“Feeling slighted, the Plains Dwellers got together and decided to lure her down to the forest floor and capture her. They set fire to the edge of the forest, but Flora brought along a great rainstorm that doused the flames. Undaunted, they next caught a number of the forest creatures, hoping she would come down to rescue them, but Flora instead sent larger forest creatures out from the cover of the trees. The Plains Dwellers were frightened and ran from the larger creatures, which then freed the smaller ones and led them back to the forest.
“Then the Plains Dwellers decided to knock Flora out of the treetops and capture her when she hit the ground. They talked about slingshots and catapults, but didn’t want to injure or possibly kill her. They just wanted to take her captive. Finally, they decided to build a windmill with large blades, as tall as the forest trees. The windmill would blow a hearty wind toward the forest and knock Flora from the treetops so the Plains Dwellers could grab her.
“They worked through the day and night, foregoing sleep. Finally, the windmill was ready, and they set it in motion. The blades spun faster and faster. Flora understood at once what was going on, and knew she needed to end this. She gathered some sticks and leaves and built a likeness of herself. When it was ready, she let it go in the great blast of wind. The likeness spun and swirled in the strong current and blew up into the sky where she resides now, a Faux Flora, watching over all the lands of the Earth while the real Flora lives out her life in peace among the forest creatures.”
Thaddeus let out his breath. His smile was plastered to his face, and he looked at Teofil’s profile and wondered just how much more in love he could fall.
Before Teofil or anyone else could say a word, however, a tremor rumbled just below the surface of the ground. Thaddeus’s father sat up, and Fetter and Astrid did the same, their blankets falling off them. Miriam’s busy fingers stopped in the midst of her knitting, and she frowned as she looked toward the dark line of trees.
“Did everyone feel that?” Thaddeus asked, his voice a whisper.
“Was it an earth tremor?” Teofil wondered, looking at his mother.
“I’m not sure,” Miriam said.
She set aside her knitting and got to her feet. They all followed suit, standing around the fire and looking toward the trees. In the darkness of the forest, something large and pale shifted within the soft glow of the starlight. Another tremor rumbled through the ground, and Thaddeus reached out to take Teofil’s hand.
“Something’s moving in the trees,” Astrid said.
“What is it?” Fetter asked.
The loud crack of breaking branches startled them all, and they took a few steps back as a group. One of the trees at the edge of the wood swayed and then fell to the ground with a great crash. Thaddeus felt the wind of its fall on his face a moment later and thought about the giant windmill built by the Plains Dwellers as his heart hammered.
A tall wide creature stomped out from between the trees. It stood at least ten feet tall and had a round, bald head atop its rounded shoulders. A pale, flabby stomach hung over the breeches covering half of the thing’s short legs. The creature sniffed the air and looked right at them before letting out a roar that sent chills through Thaddeus.
“Troll!” Teofil shouted.
“Troll?” Thaddeus asked, unable to take his eyes off the advancing giant.
“Weapons!” Thaddeus’s father directed. “Take up your weapons!”
“We should run,” Thaddeus said.
“It’ll catch us. And we’re stronger as a group. Here!”
His father handed him a dagger, and Thaddeus gripped it tight. His palms were damp, and the scrapes on his left one burned, but he ignored the pain. A cool layer of sweat had broken out all over his body made him shiver as he felt the beat of his rapid pulse echoed in the wounds on his leg and hands.
“Stay together,” Miriam said. Thaddeus saw her take up a crossbow. “Go for the throat and the eyes.”
“Oh my God,” Thaddeus whispered as his stomach knotted and his supper threatened to come up. They were going to have to kill this thing charging toward them. He had never killed anything before—well, not on purpose. He wasn’t sure he would be able to deliver a death blow to another creature, not even one that plainly wanted to kill him.
“Stay with me,” Teofil told him. “I’ll protect you.”
“Yeah, okay,” Thaddeus said, adjusting his grip on the dagger.
Swinging a club made from a large branch, the troll stomped through their campsite, but they all dodged the club. Miriam shot the troll in a leg with an arrow. It roared with pain and reached down to pluck the arrow out and toss it aside. With an ugly sneer, it came at them again, swinging its club, and they scattered. Thaddeus cried out when the club caught Teofil’s heel and sent him sprawling. He grabbed Teofil’s arm and started to pull him to his feet. Something whistled past his ear, and Thaddeus ducked, then turned to see a thin barb stuck in the ground behind him.
“What is that?”
“Poison barb,” Teofil said. “Don’t touch it.”
“Where’d it come from?”
“Trolls have them beneath their tongues,” Teofil said as he got to his feet. “They use them when hunting. Now, run!”
Thaddeus ran with Teofil by his side. Poison barbs thumped into the ground behind them. Thaddeus kept a tight grip on his dagger, the adrenaline in his system shutting down any pain he knew he should be feeling in his hands and leg. Teofil led him out into the tall grass and then in a wide circle around their campsite. The blades of grass slapped at his legs and hands as they ran, and his breath was hot in his throat. He could see the troll swinging its club and opening its mouth to shoot poison barbs at the others. His father swung his sword at the troll’s leg. Miriam fired off more arrows, and Astrid flung rocks with a slingshot. Thaddeus couldn’t see Fetter and worried that he might have been felled by a poison barb or hit by the club.
Ahead of him, Teofil angled around behind the troll, and Thaddeus followed, figuring out quickly what Teofil had planned. They would attack the troll from behind and take it by surprise.
A painful shout from someone in their group sent a chill through Thaddeus. It had sounded like his father, but he couldn’t stop to investigate. He needed to focus on attacking the troll. He followed Teofil out of the tall grass onto the path they had all been following. He stuck the dagger into his belt to free both hands and somehow found the strength to run even faster. They closed the distance to the troll as the others distracted it. Ahead of him, Teofil jumped, and a few seconds later he did the same, both of them landing on the troll’s back. The pale skin was slick and greasy with sweat, and Thaddeus had to avert his face from the stench of the thing to draw in a fresh breath.
The troll roared in pain as Teofil jabbed his dagger into its back. It reached a big hand back to grab at him, but Teofil dropped to the ground to avoid the troll’s thick, dirty fingers, leaving his dagger in place.
“Stab it and drop!” Teofil shouted. “Hurry!”
Thaddeus clung to the troll’s back with both hands. He couldn’t seem to open his fingers for fear of falling beneath the thing’s feet and getting trampled. The troll turned and twisted, reaching for the dagger in its back as well as Thaddeus himself. He heard it roar in pain again, and figured Miriam or Astrid had fired at it some more. Finally, the creature came to a stop and stood in place, its breathing wet and thick. Thaddeus released one hand and pulled the dagger from his belt. He lifted it high and brought it down hard, hearing the heavy pop of the blade breaking the skin and then feeling the warm splash of blood across his hand as a foul smell engulfed him.