What the Troll Said

Chapter 01

WHAT THE TROLL SAID

CHAPTER 01

In a time before time, in a land beyond far, there once stood a mountain of enormous girth.

Along the base of the mountain ran a river. It was a stately arc along the southern face of the mount, silent and strong. Its source was a waterfall on its northern side, where it burst out of the rock as spewn lava. Falling to the base of the mountain here, the spray pooled and the river began and it circled toward the other side, where it slowed bit by bit and widened. A sleepy giant now, first lumbering past the mountain, and then it rolled off toward other territories beyond.

Over the mount's southern slope spread a forest, a blanket all in green and silver. Its mysteries crept upward in long fingers, aching for the peak at the top. Its upper reaches were lost in the clouds that swallowed it, which ever inched along, in endless trails that flowed past the summit, those tendrils of gray and white.

In the shadow of the mighty mountain, a small kingdom came to life. For in its shade it found protection, sustenance, there between the water and the wood. It was a good spot. It thrived there. The river was the key, for it brought commerce. Goods and travelers came, skating over its surface, day and night, night and day, summer and winter, without stop. The river gave life to all it touched.

This—all this was in the good days. In the days of the beginning.

In the days of the Queen.

Now the river was no more. It had nearly dried up. In its place, only a small brook ran in the rocky bed of the once mighty and swollen waterway.

~~~

By the edge of the brook, just outside city limits, two young girls sat on rocks with their feet nearly dipped into the water. It was night time. The moon was out. One of them was cleaning off the soiled face of the other.

The other winced. "Hey, watch it!"

"Don't move then!" The one doing the cleaning laughed. It was a golden giggle, like her pretty young face and her hair. "Oh, please! It's not that bad!"

The one being cleaned scrunched up her eyes from the pain but didn't complain anymore.

The two girls were both about eleven years old. The one doing the cleaning, the one with the blond hair was always smiling. The other girl's eyes were far more serious, brooding, like she had much more on her mind. The blond one was wearing a dress. The darker one wore breeches, like a boy. In fact, from a distance, you probably couldn't tell that the dark-haired one was a girl at all.

Behind the two, way out there in the distance, past the top of the trees, you could see where the water from the river had once started. In the stories of when the kingdom was young, the gush from the rocks, the source of the river had once been a giant fountain, a torrent of liquid so strong it would kill a man up close. Now, it was but a trickle of water, barely enough for a stream that you could stop by its side and wash away the dirt and grime with, from an occasional wound you'd happened to have picked up in a scuffle somewhere.

The cleaning was done. The blond girl sat back and admired her handiwork. "Well now, my lady Morgan..." She blew a lock of hair from her eyes. "...nearly respectable." She clapped her hands off and stood up. "Next time..."

"Next time..." Morgan bounded to her feet. "...next time, ol' Teddy ought to keep his mouth shut."

"Or you'd clock him again?" The blond one straightened out her dress with some care. Clearly, she enjoyed the dress and the way she looked in it quite a lot.