When you think of trolls, you probably envision towering monsters with green skin and bad eyesight, with round bellies and bald heads.
Your perception of classic Fairytale trolls couldn't be farther from accurate. Instead of being gigantic with the ability to step on humans like they were ants, these trolls only stood at a mere, but still towering, eight and a half feet.
These trolls that came galavanting through the trees would've been considered runts to full grown trolls. If eight and a half feet were tall, you should have seen the Mama trolls.
The ground rumbled under Selussa and Geraint's feet, and they could see two giant monstrosities heading straight for them. One of the trolls ripped a branch off of a tree and began scratching his back with it.
In this world, the trolls have mushrooms and moss and algae sprouting from their pores. They have horrible eyesight, but make up for it with exceptional hearing and smelling senses. They'd be able to smell Mrs. Falana's pecan pie from five miles away.
"Hey," Selussa said. "Perhaps they can aid us in finding the kingdom!"
Geraint shushed her and grabbed her by the arm, but Selussa persisted.
She stood straighter and waved her long arms above her head. "Yoo-hoo!" she called. "Hello, Mr. Trolls? We must ask for directions!"
Instantly, one of the trolls dropped his tree branch backscratcher and followed Selussa's voice.
The other troll, however, sniffed the air like a hound looking for a fugitive. It must have picked up Selussa's natural scent of lilacs and ripe fruit because it grinned gruesomely and started in Selussa's direction.
She thought it was a friendly smile, and that the trolls were good trolls, so she kept waving her arms while Geraint pleaded with her to run.
Normally, in human entertainment, when someone is run over by a giant object, they're displayed as being flat like a pancake.
Unfortunately, in this world if a troll stepped on you, you wouldn't just be flat like a pancake. It would end up more...gruesome than that. With cracked bones and a crushed skull,, you wouldn't resemble a pancake at all.
So, seconds before Selussa was crushed beneath a troll's smelly feet, Geraint yanked her out of the way and the two of them dove behind a tree.
Geraint had dropped Selussa's things, and they were soon a pile of splintered wood and other materials. Except for Selussa's bow, which was slung over her shoulder by the string, and her tattered quiver that was wrapped around her back, but contained no arrows.
"Selussa, run!" Geraint commanded as he decided to distract the trolls. He almost got squished by an algae-coated hand. His attempt at ducking out of the way failed, and he got plucked off the ground like a mother cat picks up her kitten- by the neck.
Quickly, she processed the situation. Two trolls were about to eat Geraint like a delicious human finger sandwich, and her items from the tower were splinters in the mud.
As a last resort, Geraint nicked the troll's skin with his teeth, and he was dropped from six feet, stumbled backwards, and landed against a tree. Selussa grimaced when she heard his ankle crack.
She could almost see the stars and birds flitting around his head. So, she sprung to the second branch of the tree and snapped another twig off.
She ignored the immediate sharp pain in her side, then using her bow, nocked the twig like an arrow.
"Hey, smelly trolls!" she yelled. The two of them turned to the sound of her voice. "Yeah, you! You stupid, smelly trolls! Back off!"
The biggest and ugliest troll laughed and said, "Foolish girl thinks she can take on us!"
The other one laughed, and Selussa felt the deep vibrations afterwards. "Let us make our mother proud!" He cracked his knuckles, and bits of moss fell to the ground. "We shall roast her for dinner!"
The other troll said he agreed.
Selussa then launched the twig and it bounced off the biggest troll's eyeball.
It yelled out and, covering its eye, turned and smacked his troll brother on the back of the head. "You fungus-brain! Why did you hit my eye!"
The troll smacked him back. "I did not not!"
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
Suddenly, the ugly troll reached out and grabbed Selussa by the waist with his smelly fingers. She dropped her bow and the twig, and they landed right by the troll's foot.
The monster brought Selussa to his hideous face and sniffed her like he were a dog.
"Mmmm," he said, inhaling again. "My favorite snack, roasted..." He suddenly raised his one eyebrow, then sniffed a few more times.
"What is wrong, brother?" said the other troll, coming up behind Selussa.
The older troll held Selussa out to him. "This one has a peculiar odor. It is neither human nor elf, very strange."
While the two trolls were distracted, Selussa did something she never thought she'd do: she bit him.
Taking his thick, algae-coated skin in between her teeth, she bit down as hard as she could. She ignored the taste of his blood filling her mouth. It tasted like rotten eggs and sour cheese.
She spat and went in for another bite, but the troll, reacting too slowly, cried out and dropped her.
Surprisingly, Selussa landed on her feet with barely any pain. She landed in a crouched position, and began to reach for her bow, but her gagging stopped her.
Then, quick as lightning, a black blur flew past the trolls. They both grunted and soon were lying on the forest floor, groaning in pain.
The blur stopped at the base of the tree. With a smirk, a man looked up at Selussa. He wore a smug expression, and she felt a chill go down her spine.
The man had long black hair that barely reached his elbows, like he couldn't be bothered to cut it. His eyes were dark, and Selussa could feel the coldness emanating from him. His ghost white skin was like a blank canvas in comparison to his all-black outfit. He leaned against his sword like a cane.
He nodded at the trolls, who were seeming to come to. "They won't stay down for long," the man said in a husky voice. "Better go while they're stunned."
Selussa nodded absently, then glanced at Geraint. "What about him?"
Geraint was still leaning against the tree, his eyes tightly closed and his hand was clutching a rock he probably planned on throwing. His blond hair was covering his eyes.
The mysterious man scoffed, then covered it up with a reassuring smile. "He'll be fine."
Selussa leaped down, making sure to not take her eyes off this mysterious, but attractive, man. She couldn't trust him just yet. Something was yanking at her gut, telling her to run.
Convinced this was just her anxiety about meeting new people, she brushed it off.
She then noticed that he was holding his hand out. She looked at it like he was trying to give her something.
He laughed coldly and said, "Aren't you going to give me your hand?"
Reluctantly, Selussa offered her hand, and he gently took her by her fingers.
His fingers were surprisingly cold and pale, but Selussa kept smiling.
"Vayne," he said. "Vayne Magnus." Slowly, he brought Selussa's hand to his lips and kissed it. Was this what humans did? Kiss each other's hands? How odd.
She shivered. His lips were cold, too. "S-Selussa," she stammered, swallowing hard.
He smiled, but it looked more like a sneer. "Well, then. We'd better get going." He let go of her hand, and Selussa let it dangle at her side. A cold chill still lingered on her knuckles.
