Fantasia

Chapter 7

The next morning, they set off for the Troll Territory. They had been in the air for only half an hour, when they could see a cluster of rocks in the shape of the circle. There were tons of caves in there, and just looking at that place sent chills down their spines. They knew that they had reached the Troll Territory.

'Spirit, Sugar, Chestnut, can you land right there? Right inside the rock circle.' Vicky said, and the pegasi obeyed. They galloped down to the ground and landed.

'Go find somewhere safe to be. Come when I whistle.' Ellie whispered into spirit's ear.

Spirit neighed, and together, she, Sugar and Chestnut flew off into the air. They waved to the horses, and turned around, just to meet a horrible sight.

Two trolls who were twice as tall as the twins were standing behind them. They had crackly bluish-gray skin, and they carried a stone club the size of a baseball bat. They wore an animal skin skirt, which that was practically the only clothing they wore. To make matters worse, they were bald.

They grinned menacingly, and one said in a gruff voice, 'well, well, well. Looky here. Three little younglings. They seem too young to be roaming around our territory, don't they?'

The other troll replied, 'well, since they are here, we should use them as slaves! It'll be fun!'

The first troll roared in laughter. They grabbed Ellie, Vicky and Strokes' hands, and forced them behind their backs. They shoved them forward, and they travelled straight. The tunnel was dark, and when their eyes got adjusted to the dark, their eyes grew wide in fright.

The caves didn't have beautiful gems on the walls like it did in the dwarf caves, but they were covered with bones. Skulls, bones of all shapes and sizes hung on the walls. They reached the end of the corridor and reached the prisons. The trolls shoved them into one of the cells and bolted the door.

'You'd better get a goodnight's sleep. You have a long day ahead tomorrow.' One of the trolls sneered and both of them stomped out of the room.

Vicky slid down the wall to a sitting position, and yelled, 'I hate this! It's horrible! I want to get out! I miss school, I miss homework, I miss detention, I miss mom, I miss dad, I even miss Mrs. Finns!' she wrapped her hands around her knees, defeated.

Ellie went up to her sister and put a hand around her shoulder. 'Vicky, don't be so hard on yourself. We'll get out, don't worry. We'll see lady Iris. We'll go home. That is a promise.'

Vicky just remained quiet.

They didn't seem to notice a small female troll peeking inside the bars. 'Hello.' She said, scaring the daylight out of them. 'Oh my god, you gave me a fright!' Ellie exclaimed, and cautiously approached the troll.

She was very small, about the height of a toddler, and had pigtails, with small horns sticking out of the top. 'My name is Ivos. I am the daughter of king Crackhead and queen Trollee. I can let you out. You seem like nice kids. But first, can you please tell me how you got here?'

Ellie shrugged, told Ivos the tale and Ivos nodded very slowly. 'You are very nice and kind people. I know I can trust you.'

She opened the latch, and Ellie pulled Vicky up.

Strokes gulped and muttered, 'uh, do we really have to go?' Ellie and Vicky shot him a look, which said a lot, but specifically do you want to get out of this place or not. Strokes recoiled and said, 'all right, all right. I'll come. Jeez, don't give me that look; you both look so alike, I can't figure out who's Ellie and who's Vicky.' And he trotted behind them.

Ivos led them though a maze of tunnels, which would be impossible to find your way in on your own. They entered a bedroom, and on the bed, was a female troll with a braid. A male troll sat beside her, holding her hand and muttering something to her. He had bluish-gray skin, and he had a quite scary crack running down the middle of his head.

As soon as he realized that they had company, he stood up and tried his best to put up a stony look.

'Ivos, leave us.' He bellowed, and Ivos bowed and backed out of the room. King Crackhead looked at them with his stony look, and bellowed, 'What do you want?'

'We want help.' Ellie said, rather bravely.

The stony look melted, and King Crackhead became emotional.

'My poor wife is dying, and I need to do something to save her. But I can't, and now I am sitting here, helpless. Oh my poor wife.' He cried, unable to control himself.

The way he was speaking about his wife, it was obvious that he loved her a lot. Immediately, they knew that Queen Trollee was what King Crackhead adored most.

Vicky went up to King Crackhead, all the fear melting away after seeing him in such an emotional state. She put one hand on his shoulder (which was rather brave, in my opinion) and said, 'King Crackhead, we are on a mission to go back home. My sister Ellie and I are from a very far land, from a totally different dimension. We landed here somehow, but we need to go back. We need to collect the most prized possessions on the rulers of Fantasia to prove ourselves worthy, so that we can meet Lady Iris. We need to meet her, so that she can create a portal for us to go home. If you help us, I can tell Lady Iris to cure Queen Trollee.' King Crackhead looked at Vicky hopefully.

He nodded and asked, 'how can I help you?'

Ellie took charge and said, 'we want your most prized possession. Would you tell us what it is?'

King Crackhead looked thoughtful. 'I don't really know.'

He said, looking sad. At that moment, Queen Trollee, who was asleep, woke up.

'I know what his most prized possession is. Me.' She said softly, and Strokes ran to her side. She gave him a handkerchief.

'This is mine. Use this to prove yourself to Lady Iris.' She said weakly. She took a deep breath, and fell asleep again. 'Well, we should take leave.' Ellie said and stood up. Vicky and Strokes followed Ellie's example and stood up.

'Thank you, sir. I will remember my promise. As soon as I reach Lady Iris's palace, I'll ask her to cure Queen Trollee.' Vicky said.

King Crackhead nodded, and Ivos came to escort them out of the Troll Territory. When they reached the border, Ivos hugged Ellie and Vicky and shook Strokes' hand.

'Please come and visit me sometime. But for your sake, I hope you don't.' she said.

Ellie grinned and whistled. Immediately, from the sky, Sugar, Chestnut and Spirit galloped down.

They climbed on to the pegasi' back and flew off into the air. 'Gosh, I hate flying.' Strokes mumbled.

Ellie stared at him. 'You're scared of heights?' she asked him. Strokes nodded shamefully.

'There's nothing to be embarrassed about. Vicky here,' Ellie looked slyly at Vicky, 'is scared of mice.'

Vicky went deep red and steered Sugar closer to Spirit, so that she could punch Ellie and almost knock her off her Pegasus.

Ellie didn't seem to mind, as she was laughing too hard. Strokes had tears streaming down his face. Even the pegasi seemed to be laughing. Vicky just crossed her arms and pouted all the way to the Lilliput kingdom.