by Sam Ferguson
Chapter 20
By the time the others got to Jason, Moose had already pried the troll-giant’s fingers loose and the two were walking back toward them. Jonathan rushed up and the two brothers embraced, sharing a laugh and tears of joy.
“How did you find me?” Jason asked. “Nobody survives in the Murkle Quags. What were you thinking?”
Jonathan pushed away and smiled. “I’m stubborn like that,” he said grinning at his older brother. “Besides, you needed my help.”
Jason smiled and hugged him again.
“Oh, and, I think I finally beat you at centers,” Jonathan added.
Jason sniggered and pushed Jonathan away playfully. “Don’t let your ego get inflated too much, little brother. I say we need a rematch.”
Captain Ziegler stepped in and shook his head. “No rematches,” he said. “I only fight giant trolls once in a lifetime.” He turned to Jonathan and slapped a hand on the young man’s shoulder. “This little boy has not only helped us take down the giant beast, but he slew the troll king that we saw in the throne room.”
Raven came in then and pressed for more information. “Was there anything else there?” he asked.
Jonathan nodded. “He had that amulet Ziegler told me about. When I broke it, that’s when everything started shaking.”
Raven nodded grimly as he reached up and stoked his chin, which was still spotted with bits of green goo. “I see. So it appears the king was using the artifact to amplify whatever magical powers he already possessed.”
Jonathan shrugged. “I don’t know, but whatever it was, it was evil.”
“Why do you say that?” Raven asked.
“He saw the troll king sacrifice another troll on the altar,” Ziegler put in.
Jonathan nodded. “My bow helps me see a troll’s heart, and its life force. When the troll king sacrificed the other troll, its life force went into the amulet.”
“Was it like a purple and gold mist?” Raven asked.
“How did you know that?” Jonathan asked.
Raven arched a brow. “Because that same mist rose up through the rocks when the earthquake occurred. After it rose into the sky, the rain stopped entirely.”
“So the monsoons are over then?” Jason guessed.
Raven shrugged. “There is much I don’t know, and can’t know until I research it out a bit more. I have some theories though. Either way, it seems that this war is over. The surviving trolls fled from the battle after this giant beast was slain.”
Ziegler nodded. “It’s over,” he said. “We can go home.”
“I would even wager that the swamps will be a bit safer now,” Raven put in. “What with the king and this behemoth dead, I am sure the remaining trolls will be cowering in their holes for a long time now.”
Ziegler smiled wide and tilted his head up to the warm sunlight. “Not to mention that the rain is gone. They won’t dare venture northward into our kingdom now. In the dry air without the rains, they’ll be too susceptible to fire and we can send them running with their tails tucked firmly between their legs.” He turned and smiled to the others, but then noticed that Bull was missing. “Where’s Bull?” he asked.
“Bear died,” Moose said.
They all looked to see Bull rushing toward Bear’s crumpled body.
Ziegler hung his head low and sighed.
Over the next few hours, the group built a fine funeral pyre out of the best stones they could find. When they had finished, Moose helped Bull place Bear on top of the pyre. Bull arranged Bear’s hands over his crumpled chest, trying to make him look as though he were only sleeping. He placed the man’s knives on either side of him. Bull let a couple of tears drop from his face as he whispered goodbye.
“I’m going to miss you, Winnie,” he said. Bull patted the man on the arm and then bent down to give him a brotherly kiss on the forehead. “Go swift and quick to Volganor, and see if you can save a seat for me in the best mead hall they have.”
Bull climbed down then and went to stand next to Ziegler.
Raven summoned a powerful fire and they watched their friend as the flames enveloped the entire pyre and a column of smoke rose up to the heavens.
As they stood there, staring into the flames silently, Miranda slipped her hand into Jonathan’s and leaned her head on his shoulder.
“I was thinking,” she began. “Maybe I would like to see Tirnog first.”
Jonathan smiled and squeezed her hand. “I’ll make sure we have a place for you when you come.”
Other Books by Sam Ferguson
Tales from Terramyr (Short story anthology)
The Dragon’s Champion Series
The Dragon’s Champion
The Warlock Senator
The Dragon’s Test
Erik and the Dragon
The Immortal Mystic
Return of the Dragon
The Netherworld Gate Series
The Tomni’Tai Scroll
The King’s Ring
Son of the Dragon
The Dragons of Kendualdern
Ascension
Other Novels
Dimwater’s Dragon
About the Author
Sam Ferguson is a fairly average guy.
That’s it.
No, really, that’s it.
Oh- you are actually reading this?
Well… the truth is that Sam is a very lucky guy. He juggles work in such a way that he makes sure to spend enough time with his loving wife and six sons. His goal is to make writing his fulltime career so he can have even more time with them (assuming they can handle having him around that much every day…). If he can carve out an extra hour for himself during the day, he’ll hit the gym to try and regain the body he used to have in his youth (but he eats too much junk food to ever accomplish that goal).
He spent nearly five years serving as a U.S. Diplomat and absolutely loved the experience, but decided to move back home. Outside of the U.S. he has lived in Latvia, Hungary, and Armenia. He speaks Russian, Hungarian, and Armenian. (He used to speak some Latvian too, but he has no one to practice with anymore…)
He also has two dogs.
He plays the Elder Scrolls series.
His favorite superhero is Wolverine, but Batman is a close second.
If the kids go to bed at a reasonable hour, he will cuddle up with his wife to watch Scrubs reruns, the Big Bang Theory, Castle, and Burn Notice.
See, really just an average guy after all.
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