A Lilliputian Perspective (reupload)

Chapter 12

This is gonna be good," Woodman comments to himself as Hilda and Alfur glare at him. The troll they were targeting seemed to be searching for something- the two elves followed in pursuit.

"I'll try talking to the troll," Hilda suggests, leaping onto the troll's foot and climbing upwards. It felt strange- like molten rock, soft and a little squishy, but very cold. She'd never noticed that before. She was on the creature's back when it seemed to sense her presence- well, in a way. Hilda was so small and light that her touch caused an itching reaction. The troll reached around to scratch and Hilda fell off. Alfur catches her. The look on his face conveys that he probably knew that would happen.

The troll suddenly starts running away, mini earthquakes scrambling the elves around. The farther away the troll got, the less the ground shook. Alfur and Hilda were dazed. At least it wasn't the forest giant.

"Oh no! Do you think he knew I was there?" Hilda asked.

"He couldn't see you, but he felt you," Alfur replies. "Most likely conclusion, he thought you were a bug or something, but-" he suddenly jumps forward. "Hilda! We're losing him!"

Raven and Twig arrive to help them give chase. With Alfur on Raven and Hilda mounting Twig, they catch up to the troll.

"He's going into that... dark, suspicious cave..." Raven trails off. The four stop at the base of the mountain, standing before a gaping black hole in which the troll had vanished into.

"Then let's go-" Hilda starts, hopping off of Twig and running headfirst, but Raven holds a wing before her, blocking her entry.

"Hilda, this is the Stone Forest. It's crawling with trolls. It's so dark in there that trolls can stay active, even during the daytime."

Hilda is more enthralled and excited rather than scared, while Alfur looks ready to faint again.

"We can't go in there," Raven sighs. Hilda pouts.

"But we have to," she protests, "besides, Alfur and I are invisible. They won't see us! And I think the other elves would be too scared to offer any troll a contract to sign, anyway."

"That's true," Raven smiles, "Maybe-"

Alfur blinks, keeping a straight face as he kicks a tiny pebble and suddenly falls over dramatically.

"Oh no!" He grabs the leg he kicked the pebble with, wincing, "silly me, I think I just sprained my ankle! Ow!" He's shouting these words and hamming it up. It's obvious he is faking it.

"Looks like we can't go in, Hilda. My bad!"

The elf looks up to see if his little stunt worked. Hilda, Raven and Twig are giving him dirty looks. Alfur sighs, getting up and looking down in defeat and shame.

"Fine. Let's go," he says dejectedly, holding out his arm. Hilda cheerfully takes it and hugs him at the same time.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" She's beaming from ear to ear. Alfur manages to smile back, just a little.

They start to slowly walk in, to Raven and Twig, it looked as if the pitch darkness of the cavern swallowed them whole. Twig whimpers while Raven gives them a thumbs-up... well, more like a wings-up.

"Good luck!" He calls to them.

"Hey, it's your funeral!" Woodman's voice echoes as Hilda and Alfur go further away from the entry.

Alfur weeps softly as Hilda practically drags him. Their tiny footsteps make echoes, too, as they go deeper into the cavern. The light of the moon outside shone no longer; no saving grace, no visible way out.