Snowflake’s limp body in tow, began swimming back to the shore. He moved towards the far left of the bank as he swam, not daring to wash up in the middle of the chaos. With no weapons, his body exhausted, and dragging an elf along with him, he would be dead before he could rise to his feet. He looked for any sign of his foolish elf companion along the edge of the water where he’d left her. There was no sign. He sighed. She was a brave girl, but lacking combat skills and a sensible weapon, there was no way she would last in that pandemonium.
“Did you find her?!” Shimmer called out.
Startled, the human looked to his right to see her bobbing up and down in the black water. He wasn’t sure if it was cleverness that made her take to the water or an attempt to find her missing friend. Either way, she was actually in the safest place she could be. He pulled the limp body of Snowflake across the water’s surface, allowing the torch lights from the shore to reflect off of her white dress.
Shimmer gasped.
“She’s alive,” he reassured her.
“You saved her!” Shimmer shouted with tears of joy. “How can I…?”
“Just help me get her to shore,” he said. He pointed off to the left where the clearing didn’t reach and the trees came all the way to the edge of the water. There was a slight flurry of movement in the darkness between those trees, but it was easy for him to tell they were elves and humans taking refuge in the forest. It was their presence that assured him the area was safe. “Are you a strong swimmer?”
“Better than I can walk,” Shimmer replied. “Give me one of her arms.” Shimmer ducked underneath Snowflake’s left arm and helped her mysterious companion drag the unconscious elf to water’s edge. Away from the glow of the torches in the clearing, the light of the moon was all they had to guide them up onto dry land.
Shimmer and her human companion stepped up onto a smooth stone rising up out of the water and onto the bank. Each with one of Snowflake’s arms, they pulled her up onto the rock and out of the dark water. Shimmer dropped to her knees and placed her hands on Snowflake’s shoulders. She shook her gently, but forcefully enough to wake her from her slumber.
Snowflake slowly reopened her eyes. She gargled as she tried to speak, finally turning her head to spit out a mouthful of lake water.
“Are you alright?!” Shimmer asked in a panic.
Snowflake coughed as she took in much needed gulps of air. Though she said nothing, it was all the answ
er that Shimmer needed. Convinced that her friend would be alright, Shimmer turned to the human that had saved her life. “You’ve saved both our lives and I don’t know your name,” she said. “Who are you?”
“My name is Valdin,” he said.
“I’m Shimmer and I guess you already know that this is Snowflake,” she said while attending to her recovering friend.
“Good. Glad we’re all acquainted now,” Valdin replied quickly and indirectly. Though speaking to Shimmer, his eyes and attention were focused through the trees where the flickers of torchlight illuminated the chaotic battle which was still going on.
“Something is troubling you?” Shimmer asked.
Valdin turned to face his elven companions. “Something isn’t right,” he said.
“Of course it isn’t,” Shimmer responded. “The Savage Tribes haven’t dared to cross into the Lands of Order for many years, let alone wage a full-scale attack!”
“Why are they here?” Snowflake asked while she rolled over onto her hands and knees. “They can’t possibly think they can get away with waging war on the Elven Tribe. They would have to be incredibly foolish to forge an attack like this.”
“Or desperate for something,” Valdin responded. “There’s something I’m missing.” Valdin closed his eyes and cleared his head. He thought back, retracing the whole ordeal moment by moment. He remembered the view of the battle he had from the water. His thoughts recalled the shore, the battle commencing as frightened and confused elves waged war against a hoard of goblins and… and…
“The trolls!” Valdin shouted.
“What is it?” Shimmer asked.
Valdin whipped around. “Remember when the hoard chased us through the village?”
“How can I forget?” Shimmer asked. “I’ve never seen goblins or trolls before, and to see so many at one…” Shimmer gasped. “Where did the trolls go?”
“There was only one on the shore,” Snowflake said. Now standing, she moved in closer to Shimmer and Valdin. “Had there been more in the village?”
“Many more,” Valdin said. “But where did they go?”
Chapter III
With the battle raging on upon the shores of Sky Lake, Valdin, Snowflake, and Shimmer made their way through the trees back towards the village. The blackness of the night cloaked them from sight as they moved through the wild woods, allowing them to sneak past the goblins on the shore undetected. Several elves that had escaped the chaos were hiding in the forest. As they cowered behind wide trunks and within thick bushes, they wondered why this human and his two female companions were being foolish enough to venture back into the village.
Nevertheless, Valdin continued to lead the way as Shimmer and Snowflake followed. Though the air was filled with the sounds of crying elves, growling goblins, clashing steel, and breaking bones, the trio kept their steps slow and quiet. They wanted to take no chances.
Valdin could not see in the dark very well, but what he was looking for didn’t require a great deal of attention to detail. He and Shimmer both distinctly remembered at least a dozen trolls charging into the village of Moon-hollow, but only one making it to the shore. The rest of them had to be in the village somewhere, but where and for what purpose were the questions at hand. All they were looking for was signs of troll activity and, since they weren’t known for being the subtlest or most delicate of creatures, the signs wouldn’t be hard to notice, even in the dark.
Broken branches or even trunks would have been a dead giveaway. With their extremely rough skin and massive size, trolls were more in the business of knocking things out of their way rather than trying to move around them. However, all of the plant life in the forest to the east of the village seemed perfectly intact. They hadn’t been through here; that much was for certain. As much as it gave Shimmer comfort to know another of those terrible monsters wasn’t behind the next tree, it meant they were all still in the village. What they were doing in there, Lady only knew.
Valdin reached the edge of the eastern trees before the forest became less dense. This spacious area was where the village of Moon-hollow had been built. Elves did not cut down trees to build their homes or for any other reason. Fallen branches, clumps of straw, mud, and vines were all the building materials they used to make their homes. Trees were living extensions of the Lady herself and cutting one down was equivocal to murder in elven society.
Though the lanterns still burned in the village, very few elves could be seen. Those that were visible from Valdin’s vantage point seemed to be doing exactly what he and his female companions were doing: hiding. They were hidden well, but Valdin was also an expert tracker. He could spot a rabbit hiding in a bush from forty yards away with one eye closed. It was no trouble to spot a few elves cowering in the shrubbery.
“Do you see anything?” Shimmer whispered. Feeling brave, she crept up behind him and glanced over his left shoulder.
“Everything looks intact,” Valdin said. His eyes still jumped from torch to torch within the village, looking to see if the glow of the flames reflected off of anything unwelcomed. The hoard had clearly not reached this part of the village in their attack on the shoreline. He shuttered as he remembered the northern section of Moon-hollow and how the homes had been shattered to bits as the savage creatures passed through.
“I don’t understand,” Snowflake said as she emerged from the darkness behind them. “If they aren’t on the shore and they aren’t in the village, where are they?”
Before Valdin had a chance to answer her, a movement in the shrubs to his right caught his eye. Instinctively he ducked down, tossing a hand out to either side of his body as if attempting to shield the girls behind him. It was definitely too small to be a troll, but he was weaponless should it be a goblin ready to tear them apart.
Valdin slowed his breathing, trying to be as quiet as he could. Their best option at this point was to try and remain unnoticed until they had a better understanding of the situation. It wasn’t until he saw a familiar green stone poking out of the bushes at the end of a long staff that he realized they were not in the presence of hostile company.
“Lady Priestess,” Valdin called out quietly. “Is that you?”
The bushes rustled again and up stood Rosewood. Were it not for her silver hair, her dark complexion would have made her difficult to see even standing a few yards away. Her flowing robes were torn and soiled with dirt and blood. The extent of her injuries was hard to deduce in the faint lighting, but Valdin could tell she’d had a few narrow escapes before finding her place of refuge.
“Priestess!” Shimmer quietly shouted as she came around Valdin and into the open. With no sign of a goblin or troll since leaving the shores of Sky Lake, they were all feeling less inclined to stay hidden the shadows.
“You!” Rosewood boldly declared as she raised the tip of her staff towards Shimmer.
Halting her advance, Shimmer put her hands up to either side of her face. “Your grace, I…”
Rosewood marched forward with her staff extended towards Shimmer. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but you and that human ran out on a sacred rite and then return with an army of goblins behind you! I demand you tell me why this hoard is in my village!”
“We don’t know!” Shimmer shouted. In her panic, she was forgetting that raising her voice in this situation was foolish on multiple levels. On the one hand, she was shouting at the high priestess and mouthpiece of the Lady herself. On the other hand, she was giving away her position to the goblins and trolls that were here to kill them all. Tears were starting to form behind her eyes.
“Your grace, we are trying to figure out this catastrophe just as you are,” Valdin said as he stood beside the very frightened Shimmer. “This kind of brash actions from Savage Land tribes is incomprehensible.”
Rosewood lowered her staff, but not her guard. “It has caught us all by surprise,” she said. “I’m at least thankful that horrible troll has been slain.”
Shimmer’s eyes went wi
de. “Your grace, you’ve only seen one?!”
“I don’t understand,” Rosewood replied.
“Only one troll made it to the edge of the lake but at least a dozen charged into the village,” Valdin said. His eyes were still darting around wildly, scanning the trees and small huts for any sign of the other enormous creatures.
Rosewood raised her staff again. “You mean to tell me there are more of those things?!” she shouted. “Why have they come here? Where have they gone?”
“That is what we intend to find out,” Valdin responded.
Rosewood put her fingers to her face and rubbed her forehead. Looking away, she exhaled somberly. “I don’t see how this could have happened. This was supposed to be a night of celebration. It was one of the best harvests we’ve ever had and I just wanted our people to…”
“The harvest!” Shimmer shouted as her eyes grew wide.
Valdin, Rosewood, and Snowflake looked puzzled.
“What are you thinking, Shimmer?” Snowflake asked.
Shimmer began pacing in a small circle. Her hands shook nervously in front of her chest. “They didn’t come here to kill us or else they would have sent the trolls into battle on the shore.”
“But why bring trolls if they aren’t going to attack?” Snowflake asked. “What else would a group of massive trolls be good for?”
Valdin’s eyes suddenly got wide. “Carrying,” he said after a horrifying revelation.
Rosewood cocked her head to the side as she raised her right eyebrow. “What do you mean carrying?” she asked. “What would they be carrying?”
Valdin and Shimmer both turned towards one another. They each knew the answer, but they wished any other explanation were possible. “The best harvest in years,” Shimmer said softly. Valdin nodded.
