Fleas - Songs of the Gnolls I

WORLDS COLLIDE 8.5

Huauau approached the gnomes frolicking in the grass. When they saw him, they stood up, and some of them went into the undergrowth.

"Friends, were you able to finish what you were asked to do?"

"Yes, but we still don't understand why?"

Jhuauau silenced him by placing a finger on his lips.

"It is not your job to understand. Remember, these are Scourge's orders."

The gnomes that had separated returned with the object in question: a wooden bridge that, though nothing more than several logs tied together, would suffice. They were at the point on the wall where the moat narrowed most, halfway between the two armies besieging the entrances. The gnomes laid the bridge, some of them getting wet in the process.

Though they had set out together, the trolls were slow to arrive. Huauau insisted that they cross, but they looked fearfully at the water in the moat and hesitated. Finally, they gathered their courage and crossed over, one by one. Huauau looked up, it was fortunate that the humans did not attack. Why would they be so careless when they were suffering from nothing less than a siege? To Huauau, it seemed like a gift from the gods. The huge blocks of sapphire-speckled stone danced to the rhythm of the chanting and the coordinated movements of the three trolls, forming a gap through which Huauau would crawl. Before entering the human world, he reminded the gnomes and trolls that his mission was secret, that no one was to know about it.

When he emerged from the other side, he covered his smiling face with a cloak and cloths. He looked at the castle rising in the distance, an imposing monument to human capacity. The ability to create and to destroy. Were they the closest thing to a god? He was about to find out.