The Trollhunter and the Southerner

Wherefore Art Thou, Trollhunter? Part 1

In Trollmarket
',The teens stared in awe at the sight before them. This was truly a market, booths and all. Both teen boys muttered woahs and wows while Ozzie just stared at the beauty of it all.,'

"This is your home?" Jim asked as he walked down the steps.

"Trollmarket is home, heart, and sanctuary for all good Trolls. This way my friends, there's much to see." Blinky said leading us down more steps.

"This feels like a dream. " I whispered.

"Stay close. Human feet have never graced the ground of Trollmarket before." After Blinky said that I looked down at my feet and jumped twice and giggled, like a child, before catching up.

As we walked through Trollmarket, some of the trolls gave us harsh looks. I heard a few mutter "humans" harshly but Arrrgh would growl back at them saying we were friends. But the thing that really caught my attention, was the way some of them looked at me. Some looked shocked while others looked as if they'd seen a ghost. A couple of them were muttered the word "oanis" I think?

The next thing I knew the boys and I were taking pictures with the stalls and the trolls near them. In one picture, poor Blinky looked so uncomfortable, like if he was getting yelled at.

Some of the stalls even had neon like lights on the front of them. There was one with a cat with x eyes, one looked like a sword and a couple others had just random things. One stall had a troll getting a tattoo chiseled into his back, that is until Jim caught their attention and messed up the tattoo.

Toby started pointing around at the different crystals and stone. "Check it out! Peridot, Topaz, Cassiterite! Kornerupi..." Before Toby could finish his sentence, he realized the rock he was admiring was actually the belly of a troll. Toby gave a nervous smile before I came and pulled him by his vest.

"Come on Tobes." I said while pulling him. When that troll saw me he looked as shocked all the other trolls.

"Your knowledge of minerals is almost
Troll-like Tobias." Blinky complimented Toby.

"So, your kind? You all live here?" Jim asked.

"Trolls travel from afar to our market to find comfort and remedies. You'll find most anything you need and sometimes you'll find what you never knew you needed." Blinky said pridefully.

', In the shadows something watched them, something vicious. It had a horrible scowl as it moved deeper into the shadows.

Something ran past their feet before it stopped in front of Jim. "Oh, hey little guy! That's a cute pointy hat-" Jim had begun to say before the creature hissed at him! "And pointy teeth!" Jim screamed.

"Look out! Get away! Get out of here! Vile vermin! Be gone!" Blinky yelled while trying to stomp on the little creatures.

"What was that?" Jim asked.

"Gnomes are vermin. Pick-pocket, scum of the Earth! We only tolerate them for their grooming services." Blinky said in aggravation.

"Grooming?" Jim and Ozzie asked.

"They eat the parasites on the larger Trolls." Blinky stated while subtly pointing to Arrrgh.

Blinky started walking and said, "Onward my friends, there is still much to see."

Ozzie started to follow before more gnomes started running by her feet. Goliath growled at them but they would only chitter and run off. Ozzie tried stomping some of the stranglers but missed them by an inch. Just as she was about to catch up a cling caught her attention.

She looked down where a gnome had just been and in its place was a ring. She bent down and picked it up. It looked similar to a spinning fidget ring, similar to ones you could find online. The material looked like polished marble or glass, maybe even resin. The ring was mostly black with a dark orange rim on the spinning bit.