What the Troll Said

Chapter 07

WHAT THE TROLL SAID

CHAPTER 07

The Dwarf King walked ahead. Morgan followed close behind. They lumbered down a series of tunnels, though these were much bigger than the others and allowed passage for the King without difficulty. He held aloft a light source of some kind in his hand. It was an orb, glowing red and orange. It pulsed. As they neared their destination, the pulsing became more rapid.

"Here." The Dwarf King stopped at a doorway.

There was an iron door, with studs, fastened to the doorway, but it was lopsided and looked like it was going to fall off any second.

The King reached out his hand. He took the door and grunting, yanked it back with force enough to move an elephant. The door gave a weak protest and then screeched open, its hinges threatening to come shearing off its moorings if only the tiniest bit more force had been applied.

They stepped through. There were sconces on the wall in four places in the square shaped room. The King shuffled over to each one and touched his orb to it and they lit up.

Morgan glanced all around. Everything was covered in dust. Dust and cobwebs. She shook her head. "You don't come here very much."

The King shrugged. "As a child, I did. I used to come in here to play. No one would ever disturb me here. No one would ever think to come here to look for me."

The King made his way over to the far side of the room. Morgan followed.

Here, right next to the wall, was a stone pedestal. The top of it was shaped like a bowl, a basin. Out of the wall, just above this spot, from a sharp finger-like projection of rock, a slow dripping of a dark liquid fell clean off the stone and into the waiting basin beneath.

Drip, drip, drip.

The King reached out toward it. Dipping his finger into the bowl of ooze, he brought it back to his mouth and sucked it clean. He turned to her, holding up his finger. He smiled. "Even tastes like blood." Tossing his head back, he laughed and it echoed around the room, like the stone was laughing with him.

He squared his hand on his hip and stood back. "My father always said that there was some grand mystery here. Some kind of great magic hidden within the stone." He shrugged. "Me, I never saw it. Just some morbid black juice being squeezed from the earth." He pivoted around to face the pedestal fully.

His eyes glazed over, as he recalled a memory from long ago. "Though there was a prophecy about it. My grandfather told me:

When blood curses blood

When the world is become dry

The new might be old again

Two other bloods and I

Morgan frowned. She scratched her head. "What does that mean?"

The King spun around. The glaze in his eyes was gone. "I'd be a rich dwarf if I knew!" He laughed up into the vault of the cavern and the stone laughed with him once more.

~~~

"Let's take a break." Morgan sat down on a rock by the side of the stream.

She and Egon had been on their way and marching back for the bridge and the Troll for the better part of the night. She was getting tired. After all, she hadn't had any sleep at all since before going into the realm of the dwarves and that was yesterday. She stretched out her arms above her head and yawned.