Crown of Daelin

Chapter 10: I Give a Troll a Bath

After what seemed like an eternity of darkness, or perhaps more accurately twenty minutes, we found ourselves in a shady meadow by a trickling stream. It appeared that Jayde had really pulled through. As she had promised, here were all of our horses tied to the branches of some aspens. Jayde, however, was nowhere to be seen. I wasn't sure if this was a good sign or a bad one.

When we approached, a snowy little head popped out of Zoe's saddlebag. He made an excited humming noise, and jumped onto Zoe and snuggled into her neck. "Hubbub!" Zoe was just as excited to see him as he was her. Earlier in the tunnel she had told me of her fear of Jayde finding and eating him. I was glad that my reassurances to her had not been false.

We decided that it would be best to put some more distance between us and Chevrolata, so we untied our horses, and not knowing where to go, Leofrick decided that we should continue heading west along the Riddle Road. Adam and I shared what little we had learned from Jayde, and afterwards our company rode in silence, everyone contemplating the solution to the mystery. After a few minutes, when everyone had drawn a blank on what the clue could mean, we began to talk again. Adam and Rose took turns entertaining Zoe, Rob, and I by telling some of the legends and histories of Kaerosa, while Leofrick rode in moody silence, speaking only every once and a while to correct Rose or Adam on a date or name in Kaerosan history. After we had lunch and got back on the road, we continued to ride for another two hours until we came across a wooden bridge that was built over a wide, fast-flowing stream. It didn't seem like much

at first, but as we drew closer our horses began to shuffle nervously and turn their heads away. I pulled Eurydice into a halt and looked at Adam. He spurred Arrow into moving forward, but as soon as the pegasus took a step, a giant cloud of yellow powder burst from underneath the bridge, engulfing us all in thick smoke and sending us coughing into our sleeves. When the smoke had cleared, our attention was brought to a small creature that was now standing in front of the bridge. He was a short fellow, no more than four feet, and he had dark, weathered skin. He had a big nose, squinty black eyes, and wild flaming orange hair that stuck straight up int the air. He had a topaz in the shape of a diamond for a belly button, and all that he had on was a bright pumpkin-colored tutu with short leggings. As I studied him, I began to realize what he was. He was a troll. I knew this, because he would fit in all too well with the small collection of troll dolls I had acquired as a kid. He stood there studying us with a mischievous smile on his face, a crooked staff in his hand. He opened his mouth and began a cheery little rhyme.

"Oh looky, my dear,

What have we here?,

Some kids tryin' to find their way?

They've nowhere to run,

So let's have some fun,

This must be my lucky day."

Everyone in our company was a bit confused by this. Everyone, of course, except for Leofrick. He already had had quite enough of this nonsense.

"Shove off you overgrown, carrot-topped potato! We haven't the time for your stupid rhyming games."

"Stupid, you say?

You don't want to play,

My poor little harmless game?

If you don't like my rhymes,

You're wasting my time,

You, Sir, are simply too lame."

Despite our circumstances, I could not suppress a laugh. This guy was just too outrageous, and compared to the vampires we had faced recently, he was just too ridiculous to take seriously. We also agreed on the fact that Leofrick was pretty lame, which gave a boost in my opinion of him. Leofrick turned and glared at me.