This is no ordinary troll, this is a First. He is a first of his kind; ancient, cunning and filled with strength that encompasses his seasons. He isn’t just a First, he is a Kupnaliia.
Tazo appears in my hand, coming to life as I plant my feet, ready to move at the last minute. I catch a glimpse of Alorn leaping from one of the trees, his blades in hands and ready to strike the back of the creature’s neck. Mellis appears, his double edged staff in hand, as he also leaps at the troll.
I dive to the left at the last moment as the troll charges past me. Alorn is now on Mirnuk’s back ready to strike as I roll out into a stance, using the balls of my feet to launch me forward, and at this point I notice Lily, standing where I left her. Alorn sees her now, too, and without hesitation he brings his blades down. I move toward Lily knowing I would have to grab her before the troll falls, killing us both.
I yell out to her but Lily remains motionless. And with a lift of her hand all comes to a standstill. I slow my pace as I look at Mellis, stopped in mid-strike to the side of the troll. I look at Alorn and his blades tips are frozen at the troll’s shoulder, just piercing the skin and drawing blood. I look at the bystanders in the same state, frozen in time. I turn to Lily and the serpent eyes of Jarhan stare back at me. She lifts her other hand to stop me from moving forward, but I continue my way toward her.
I stand before her and she frowns. I shake my head and demand, “I am your king, release Lilianethia now.”
The Healer continues to frown, a perplexed look in her eyes. Without releasing everyone around her, her eyes change back to those of Lily.
“Lily,” I breathe. “What’s happening?”
“She won’t let you hurt him, Tharin. I told you,” she says, looking up at the troll. She searches his face, and does a cursory scan of the rest of him as if looking for something.
“I promised you I wouldn’t hurt him,” I say impatiently, also looking the troll over.
“Did you forget to let Alorn and Mellis know?” she asks simply.
I look up at Alorn and then at Mellis. “It happened so suddenly, I didn’t have time. They only reacted to his charge.” I think about the moment the creature took off and I look at Lily. “He was coming after you.”
She shakes her head. “No, he thought you were hurting me when you pushed me behind you.”
“What?” I’m stunned at her take on the events. “I don’t think so. Trolls don’t care about who they’re charging, they only beat and kill whatever and whoever they think is in their way.”
“No,” she answers.
She waves a hand at Alorn and lifts him from the troll’s back. I watch in disbelief that my tiny betrothed has the power to remove the warrior so easily. She places him a few yards from us and then does the same with Mellis.
“Who’s doing that, Lily? You or the Healer?”
“Both, and it’s not the Healer, it is Jarhan. It seems each time she appears, we become more in sync with each other. I can feel us slowly becoming one.”
I stare at her for a moment then shake my head, bringing myself back to our situation. I look up at the troll. “Can you let him talk without releasing him?”
Lily drops her hand and movement slowly comes back as I watch Alorn and Mellis look about them in confusion. The outer area of Tolan’s illusion shield goes back to normal. The troll’s breathing comes back in large gasps as he stares down at Lily. I watch in shock as the giant First drops to his knees before her, causing the ground to shake under its weight.
I stay calm when Lily walks up to the troll and he offers his hand for her to step into. He lifts her to his shoulder and she moves toward his ear and reaches behind him. She struggles to pull something from behind his ear. When it won’t budge, she puts her foot against his ear for leverage and continues to pull. She stops when she admits to herself it’s not coming out. She looks down at me.
“I need your help,” she yells from her perch.
I am completely undone by this whole scene. I remain standing, folding my arms as I yell back, “Why don’t you use your Healer power to remove it.”
“It doesn’t work like that, Tharin. Come on, help me.”
I sigh heavily and before the troll can stop me, I sprint up his lap, leap over to his back and quickly make my way to Lily.
I almost lose my balance when she smiles at me. I lean my shoulders back, push my chest out and I can’t help but smile back at her and winking. To my surprise and delight, she reaches out and gives me a quick kiss.
Our faces close, she says, “Thank you.”
A simple kiss – that’s all it takes from her. Before I can let my thoughts take me into dangerous territory I remind myself of the prophecy. I put my hand out and push her gently away from Mirnuk’s ear.
“Stand back, miss. This is a job for a professional.”
I love her laughter that follows. I take a look behind the troll’s ear and see a black, twisted piece of laurel wood buried deep into his skull. I pull out my Shadika knife and with some force stab it into the wood to the hilt. With the edge of the blade toward me I grab, twist and pull the laurel out. Immediately the troll slowly falls on its face. I grab Lily at the last minute, leaping back and landing close to Alorn.
Before I can stop her, Lily immediately runs to the unconscious Mirnuk.
“He’s sleeping,” she yells over her shoulder.
I don’t know how she can miss the obvious, the beast is snoring loudly. We watch as the troll slowly transform to a smaller version of itself with a more “human” aspect. Instead of a giant troll lying at our feet, we now have a naked man of almost seven feet in height and over three hundred pounds. Even at this smaller size, he is enormous with rippling muscles and a lot cleaner than I thought he would be.
The snoring stops and he slowly comes to, trying to turn over. Alorn quickly takes his coat off and moves to cover the troll’s mid-section before he turns over completely. I step forward to block Lily’s view just in case but it doesn’t matter. Lily’s focus is completely on the man-looking troll’s face.
Mirnuk sits up slowly with Lily’s help and Alorn is on his other side. He shakes his head, trying to get his bearings. After a moment, he looks up toward the waning sun, using his hand against its glare as he blinks. When his eyes finally come to focus on Lily, he straightens to attention. Before any of us realize his next move, he grabs Lily and with a giant leap lands close to one of the island’s bridges and disappears. Alorn, Mellis and I stand frozen staring at each other before we take off as one, leaving Alorn’s discarded coat lying where the troll dropped it.
~ * ~
Chapter Seven
~ Lily ~
It’s like déjà vu all over again as I try reaching out to Tharin when the troll snatches me away from him. I watch as he, Alorn and Mellis stare after me dumbfounded – and they call themselves warriors? What happened to the quick Sidhe reflexes?
I hold onto the large arm wrapped around my waist as the monster, man, monster…whatever he is, carries me to a bridge near the playground island. I stop struggling, because it is useless to do so, and I lift my knees up when I realize he is knee deep in water. I stare at the pond around us and it doesn’t look like it is deep enough to reach the troll’s waist.
I am wrong. The troll continues to wade in until the water is at my chin and I struggle to keep my head above it. Strange how it is hot here in Perth, but the water is freezing. It is so cold I imagine my lungs turning into ice and shattering if I take a deep breath. He wades further under the bridge and I now know it’s a portal. It explains why it is deeper here than anywhere else in the pond. I look up and the last thing I see is Tharin reaching out for me, our fingers barely touching before I go under. I can hear him yelling after me, but why doesn’t he follow me in?
I am suddenly plunged deeper into the cold pond and as I gasp for air I swallow some of the nasty water. I choke and try to hold my breath at the same time and panic sinks in. I struggle against the troll’s hold and gulp in more mur
ky water when he tightens his grip on me. I try looking about me for something to grab, to help pull myself back up toward the surface, but there is nothing. The edges of my vision begin to blur and just when I think I am going to black out, I am coughing out water and gasping for air on a flagstone floor. I turn on my back trying to catch my breath, staring at a ceiling made of some kind of dark, sharp stone – is that granite? I sit up scanning the room, or more like some kind of cave, but a clean cave. At the far wall is a large table with two chairs, a game of chess sitting on the center of the table. Behind me at one end of the room is a kitchen with large cabinets carved into the stone walls and a large working island counter made of the same kind of stone as the ceiling. To the left of it is a man-made stove, also built into the wall. On the opposite wall from the table with the chess game is a lit fireplace. I crawl to it trying to get to the heat.
I don’t hear him come up from behind me and I am startled when he places a huge blanket around my shoulders. He picks me up easily and places me on a rug in front of the fireplace. I watch as he moves to the table, takes one of the chairs and sets it in front of me. He sits, a giant of a man, staring at me with his massive hands, broad, worn and covered with aged scars, clasped before him. He is fully dressed now. A long sleeve jersey the color of the stones around me sits loosely on his broad shoulders. Dark khaki pants seem to stretch to accommodate his massive thighs and calves, while sturdy workman boots laced above his ankles cover his large feet.
I look up expecting to find the frightening troll who kidnapped me only to find a face that could belong to a seasoned lumberjack. His full black hair is long, wet and clean. His beard full, but trimmed neatly and the opening at the neck of his jersey, shows a broad chest covered in the same black hair. His skin is the color of dark oak with deep ridges of age beautifully etched on his serious face. His upper lip is covered by his mustache, only showing his full bottom lip; but it is his eyes that capture me and I stare at him unblinking, mesmerized. It is like looking into the depth of the universe, unchallenged, filled with wisdom and knowledge beyond my comprehension.
This is a troll?
He grins a half smile as if reading my mind and then he speaks. The music of the mountains comes back to me as his deep baritone seems to seep through me, gentle and…peaceful.
“I am Mirnuk,” he says.
I smile at him, unable to help myself. “I know,” I answer. “You’re nothing like I thought you would be.”
He raises a bushy brow at me. “Oh? And what would that be, my queen?”
I shrug/ “I don’t know, I guess it would be like what I’ve read and seen depicted on the screen and in books. You know, like how you were when you charged us.” I scan his face once more and ask, “How did you transform yourself to this?” I wave a hand at him as a whole.
Mirnuk grins again. “I am Kupnaliia, the first of the troll kind. We Firsts are older than Velesi itself, brought through the doorway in the Great War. Even then we were ancient by elfin standards. I am one of three left of the Kupnaliia. As for transforming into this body…” He pauses for a moment; a faraway look comes over him. There is a long silence and an almost painful look on his face.
“We were giants among men and elves; we were as you see me now. But in our arrogance and greed we angered the First of Sidhe, Kilrith, Sire to Kalinest and Kolinest. Upon our heads and hearts he cursed us to show our true essence when arrogance, greed and cruelty seeped into our mere thoughts. We Kupnaliia were able to control our basic instincts and learned to live in peace and harmony among the Five Nations and with Mother, herself.”
“I don’t understand,” I say confused. “So, there are no more trolls in the world, on any realm?”
“Ah,” he replies. “There are many. But, in the days when I was a young troll, like man and Sidhe, there were echelons in the tribe of trolls. The First were able to remain as I am now, but those who came after us could not keep such thoughts of evil at bay. They were the weaker of our kind and once they turned, they were not able to turn back. Their twisted form is what you know of today. It was the same with what Kilrith did with the orc when they betrayed him.”
“The orc?”
He shakes his head. “As I said, it is the same with the orc as it is with the trolls. I am sure your king will tell you all about it.”
“Tharin,” I gasp, sitting up straight. “You have to take me back to him, please.”
He doesn’t respond right away but just sits and stares at me. “You know,” he says slowly looking me over with a hunger in his eyes. “In my younger days I would steal pretty little girls like you from their kings.”
Suddenly, his kind face doesn’t look so kind. He rubs his hands together, reminding me how massive they are and that it wouldn’t take much effort on his part to break me in two. A spark of fear ignites in me, but a flame of indignation over takes it.
I rise to stand before him, allowing me to look him in the eye. “Look, Mirnuk, the last of the Kupnaliia. I am not a girl you can steal when you’re hungry. I am Lilianethia Senestra Michaels, queen of the Willow Clan and betrothed to the future king of the realm of Velesi. Don’t threaten me. I don’t like it.” Damn, I am sounding more and more like Tharin, but it works. The troll lowers his gaze and from his seat takes to one knee, his head bowed low.
“This Kupnaliia begs your forgiveness, my queen.” He sounds sincere, but it is hard for me to tell as his head is still lowered.
Not sure what to do next, I plop back down and wrap the warm blanket around me. When he lifts he head, he has a knowing smile on his face and I frown at him.
“Really?” I ask annoyed. “Why would you test me like that?”
He shrugs his big shoulders and leans back to regain his seat. “Word of the new queen has spread through the realms.” I prompt him to go on with a curious look. “It is being said that you are of a…gentle way; an innocent that must be protected.”
“An innocent?” I ask indignantly. How old do they think I am?
“Yes, a virgin.”
Oh…my….God…is he serious? I stare at Mirnuk frustrated and embarrassed at the same time. “Please don’t say they’re calling me…” we both finish together, “…the Virgin Queen.”
I drop my head embarrassed beyond whatever is after embarrassed.
When I look up again, the troll is still smiling. He leans forward and says, “I believe, my queen, that the part about you being gentle might be exaggerated.”
I change the subject. I have a hard enough time talking to Tharin about sex; I’m not about to discuss my virginity with a troll.
“Why do you live under a bridge?” I ask. Mirnuk smiles, realizing my uneasiness with the current subject and my poor attempt to change it.
“We are the original Gate Keepers. We are watchers of those who cross the bridges between realms. It was our niche in life to let those pass who were meant to pass and prevent those who were not. We were well respected and feared, and we were sought out for our knowledge of the doorways at the end of the bridges, until the curse of Kilrith. Our children who came after the curse, who could not find the peace within themselves remained as monsters. They no longer know why they are tied to the bridges, but are pulled to them, tethered to them by forgotten memories. They do not remember the honor of being a Gate Keeper because their dreams of their past are distorted, twisted and dark. They protect their bridges because they have no choice and they do not know why they have to by any means – even in the taking of innocents as you have read in your fairy tale books.”
I acknowledge this with a small smile and ask, “Who is Kilrith?”
“The First Sidhe, father to all Sidhe,” he answers with reverence.
“He sounds kind of mean. Can someone else break the curse?” I ask, feeling a little sorry for him and his brothers.
He shakes his head sadly. “No. Only Kilrith can break the curse and as far as I know, he is beyond our reach.”
“But you’re not sure?” I persist.
&n
bsp; Again the large troll shakes his head no.
Not sure what else to say, I let the blanket drop and slowly stand. I don’t like to see Mirnuk sad, so again I change the subject.
“Look, I’m not sure why you took me from my friends, but I need to get back. We need to find Ka’sith and I was told you know where she is.”
“Ka’sith is a powerful witch, powerful enough to blindside a First and keep him under her control. You have saved me from a prison that would eventually have killed me and my brothers.”
His brothers. I look at the table with the two chairs; the other remaining Kupnaliia. “How did it happen? I mean, how did she get the drop on you?”
“Unlike the others of our kind, my brothers and I can leave our bridges. We often visit each other using the portals, even to visit our oldest brother, Mirnook, in Velesi. But we are creatures of the Mother and we, like all her creatures, are one with nature. So there are times when we walk above ground. It was on a trip to see Mirneek who lives under the London Bridge when I heard a child calling for help. I went in search of her, but when I got to where I thought I heard her cries, I found no one. The last thing I remember was waking up at the playground in the form of a child and the piece of laurel embedded in my skull.”
“Why a child?”
“Children are untainted and innocent. They have no evil thoughts. As long as I remained as one, it was impossible for me to turn and try to fight her dark magic.”
“But you did turn.”
Mirnuk nods thoughtfully. “Yes,” he replies. “I was to take you to her, killing anyone who got in my way. Turning helped fight her spell, but it wasn’t until your prince pulled the laurel out was I freed.”
“Why would she want me?” I ask
“I believe it has something to do with the Ange. All I know is that you have saved me, and I believe you have saved my brothers as well. There was no telling what Ka’sith would have done with me after she had you.”