𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐔𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒 [𝐣𝐢𝐦 𝐥𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐱 𝐨𝐜]

Chapter 29 | Baby-napped

"You saw a goblin carrying a baby away?" Liz questioned, standing atop a natural stone bridge as she watched the Trollhunter maneuver across the cliff face below.

"Yes! I saw it clear as day," Jim answers, heaving himself upwards to a nearby narrow ledge. Liz exchanges worried glances with the trolls beside her while Toby watches his friend.

"That is concerning." Liz rubs her chin in thought. "Goblins are usually known for leaving destruction wherever they go, but they occasionally follow orders of their superiors like the Gumm-Gumms and Changelings to do their bidding, including stealing human babies and replacing them with changelings. Perhaps whoever that baby is, there's a changeling in its place."

"Let me get this straight," Jim grunts with exertion, climbing the jagged cliff face as a safety rope dangle in the shadows away from him. His ears and eyes had caught the sound of gears turning within the walls, which only meant one thing. Suddenly, he screams as a stream of fire bursts out from the wall where Jim had previously been after quickly releasing one hand and swinging back. The fire barely grazed him as he watched with fear. After the fire died out, Jim swung himself back into place and carried on up the wall while speaking. "Whew! They steal babies... so they can replace them... with changelings?"

"Precisely, Master Jim," Blinky confirmed while Toby remained unconvinced. "Uh, allegedly steal. I just saw a bird."

"And, 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." Blinky explained as Liz watched Jim press his back against the rock wall, slowly inching to the rope dangling a few feet from him. However, as he reaches the safety rope, another stream of fire bursts once more from the walls, frightening Jim with a gasp. "Well, that's good to know!"

As the Trollhunter continued training, Toby casually fed AAARRRGGHH a VHS tape. "Whoa! Hold on, there. Okay, suppose they did take the baby to the Darklands. Isn't that where Gunmar is trying to escape from?"

"The doorway to his realm is sealed for now, but it doesn't exonerate the cracks that inevitably form over time. Cracks that allow small things to pass." For emphasis on his words, Blinky brought his fingers up to his face and pressed the fingers almost together.

"Small, like babies and goblins," AAARRRGGHH said.

"So, if we can find out whose baby was stolen, we'll find a changeling in its place, right?" Jim pitched in. More gears turned within the cliff face, shooting out more streams of fire. However, Jim was cornered from both sides, forcing Jim to jump from one cliff face to another across from him, clinging onto its smooth surface. "And once we have the changeling, we'll have the proof to finally convince Vendel –"

Losing his grip, in the end, his words were cut short as he let out a piercing scream, tumbling off the rock and into the dark trench. The rope slipped from AAARRRGGHH's hand as Toby ran to catch the rope's end. "Jim!"

"No!" AAARRRGGHH yelled, quickly catching Toby before he fell as well. Luckily, Liz had caught the rope in time, causing the Trollhunter to bounce to a stop, hanging more than fifty feet from the ledge.

"Got him!" Liz said, pulling Jim to safety as the giant troll sat Toby back on the ground before assisting the Guardian. Finally, as Jim reached the surface, he spoke, hanging in mid-air from AAARRRGGHH's hold. "I told you I'd fall."

"You fell because you knew you could. What if you're endangered, and we aren't there? Next time, we'll climb sans the safety line." Blinky pointed out as he approached closer.

"We'll?" Jim continued, hanging from the rope as he folded his arms with a frown.

"The only lesson learned today is that, with this many changelings, Arcadia is far more dangerous than previously thought," Liz grimly stated as she gazed at Jim and Toby. "For the both of you."