The Fossegrimen Folly

by Michael Almich

  Shy expected to turn off the river gorge path and to head down by the waterfall, but Tad continued north, moving much slower than he had up until that point. It was nearing dusk, now, and Shy was worried. He was scared to see a troll. Yet, he was scared to not find Daniel, or to find him after it was too late. Why had they gone after the stupid fossegrimen's treasure, he wondered as he followed in Tad's footsteps. The creature had warned them. They had just been thinking about what the riches could bring them…. They hadn't even considered that it could create problems for them. It was almost like the Law of Unintended Consequences that his dad always lectured him about, he thought bitterly.

  He was so far into his thoughts that he ran right into Tad's back, and promptly received a glare for doing so. Tad brought his finger up to his lips, telling Shy to be silent. They were now in the northern part of the forest that Shy had never been. The path had basically disappeared. Their path now was open, rocky spaces between pines that had etched their life from the sparse soil.

  Shy listened as they stood still. In the distance he thought he could hear grunting. It reminded him of the snuffling of pigs. As he strained to hear, the silence was broken by what Shy could only describe later as the trumpeting of an elephant. It was lower in pitch than elephant calls, but had the same pressured feel to it.

  Tad turned slowly to look at Shy. He motioned Shy closer and cupped his hand around Shy's ear and whispered, "I think that is the one that has Daniel. It must be calling the others to it. Did you hear that softer grunting? Before the loud bellow? There are more trolls close by. We need to move forward very carefully… and quietly… OK?"

  Shy nodded his agreement in the ever fading light. His stomach felt like it wanted to unload at any moment. They snuck forward.

  -SNAP-

  A twig or small branch had been snapped nearby. The two craned their necks in every direction, but there was nothing visible. Shy began to get what felt like a little itch between his shoulders. He felt like someone was behind him, or watching him. When he would turn and look, the woods were empty. He tried to use his ability to see through Glamour, but nothing blurred… nothing snapped. This continued for what seemed like hours, but could not have been more than thirty minutes. It was now officially dusk, though the woods had been dark for a while.

  Shy wondered where Gust was. Why had he not caught up to them yet? He was the great woodsman, the military man. He should be leading this.

  Again, Shy felt another presence close by, but could see nothing. Since the snapping of the twig, Shy had heard nothing. He turned back to follow Tad, and found him stopped in a crouched position. Tad motioned Shy to get down next to him. He pointed to a large outcropping of rock that loomed in the distance. As Shy stared, he saw the area blur, and snap! There, where the outcropping had stood, was a campsite.

  Moreover, in a cage was a crouched figure. Was it Daniel? Shy almost stood up. When Tad grabbed him and prevented him, he turned to whisper what he saw to the counselor. Tad put a finger over his lips. When he was sure Shy would hold his silence. He let him go, and began motioning.

  Shy watched as Tad pointed to his own two eyes, then pointed to the Glamour hidden site, then back at his eyes. He was nodding. Did he mean he could see it? He could see through Glamour too! He could see the recognition bloom on Shy's face. He hunched his shoulders and his face, and moved like he was walking, swaying his shoulders back and forth. Then he pointed to his eyes and back at the site ahead. Then he shrugged his shoulders and extended his palms in the 'I dunno' way.

  Shy looked back at the site. Of course! There were no Trolls to be seen. If that was Daniel in the cage, where were the trolls? Was it a trap? He turned back to Tad and nodded that he understood. Tad next held up both hands and motioned to Shy that they would just sit tight for a bit and watch.

  The cage was short. The figure was able to move, but was definitely not able to stand. Shy wanted to go to his friend, if it was indeed Daniel, and tell him it would be OK. He must be terrified. Shy was terrified. As he visually searched the remainder of the site, he could see what looked like a huge cauldron. Tad had described such a thing in his story. They were going cook him!

  Shy's terror had his insides in a bunch, and his hearing straining. Where were the trolls? For the hundredth time, he looked around. This time, he thought he may have seen movement in the distance. As he stared he saw a brief tiny flash of light! Not looking away, he reached back to grasp Tad's arm. He got his leg instead, or so he thought! Tad's leg flexed. Instantly Shy's blood pressure jumped, and he jerked his hand back. Ever so slowly he turned his head… and screamed!

  Chapter Fourteen:

  It was good to have friends.

  When Shy screamed, many things happened at once. He punched the drooling, thick bristled hippopotamus-looking snout that was so close to his face he could smell the putrid breath. He punched it purely as a surprised reaction. His bony little fist must have made quite an impression, though, because one of the massive front teeth came tumbling out of the snout as Shy retracted his blow. Gross, oozy, dark red blood poured from its mouth. Shy fell over backwards as the troll jumped up in pain and anger. Its long arms covered its mouth as it balanced on the one massive leg.

  Shy, meanwhile, was grasped under the arms and dragged backwards. He flailed and fought like a wild beast until he heard the clenched words, "Shylock. It's me… Gust"

  He was now adrenaline charged and began to shake. "Where…. Tad?" Was all he could whisper.

  Gust continued to pull him backward away from the chaos of the scene. The moon had reached its zenith and now shed weak light on the scene. Gust had now pulled Shy to a vantage point from which he could see Tad. He had been silently grabbed while Shy was looking away. The counselor was yelling and flailing as he was held by one leg high in the air by a massive arm. Though he tried to kick the troll in the face, it simply used its long arm to hold him far enough away that his kicks were of no use. The troll holding Tad was distracted by the one that Sky had punched. It was now hopping around, bellowing, trumpeting, and trying to staunch the flow of blood from its mouth.

  Shy looked to the cage as Gust scooted up next to him. It was indeed Daniel, on his knees in the short cage. He gripped the bars, watching Tad's attempt to get away.

  "Tell me what ya see kid. I can see the trolls, they can't use Glamour on themselves, or they are too weak to use much. That is why they only come out at night…. Usually." He added the last part when Shy looked at him sharply. "That's all I can see, though. Is there anything hidden… with the Glamour?"

  "Daniel is in a cage over there." He pointed.

  "The big rocky outcropping?" Gust asked as he looked at Shy.

  Shy nodded.

  "OK. I will get Tad out of trouble, but you are going to have to free Daniel." He looked in Shy's eyes. "I can't even see him." Shy's eyes grew wide but he didn't say no. Instead, he looked back at the cage, and really began to study it.

  Gust looked back at the scene. The troll that was now missing a front tooth was continuing to bleed profusely, but had quieted to whimpers. It was now sitting on a downed log still trying to stem the flow of blood with its meaty hands. The other troll, with Tad still kicking and flailing in the air, moved closer and seemed to be asking the injured troll a question in their guttural language.

  "Darn kid is always getting picked up by trolls." Gust said as he gave Shy a wink. "You gonna be able to do this? I will distract them and draw them off, but you are gonna need to be quick. You can do this Shy… You CAN!"

  Something about the way he emphasized the last phrase reminded Shy of Tom T. Shy nodded quickly, and went back to studying the cage. When he turned back, Gust was gone.

  The troll carrying Tad, satisfied with the answers the other troll had given him, was now moving toward the cage, presumably to put Tad in there also. Shy saw that Tad was no longer fighting, but he was talking. He was trying to get some kind of a reaction from his captor. It did not seem to be working, however. The giant c
reature simply looked at Tad with a blank stare as if it was regarding a little bug it could squash.

  Shy had been studying what he could see of the cage, and it didn't look promising. It looked to be made from sapling pines tied together on the joints with some type of rope. Funny thing was he didn't see any type of a cage door. He did see what looked like a huge flat boulder resting on top. A rope rose into the trees from the boulder.

  He scooted back and made his way around behind the cage, ducking from tree to tree. It was doubtful the troll could see him in the gloom. The other troll sat on his log, weeping and holding his mouth.

  He approached the cage from behind, just as the troll reached it from the front. Shy had grabbed the only thing he could find for protection, and that was a dead limb. When it arrived at the cage, the troll swung Tad back away from the cage, and balancing on its one massive leg. It growled at what Shy could now clearly see was Daniel huddled near him at the back of the cage. When the troll felt Daniel was sufficiently intimidated by his growling, he pulled on the rope that must have been looped over a thick branch in the tree. Both the trolls arms strained. Tad had again begun to fight, and the trolls other arm struggled to lift the heavy rock off the cage by heaving on the rope.

  Finally the boulder began to rise precariously. As it did, Shy could see that after the rope was attached to the huge rock, it also was tied to the cage. So, when the rock went up, so did the cage. Based on what he had been told, the trolls were not smart. This little contraption, however, was rather creative. As the troll continued to heave on the rope, the edge of the cage rose a couple feet off the ground. The troll gave a mighty heave with his other arm, and swung Tad in an arc under, and into, the cage. Just as he released the young counselor, a rock hit him in the back of his head. He bellowed in pain and anger, and started to turn to find his assailant.

  Shy saw his chance. Quickly he scooted forward and slid the branch under the raised portion of the cage, stopping it from settling all the way back down. The troll, having its mental capacity strained by having to look for who had thrown the rock, did not even notice that the cage didn't sit down all the way. Instead, it lowered the rock without looking back. When both hands were free, it hopped in its strange gait to the injured troll, berating him all the way.

  Off in the distance, Shy suddenly heard more bellows and trumpets. Both trolls looked up from their argument eagerly. They quieted and walked towards the sounds. Shy knew he had to hurry. If more trolls showed up, he would never have a chance to pull this off.

  Daniel was asking a battered Tad if he was OK. Tad asked him the same. Both about jumped out of their skin when Shy whispered.

  "Guys…. Help me!" He was urgent, but very quiet. The trolls had continued to move out of the camp in the direction of the distant troll calls. He was trying to lift the cage from where it rested on the branch. It wouldn't budge, not even when Tad and Daniel tried to help!

  "Shy, where did you come from!" Daniel was now energized.

  Shy held his fingers up to his pursed lips indicating for them to be quiet. He had to think. Looking at the massive stone holding the cage in place, Shy got an idea. He partially climbed up on the cage and tried to push on the boulder. Again Daniel and Tad attempted to help from inside. Again, no movement!

  Shy regrouped. He was starting to sweat, and not just from exertion. He heard the bellowing coming closer. It sounded excited. The new trolls must have heard that they had some captives. He had to get them out quickly. Shy moved back to the branch and tried to step on the portion that was sticking up in the air. The cage moved slightly! He tried again… if only he was heavier. It wasn't moving enough, even with Tad and Daniel lifting from the inside. He jumped and SNAP! The branch had broken! It was no use… how was he going to get them out?

  He felt a tugging on his shorts and jumped. He looked back and down, and his vision immediately snapped. There under the cover of Glamour, was Tom T! The hairy nisse made a shushing motion, and then pushed Shy back up to the edge of the cage. Shy started to tell him that he had already tried, when the nisse kicked him! Hard! Right in the shin! Again he shushed him. Shy glanced at the two boys in the cage. They were looking at him strangely. Shy realized that they couldn't see the nisse. He must look ridiculous. Tom T was now motioning him to grab under the cage and lift. We tried this already, Shy thought hopelessly. He couldn't think of anything else to do, though, so he bent over once again and slid his hands under the bottom of the cage. The nisse did the same, and then began to pull upward.

  Shy joined in, and to his wonderment, the cage began to raise! Slowly, with the nisse hissing through his teeth, they raised the bar nearly a foot off the ground, which left the nisse standing straight upright. Shy was still bent over however, and he turned to look at Tom T. The little creature's eyes motioned to the others in the cage. Shy instinctively knew that it was now or never.

  "Get out!" He whispered to Daniel and Tad. "Slide under!"

  Tad grabbed Daniel and began to push him out. Daniel was tall and big framed, but he was very lean. He made it under and grabbed hold next to Shy. Tad did not have as easy as a time as Daniel, and though he wiggled and squirmed, he could not get past the bottom of the cage.

  The nisse's unbelievable strength must have begun to wane, and the cage began to lower.

  "I can't hold it!" Shy urgently whispered to Tad, as the cage began to lower.

  "Go… run back to the cabins! I'll figure out something else," Tad said bravely.

  Shy wanted nothing more than to just run from the excited grunting and bellowing that was getting ever closer. He couldn't leave Tad. To his left, the first of the trolls came into sight with its strange thumping gait. It did not see the boys yet. Tom T had disappeared from Shy's sight. Shy hissed at Daniel to get into the tree behind the cage.

  Shy looked back at the trolls but was frozen in place. He was too scared to move. Tad was whispering for him to leave and get out of there. He just couldn't. There had to be a way. His heart was attempting to escape from his chest as his eyes frantically searched for a way to save Tad.

  A rock was suddenly flung into the air from right in front of Shy. It hit the hippo head directly in the snout. The troll roared in anger and charged. The others, alerted that something was wrong, now began pouring into the area from the trees. There were five total, and the first was bearing down on Shy with ferocious intensity. Shy was simply unable to move. Frozen in place, he contemplated the similarity in appearance of the troll to a running ape. Fist, fist, foot…. Fist, fist, foot…. It had a loping gait, and was quickly building up a clumsy sort of speed.

  Suddenly Shy's vision snapped and he saw Tom T hiding next to a boulder in the path of the advancing troll. He must have thrown the stone at the troll. Hunched in his drab clothes, he almost looked like a crazy, grinning boulder. He looked at Shy for one second with his lips pulled wide, and then turned back to the oncoming troll.

  Shy would replay what happened next for many years in his dreams. Faster than a blink, the nisse extended his slender pole, with the hook on the end. The troll was focused on Shy, and for his part, Shy was now fully focused on the oncoming troll. He could see that it was the troll he had punched earlier as its face was focused in a single toothed snarl.

  Fist, fist, foot…. Fist, fist… As the troll placed his second fist on the ground, the nisse deftly hooked the beefy wrist with his stick, and tugged. He succeeded in preventing the beast from planting that fist on the ground. With no base to push off from, and the momentum of an avalanche, the troll started to go down…. And Shy was directly in its path!

  Just like in slow motion scenes in the movies, Shy registered the frame by frame changes in the scene. The troll's right arm was flung wide from the nisse's pull, and the troll was falling forward and slightly to the right. Its eyes were still focused on Shy, but were wide with surprise. Shy's muscles had already started to flex and brace for the impact. Just as the monster's tumble brought its snout level with Shy's head, Shy's left side was c
rashed into and he flew off to the side, and out of the path of the troll!

  Shy heard a huge crashing noise, and a scream. He pushed himself up off the ground and turned. Daniel had pushed him out of the way, but in the process had been partially landed on by the troll. The behemoth had also fallen directly onto the cage, which, in turn, promptly collapsed from the violent impact. Tad was already climbing out from the wreckage. The stunned troll moaned. Shy glanced at where the nisse had been huddled, but found no sign of him. Tad was whispering urgently for Shy to come help grab Daniel. Daniel was having trouble getting up, and it looked like the troll must have injured his leg when it partially fell on him.

  The other trolls had stopped in shock. Shy realized they needed to move quickly. Once they overcame their shock, the other four trolls would quickly be on them.

  With Daniel's arm strung over Tad's shoulder, they struggled into the trees, where Gust was now waiting. Sounds came from the site behind them. The trolls had begun to move. Gust picked up Daniel, and swiftly led them off in a southerly direction. Between the summer's running practices with Daniel, and the thought of ending up in the giant black cauldron they had just left behind, Shy had little trouble keeping up with Gust as he strode through the pines. Tad also appeared plenty motivated.

  After a good fifteen minutes of silent speed walking through the woods, Gust set Daniel down, and motioned them all to silence. They all listened. Shy thought he could hear some bellowing, but it sounded distant. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

  Daniel put his hand on Shy's shoulder and said, "Thanks."

  Shy thought about how Daniel had risked himself to knock Shy out of the path of the troll, and smiled. It was good to have friends.

  Chapter Fifteen:

  "On your mark… get set… GO!"

  Dawn broke the next morning with a tired group of boys and girls yawning and gossiping at the Lodge. Orange juice wasn't enough to wake Shy up this morning. He had actually considered taking some coffee that Tad and the counselors always had ready. He used to drink coffee with his grandpa, back when he was four or five. Of course, he primarily used it as something to dip his homemade doughnuts in. He smiled at the memory, and then cracked another huge yawn. He wasn't the only one. Even Tad appeared to be fighting to stay wakeful as he visited quietly with Mad Meg.