Song of the Vikings - Draal x OC

7. Adventures in Trollsitting

"Check that baby out!" 

Toby pressed his face against the glass of the Vespa dealer as Jim let out a low whistle. Kit had brought them out to the dealership at the boys' request and to keep an eye on them to make sure they didn't do anything too stupid without some form of adult supervision.

"Vespa 300 GTS Super - single-cylinder catalyzed four-stroke Quasar engine," Jim sighed dreamily. "Can you imagine me going down the road on that? Wind whipping through my hair, Claire holding tight to my back-"

"And me," Toby interrupted, the same dreamy tone in his voice, "cruising in the side car next to you."

Kit let out a snort. "I think he was imagining him and Claire alone, Toby." Toby pouted slightly as Jim sent him a joking glare before turning back to the window.

"What are the chances of your mom getting you one for your birthday?" Toby asked.

Jim smiled half-heartedly, starting to walk away from the window and down the sidewalk. "Only slightly worse than me winning the lottery and buying it myself."

"Only 328 bucks and 32 cents..." he huffed, Toby following close behind. Kit nudged his shoulder as they passed him up. "By the time I have enough, these things will drive themselves!"

"Chin up, Jimmy," Kit remarked. "Maybe this year you'll get lucky."

To be fair, they were planning to pull together enough cash by his birthday to let the boy buy one himself - but no one was in on that secret just yet.

Kit was shaken from their thoughts as Jim gasped, pointing at a nearby rooftop. "Do you see that?!"

Looking up, Kit saw nothing but the empty building edge. "Um... see what?" Toby questioned.

As they both turned back, Jim let out a small cry before bolting after the supposed 'thing'. Toby and Kit exchanged a glance before running after him.

"What the hell are we chasing?" Kit panted, catching up to Jim's strides.

"It's a goblin, with a baby!"

"A what?!"

"Come on, Jim!" Toby panted behind them. "It's just a bird!"

Ignoring Toby, Jim turned the corner he saw the creature go down. Skidding to a stop, evil giggles rang down the walls as he was met with an empty alley and no sign of either human or goblin except for a small stuffed bunny.

Toby and Kit came around the corner a moment after, both panting. "Chill out, man," Toby whined. "This trollhunting is making you hallucinate. I mean, what would a goblin want with a baby?"

Jim's grip tightened on the stuffed bunny. "I don't know..." he sighed, "but I'm going to find out."

----------

"So," Jim grunted as he tried to get a grip on the rocks underneath him, "let me get this straight."

His grip began to slip out from the handhold he had found and not a moment too soon, because as soon as he fell a foot or two, a column of fire shot out from where he previously was.

Jim let out another yelp before regaining his bearings. "They steal babies-" one foot up, "-so they can replace them-" two feet up, "with changelings?" 

"Precisely, Master Jim," Blinky declared from his place at the top of the rock. Kit, Toby, and Arrrgh standing near him.

"Um, allegedly steal," Toby interrupted. "I just saw a bird."

Kit shrugged. "I didn't get a good look."

"And," Blinky continued, "in order for a changeling to maintain its appearance in our world, no harm must come to the human child in theirs. I assure you, there is no safer place for a baby to be than the bowels of the Darklands nursery."