A Trollhunter and His Dragon

Deep Under Trollmarket

"Wow...I've never seen a book like this before." Claire commented as she shut the book close. "Where did your mom get this?"

"I don't know, probably at some yard sale or something. I can't even understand the title on the cover." Jim said with a shrug as she hands him back the book before he slips it into his locker. "I don't even think that language exists, and it's not even Trollish."

"Actually from the looks of the etchings on the cover, it's old Norse. Not sure what it says, but I think there's a translator for it on the internet somewhere. What did you bring this for?"

Ah. Jim had completely forgotten he had placed the old book in his backpack that morning after his mom had brought it upstairs from the basement, and it was already too late to get home to put it back so he'd have to keep it in his locker.

"That was accidental, but it'd save me time to take it to Blinky to show it to him." Jim admits as he opens his locker to put it away. "Toby was so happy seeing the book again, when we were little he loved playing this game inspired by the stories in the book. We loved pretending to be Viking dragon riders in search of treasure or fighting evil dragon hunters and trappers."

"Sounded like a fun game." Claire chuckles as Jim shuts the door to his locker after placing the book between his math and science textbooks.

"There were mentions of trolls in the books, ones that apparently stole and ate socks, kind of like Notenrique. Vikings in the story used to name their children weird or terrifying things to scare them away."

Claire wrinkled her nose at the memory of her fake brother scarfing down socks like they were candy. "I doubt a name like Fishlegs would scare a troll like that. But it would be interesting if the trolls in the story actually were like the ones we know."

"Only one way to find out." Jim chuckles as his phone starts to ring. He pulls it out of his pocket and mentally groans. "Bagdwella is calling... probably another gnome problem."

"Hey Jimbo! Guess what I found in-" Toby, who had approached his friends, was cut off by the loud screaming from Jim's phone as his friend tried to muffle it.

"Yep, gnome problem." Jim muttered as he ended the call. "Gotta answer the call."

"Man why does it always gotta be gnomes with this lady?" Toby groaned as he and Claire started to follow Jim to exit the school. "Also ever since Bular died we haven't had a serious call. It's always gnomes, someone needs help naming their baby something, or a marriage dispute."

"Every call is important, no matter how small it is." Jim points out as the slip through the front gates and started to walk faster down the street. "Also the naming baby thing isn't so bad, I just had to whip out my phone and look up cool sounding names with certain meanings the parents wanted."

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"So...a gnome stole a super valuable trinket from the shop and you need me to get it." Jim asked a super flustered and upset Bagdwella. "What does this even look like?"

"An old family heirloom, it's very very important!" The shopkeeper explained and huffed angrily. "After the first time I thought all the gnomes would stop but no! One had to steal this pin passed down by my great great grandmother when we used to live in the Old World! I need it back! They can take anything they want, but that pin is irreplaceable!"

"Which way did the gnome go?" Jim asked, hoping to get this job done before professor Uhl noticed he was gone.

"The old tunnels, but be careful Trollhunter! Many trolls have wandered in there and only pieces of their remains could be found outside the caves!" Bagdwella warned and bit her lip. "Or perhaps you shouldn't go, best not lose a Trollhunter so quickly after he's defeated Bular."

"I'll go down there, I'm sure whatever is down there can't be as dangerous as Bular." Jim tried to assure her. "If this heirloom is so important, I'll try my best to get it back."

"The old tunnels! Master Jim, are you so sure about going down there?" Blinky asked when Jim left the shop.

"Old family heirloom, apparently the gnome headed in that direction." Jim says as he takes the amulet from his pocket. "I'm sure it didn't directly go into the tunnels. And what's down there that's so bad?"

Blinky shuddered. "Oooh the stories you'd hear about what dwells down there are enough to give poor Aaaarrggh nightmares."

Aaaarrggh shuddered and looked at him sheepishly. "Monsters, scarier than Gum-Gums." The Kubera commented and shuddered again. "Scary."

"He is right master Jim, no one knows what's down there exactly, but whatever it is seems to enjoy frightening us by leaving the remains of trolls outside the caves. Why one time I recall Kanjigar going down there once and swore he heard loud growling and several creatures with glowing eyes!"

"And no one has ever bothered to investigate it, at all?" Jim asks with a frown. "I suppose I should at least see what it is after retrieving the heirloom and tell you what I find."

"It would be good if you found any sort of evidence of whatever is down there, could give us a clue on what could be down there frightening poor trolls." Blinky agreed and nodded. "Be cautious, and don't be afraid to call us for help."

The gnome's footprints were easy to find on his way to the tunnels, and Jim actually managed to find the little creature hiding in a pile of rocks. Nearly took his fingers off when he tried to take the pin away, but after bartering with it to exchange a Nougat Mummy for the pin, the gnome scampered off with it's new treat and a big smile on its face.

"Now, what are you hiding?" Jim muttered as he held Daylight out in front of him, approaching the tunnel carefully. So far he hasn't seen or heard anything strange inside the caves, so that was good at least.

Maybe whatever it is it's probably dead or something, or just slid into hiding after getting tired of being hassled by trolls. Jim thought as he went deeper. He was about to turn back when he spotted something on the floor. Curious, he bent down to pick the object up to examine it.

Using the light from his sword, Jim could see that the object was black and smooth, kind of like a stone but it was very flat as well. There were more of these on the floor, and as Jim bent down to examine them, he noticed weird scratch marks.

"What in the world-"

A soft growl sounded from behind him, and the Trollhunter whipped around with sword out in front of him. Nothing. Wary now, Jim looked around the tunnel, noticing even more scratch marks on the walls and what looked like scorch marks as well. He heard the growl again from behind him and slowly turned to see if he could find the source.

"Whatever you are, I can hear you, I know you're here!" Jim called as he gripped the handle of Daylight more tightly. "Come on out, if you don't attack me I won't attack you- I promise."

He was almost expecting a harsh laugh of some sort, or a voice sneering at him about something, but instead he heard a small growl behind him again. Slowly turning around, Jim found a pair of bright blue eyes in the darkness staring back at him. He could sort of see the outline of the creature in the dark, and it was a few feet away from him and out of range of his blade.

"Hey it's okay, I won't hurt you." Jim shoved his sword into the ground next to him and stepped away from it. The blue eyes blinked and stepped forward. Jim could see a sort of cat like outline in the darkness as it slowly walked towards him, eventually coming close enough for him to see it properly.

"Oh my god..." Jim whispered when he saw what it was. Standing right in front of him, a creature he'd only seen in that old book he loved to read, right down from its shape and form save for a few pale white spots sprinkled around its eyes like little stars and on its paws and a very confused but curious expression in its eyes. "It's a dragon."