The Horns of Kern
*
Gertrude knocked on his Uncle Farkle and Aunt Phoebe’s door. He waited a moment and knocked again, this time a little harder. “No answer. That’s kind of odd.” He mumbled. He looked in the window and saw no one. His aunt was a seamstress and she was always at her sewing machine. She was a hard worker just like his mother. Gertrude was tuning around when his relative’s neighbor poked his head out of a window.
“Hi, Gertrude. If you are looking for your aunt and uncle, they left early this morning with a human. They headed up to the glen, from what I could tell. They took off in a hurry, too.”
“Thanks, Munion. Was the human one of the guards from the castle?”
“Not likely. He wasn’t dressed very well, and he looked like a right miserable person. Have a good day, Gertrude. I have to get back to my cobbling.” Munion’s head disappeared from the window.
Gertrude struck off towards the glen to see if his aunt and uncle were up there. When he arrived, all was quiet. Birds were singing in the trees. In the distance he could hear the waterfall of the gurgling stream that ran through the right side of the glen. It was far more peaceful than it was the other morning. This was the first time that he had a moment to himself to think.
He had been stunned by his mother’s actions. The past couple of days almost seemed like a nightmare. To be nominated for grand troll was a high honor. The nomination was not to be taken lightly. He thought about Toggart, and how he abused his authority when he was grand troll. Toggart knew how to manipulate people and trolls. It was a hard decision, a very hard decision. He put the grand troll nomination to the back of his brain. What was going on? Who was responsible for it?
Gertrude walked the length of the glen looking for a clue as to where his aunt and uncle went with the human. He finally turned around and headed down the path that ran along the stream. As he walked along the creek he remembered all of the joyous hours he and his friends spent running and splashing in the stream’s cool, bubbling waters. This is where he first met Toddy.
Gertrude shook his head. He was no longer a child. He walked on a little farther where the stream ran into the river. Something splashing out in the middle of the river caught his attention. Gertrude ripped off his jacket and jumped into the swift current. The water was icy cold and it felt like a thousand needles pricking him all over his body. Fortunately, trolls are very good swimmers. In no time he was within reach of the floundering figure. He grabbed a hold of the troll from behind to prevent being dragged under. Gertrude chose the closest shore to swim to. The bank of the river was also lower at this point and it was easier for Gertrude raise the troll out of the water.
Gertrude was exhausted. He looked over at the troll he had saved. It was Toddy. She was all tangled up in one of her fishing nets. He untangled her and rubbed her cheeks. There was no response. She didn’t appear to be breathing, either. Gertrude picked her up and placed her limp body over a log by the river. He pushed firmly on her sides under her lungs. “Come on, Toddy, start breathing.” He pressed harder and Toddy began coughing and retching water. He sat her up against the log.
Toddy opened her eyes. “Where am I?” She wrapped her arms around herself. Her huge lips were chattering. Then she noticed Gertrude. She flung herself at him and she started sobbing. “You saved my life! How can I ever thank you enough?”
“How did you get all tangled in your net, Toddy?” Gertrude stood up and helped Toddy to her feet.
Toddy’s lips were chattering so bad that she couldn’t answer. Toddy’s mother, Bertha, lived the closest so the two walked as quickly as they could to her hovel. Every step they took seemed to make them colder. The wind was blowing hard and crispness filled the air.
Gertrude did not bother to knock. He barged through the door with Toddy in tow. Toddy’s mother screamed in horror. Then she saw her daughter behind Gertrude and went into mothering both of the frozen youngsters. She went over to a large cupboard and pulled out two heavy woolen winter blankets. “Both of you get out of those wet clothes this instant.” Bertha turned and put water in the blog pot to boil. “What in the world are you two standing there shivering for? I told you to get out of those wet clothes.” Toddy’s mother ushered Gertrude into a small back room and her daughter into another. She picked up an armful of wood and quickly had a roaring fire going in the fireplace. “You hoppers hurry up now; I don’t want to have to tell Gertrude’s mother that you both died while being in my care.”
Gertrude was the first to re-enter the room, dripping clothes in hand. Bertha took them from him and forced a mug of steaming hot blog into his shaking hands. She had placed two chairs close to the fire. “Sit down Gertrude. Sit...Sit... Sit!” She practically dragged him over to the chair. Toddy emerged from the other room wrapped in her blanket. Her lips were still chattering. Bertha shoved a mug of blog into her daughter’s shaking hands and helped her over to the other chair. Bertha then took two large rocks that had been heating up by the fire and wrapped each one separately in an old towel and placed them at their frozen feet. “Rest your feet upon these rocks.” She smiled up at them as they did what she asked, then got up and started busying herself preparing something hot for the two half-frozen hoppers.
Gertrude closed his eyes as the heat of the fire and the blog warmed him. He looked over at Toddy. Her eyes were closed and her lips had stopped chattering. “How did you get tangled in your net, Toddy?”
Toddy opened her eyes and turned her head to look at Gertrude. “I didn’t get tangled in my nets. Someone wrapped me in them and threw me in the river.” She started to cry. “I was repairing one of the nets when all of the sudden I had these hands over my mouth and eyes. There had to be two or more attackers. Whoever it was holding their hands over my mouth and eyes never let go. Then I am sure I felt four hands lift me and throw me into the water. I could have died if…” Large tears poured from her eyes.
Bertha came over and put her arms around her daughter’s shoulders to comfort her. “You are safe now, thanks to Gertrude.” She turned to Gertrude and smiled. “Thank you for saving my daughter.” She let go of her daughter, walked over, and planted a kiss on Gertrude’s forehead.
Gertrude blushed.” Did anyone speak at all when they were attacking you, Toddy?
Toddy paused for a moment. “It is funny that you ask that question. Right before I was attacked, I could have sworn I heard a human voice. The hands that held me were definitely troll, though.” She held her mug out towards her mother. “May I please have more?”
Gertrude handed Bertha his mug, too. “Please…” He thought for a moment. “Have you seen my cousins, Meade and Zeon, lately?” He looked at Toddy.
It was Bertha who answered the question. “I saw Meade leading his aunt and uncle through the glen early this morning. They also had my brother, Frack, with them. I noticed that Frack had his apothecary supplies with him. I was coming down the path by the stream when I ran into them. We chatted briefly. They seemed in a great hurry.”
Gertrude looked puzzled. “Wasn’t your brother Frack forbidden by the committee to practice apothecary after he almost blew himself up making a potion? Why was he with my aunt and uncle, carrying his supplies?”
Toddy looked at Gertrude. “Meade and Zeon are inseparable. The whole village jokes that your aunt sews all of their pants together so she can keep a better eye on them. You both know as well as I do that when one of them gets in trouble the other one is in trouble, too.” Toddy paused. “I wonder who dislikes me so much that they would want to kill me.” She shuddered at the thought.
Bertha went over and put more wood on the fire and checked the clothing to see if it was dry. She shook her head and walked over to the stove and poured more hot blog into both cups. “I would love to be able to take my broom to whoever is responsible for this! After a few wallops over their heads, I’d stick it right where the sun never shines, stick them over a fire and have a weenie roast!!”
Gertrude spit out a full moth of blog and started choking
. Then all three of them started laughing. He felt some of the tensions of the day fade. Reaching over to check the dryness of his clothing, he grabbed them and stood up. “I must get going. I still have chores to do when I get home.” He looked over at Toddy. “Would you like me to walk you home after we get dressed?”
“No, thank you, Gertrude. I have to go back and collect all of my fishing gear and nets. I do not dare leave them until tomorrow, unattended. I am sure someone would walk off with everything. Mother will come with me, if I ask. I’ll have her guard me with her broom.” Toddy smiled as she turned to look at her mother.
Gertrude went into the small room where he had undressed and slipped back into his clothes. He walked back into the kitchen to find only Bertha, standing at the stove.
Bertha turned when Gertrude entered the room. She walked over to him and gave him a big hug. “Thank you again for saving Toddy’s life. My husband will thank you, too, once he comes back from the hunt he is on.”
“You do not have to thank me. I was in the right place at the right time.” Gertrude walked over to the door. “Please say goodbye to Toddy for me.” He opened the door and left.
Toddy entered the room just as Gertrude closed the door behind him. ‘Gertrude left already? I was hoping he would stay at least until I could thank him again.” She walked over to her mother and they both hugged. They looked at each other and both of them cried tears of thankfulness and gratitude.