Destiny or Desire

Part 9: Trolling the Trolls

Zaryinor shifted, knowing he was waking up. He didn't want to. He felt peaceful this way, in the soothing darkness. There were no loud sounds. No pain. No thoughts or emotions. Just darkness and tranquility.

He wanted it to stay that way.

Zaryinor cracked an eye open, flinching toward the blinding light that filtered against his face. He groaned and shifted away from the brightness, but he realized his limbs were stiff. He felt sore and barely able to move, and the pain in his head was slowly coming back. Reality was not his friend right now.

"Aye! Look who's awake," Zaryinor heard the familiar voice of Gaelis. He struggled into a sitting position, the difficulty of such a simple task rewarding him with a migraine. He groaned while easing himself onto his side, infuriated and upset by his restrained wrists. He tugged miserably at the ropes that were tied around his hands.

"I tried that, it doesn't really work," Dailyn said with a sigh. Zaryinor glanced over at them and he stared in anguish at the cages they were both trapped in. He lifted his head, ears flattening toward the bars of vines and thick branches that encased him. He opened his palms and pressed them against the stone ground, hoisting himself into a sitting position painfully.

"I made a lot of trolls sneeze, but it wasn't enough to stop them. Then we couldn't find you and kinda got distracted by that. And scared. And then doomed. And then caged," Dailyn said, lifting his tied hands and gesturing toward their cages. "Sooo, I think we're stuck for the time being."

"Where's Skye?" Zaryinor asked, looking around. They were surrounded by more cages, but most of them were empty. Except for the ones inhabited by skeletons. They were too high up to see any trees, so the bright sun blared down at them relentlessly.

"I dinnae want her tae get captured by trolls, so I sent her off," Gaelis responded, squinting up at the cage she was in. It was smaller than his and Dailyn's, and Zaryinor could see Gaelis had realized that. She scoffed and shifted uncomfortably while murmuring, "Blasted trolls. I like tight spaces, tha's fine."

Zaryinor sighed quietly, observing their surroundings again. Still more cages and more skeletons, but there didn't seem to be any trolls around. He turned around to the best of his ability, craning his neck around to glance over his shoulder. There was a large stone wall with crude Trollish writing and Trollish markings. He lifted his head, frowning miserably at how high it reached skyward. No way they could climb that.

He stared longingly at the rack that held their weapons. Gaelis's hammer was left on the ground, as though the trolls could care less for the dwarven mallet. Belore'ashal was leaned against the stone wall and his quiver was abandoned. The arrows were strewn everywhere, and their packs hung from other racks.

Zaryinor's ears flattened grievously. All of them were stripped of their belongings, and it was obvious they were trapped. There was nothing more they could do other than wait out their fate. Yet again, he found himself in another miserable situation. He couldn't even scratch his itchy back or reach his ears.

The more Zaryinor thought about the places he couldn't reach to scratch himself, everything felt itchy. That just made their situation even more miserable. He glanced over at his friends, murmuring quietly, "I'm sorry we got all of us in this situation."

"Are you kidding me? This is awesome! I mean, I got to see a troll for the first time. A troll! Plus, I got beat up by one as well. This is like a huge once in a lifetime experience, but also incredibly terrifying," Dailyn admitted, awkwardly lifting both hands to scratch his chin.

Gaelis nodded in agreement, "We ain't got many options now, but I'm certain we'll figure out a way tae get out o' here. Just a wee troll problem. We've got brains!"