A Grumpy Troll and A Prince

Chapter 4 ~ Welcome to Bergen Town

It was the next day and the two trolls had been walking for quite sometime. Four's feet began to ache as he whined "Are we there yet? My feet are killing me!" Three groaned and shot back "Good! Maybe then we won't have to go get ourselves killed!" It had only been a day with him and Four was already getting sick of his attitude. "Well excuse me for caring that our friends stay in one piece!"

"Again. They're your friends! Not mine."

"Then why did you even come along! You act like you don't even need us and-"

Three stopped in his tracks and placed a hand in front of Four to stop him from arguing. "Stop." They both realized that they had made it to a series of tunnels in different sizes. These passages were familiar to Four as it reminded him of when his dad had saved the entire village. If he could do it, then so could the prince. Four took a deep breath and said "So one of these must lead to the Troll Tree."

Three nodded and peeked inside one for a closer look. "I'm not sure which one. What about you?" Four asked. Three shook his head and replied "What do I look like!? A MAP!? Aren't you the one who's been through these before?"

"I-"

Before Four could answer and deep voice began to echo "Choose a hole wisely..." The two of them spun around in surprise to see where that sound was coming from, but they couldn't see anybody. The voice continued. "For one will lead to Bergen Town...and the others to CERTAIN DEATH!" Three called out with great authority "Who said that!?"

The voice spoke again while both trolls were looking in every direction of view. "It was..." Suddenly, out from behind a tree, a stubby little clown with blue hair and smudged lipstick all over his face, peeked out to greet them. "Me! Hey guys, how's it going? Welcome to the root tunnels. I'm Depresso! I just wanted to warn you that one of these tunnels leads to the Troll Tree and the others to...CERTAIN DEATH DEATH Death death..."

The clown just kept repeating the same word over and over while staring at his hand that he used to intensify the effect. Three was flabbergasted and Four was only mildly confused. "Do you think you could tell us which is the right one?" He nodded and said "You bet!" Four was ecstatic on the clown's helpful favor. "Great!" All of a sudden, Three came up and said "No, that's okay. We're fine. Thanks!" and began dragging Four away.

"Three what are you doing? He's trying to help us." Four didn't understand why Three wouldn't accept a helping hand. Three gave a suspicious look at Depresso, who was looking off into space, and whispered "I don't trust him. I mean, who the hell doesn't wear pants!" The two turned to see that sure enough the clown had only on red striped boxers below the waist. He noticed them staring at him and waved.

Four tried to convince him "He seems to know what he's talking about." Three sighed and gave in to the prince's strange trust in the hobo clown. "Okay. Fine." They approached Depresso and asked him "Which way do we go?" Instead of telling them, he held up his hand and said "First, you have to give me a high five and then I'll tell you."

"What!?" Four cheered and starting yelling "OH! OH! I'll do it! I love high fives!" Depresso said "Oh I know you'll do it..." Three then noticed the clown looking back at him. "...But will he?" Wait. Was this guy asking Three...to give him a high five!?

"Alright grumpy guy. Up high!" Three crossed his arms and said "Nope. I don't do high fives." Depresso inched his hand closer and tried to convince him by saying "Slap it boss."

"Not gonna happen."

"Party on the top floor."

"Nope."

"Little slappy. Make daddy happy."

"I'll slap your face if you don't stop."

Depresso groaned and begged "Come onnnn. Just one little high five." Three was getting restless. "I'm good." The clown slapped his own hand for a quick recap. "Just do this. But with your hand."