Curse of the Weretroll (rewrite)

Chapter 12

"Wait... wolves?" Poppy asked, looking to her father in confusion, wanting answers... Just like most trolls her age and younger... she had never heard of that type of creature before... "What are wolves?"

     "Monsters..." Branch explained with a scared look in his eye as he turned to Poppy. "Blood thirsty killing machines..."

     "How do you know about the wolves, Branch?" Smidge asked in confusion, suddenly stepping out from the crowd behind them. "None of us have ever heard of them before..."

     The other younger trolls murmured to each other in agreement, the older ones seeming more frightened, knowing exactly the kind of beast they were now dealing with...

     "I'm a survivalist," Branch groaned in explanation as if the answer were obvious, the village grump crossing his arms as he rolled his eyes in annoyance. "I've read about every possible predator there is so I know how to protect myself from them. But according to my research..." He turned back to Peppy with a confused and somewhat worried look. "They all died out years ago..."

     "That's what we all thought..." the old king sighed, lowering his head in shame. "But obviously..." He looked down at the strand of fur in his hand, recognizing the tuft without a shadow of doubt... "We were wrong..."

     "Ok... I'm gonna need more info..." Satin stated, standing amongst the crowed with her twin sister right by her side like always. "Start explaining..." Chenille continued with sass, crossing her arms as she gave the old king a firm glare...

"Years ago..." Peppy started with a sigh, looking up to his Royal subjects. "Trolls and wolves lived in a never ending war... The wolves would attack before finally taking off with food, animals, and sometimes... even trolls... Our ancestors had no choice but to fight back... to try and reclaim our village... our home... but unfortunately..." The old king paused, sighing once more as he lowered his head in sorrow. "We lost a lot of people..."

Everyone listened to Peppy's story, not saying a single word to interrupt, all of them seeming completely entranced by the old king's words...

"The fighting continued... day after day... night after night... hour after hour..." Peppy continued softly... "Until one day... the fighting just stopped..."

"Why? What happened?" Poppy asked curiously.

Peppy looked back to his daughter before answering her question with a slight shrug...

"No one knows..." he explained. "They just... disappeared... my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather King Parry was one of the trolls on the front lines of the battle... it's been passed down from generation to generation that one of the wolves turned on the others, killing them all before then suffering the same fate at the hands of one of the trolls' archers..."

Poppy gasped softly at the explanation, her eyes widening in shock...

"Why would they kill it?" she asked, seeming saddened by the king's words. "It helped us..."

"It helped itself..." Peppy corrected in a firm tone. "It didn't want to share us with the others... it was selfish, and wanted it's own meal..."

"So... all the wolves just... died?" Biggie asked, hugging his pet worm Mr. Dinkles tightly in his big blue arms.

"That's what we thought..." Peppy replied. "But one of them must of somehow survived... and after all these years... it's decided to come back to finish us off..."

"What do we do, King Peppy!?" a random troll suddenly asked in terror, fearing the wolf would attack again...

     "We must find this threat and destroy it!" the fearless king explained loudly for the whole village to hear. "Before it can destroy us!"
"Yeeeeeeeaaaaaaahhhhhh!" the crowed shouted out loudly, throwing their hands up into the air in angered determination...

Branch winced in pain at the loud screams now erupting from the crowed, the little gray troll covering his ears tightly to try and muffle the ear piercing sounds...

     He knew the trolls were always loud... but today... right now... they seemed to be louder than ever, their voices ringing through the village grump's eardrums, causing them to shake painfully inside his head...

At the sound of her best friend's almost silent groan, Poppy turned to Branch, immediately noticing his discomfort...

"Are you ok, Branch?" she asked, concerned about her friend. It was the same look he had the night before... as if his eardrums were literally about to burst...

     "Y... yeah... I... I'm fine..." he grumbled softly, still trying to muffle the excruciatingly ear piercing shouts of the other trolls. "Just... a little loud out here..."

Poppy looked at him in confusion, raising an eyebrow at his strange behavior...

     She honestly didn't think the trolls were being that loud...

     I mean... yes... they were shouting... but definitely not loud enough to rattle someone's eardrums...

She shrugged it off, knowing that Branch had always had sensitive hearing. She just never realized it was this sensitive...

"Tonight! We go into the forest, and search for this wolf! This monster!" Peppy announced in a loud shout of determination, the entire village getting super pumped up by his exclamation. "We will cover every entrance! Make sure it can't get in!"
"YEEEEAAAAHHHHH!" everyone shouted again, seeming to get even louder...

Branch cowered away a bit, pressing his hands tightly against his ears, the action seeming to do no good whatsoever, the shouts only intensifying farther...

"I'm going back to my bunker where it's quiet," he finally told Poppy in a shaky painful sounding voice as he began stomping off angrily into the forest...

"Wait! Branch!" Poppy called after him. "Will you be out looking for the wolf tonight?"

     "Not likely," he replied, still covering his ears to no avail. "I'm staying in my bunker where it's safe..." He froze in place, suddenly turning back to her with a firm glare, lowering his hands from his head... "And if you know what's good for you..." he started. "You'd stay inside too..."

     "Psh... I'll be fine, Branch," she chuckled. "How difficult could it be to capture one wolf?"

He looked at her with a firm glare, completely unconvinced by her misguided words...

     The truth was... he was worried about the young princess... worried that if she went out tonight... this wolf... this threat... would get her... He didn't want to admit it... but he cared so much about this kind hearted pink troll in front of him, and just didn't want her getting hurt... But he certainly couldn't let her know that... he couldn't let anyone know that... so he just had to try and warn her to stay home in the meanest way possible... that way... no one would be the wiser...

"Wolves are heartless monster," Branch explained harshly, making sure to keep a grumpy look plastered on his face... "They see you anywhere near them... and they'll eat you up in one big gulp... no remorse whatsoever..."

Poppy shuttered at the thought, Branch's words actually scaring her a bit...

Slowly, the gray troll turned, beginning to walk once again back towards the safety of his bunker...