A Sense of Belonging

Chapter 5

Realizing that Dictatious was probably planning to kill him as soon as he realized he was being tricked, Blinky had panicked. Terrified what might happen to his people, Blinky had thought, what would Vendel do? He would have a better plan than this. Blinky then realized- Vendel would play on his enemy's weaknesses, and that was just what he would do as well! Dictatious was blind, and the soldier was stupid, a zombie that simply followed orders but didn't think for itself; he would leave a sign that neither one could see.

Blinky's arms were tied behind him, and he was shoved forward to begin leading his brother and the soldier. It was likely too obvious to start completely opposite to the camp, so Blinky started parallel to it, limping on his injured ankle. Stopping occasionally with his ankle as an excuse, Blinky leaned his head and quickly dug one of his horns into the soft bark of the trees along their path. Leading the gum-gums farther and farther away, Blinky listened hopefully for the sounds of pursuit.

Moving at a near sprint, Jim caught up to Blinky's captors fairly quickly. He stopped and hid behind a tree when he heard Dictatious state venomously, "Blinkous, this is taking far too long. We may be sheltered beneath the trees, but I can feel the heat of the rising sun. If this takes much longer I will simply shove you out into the light and find your camp another way. Perhaps I'll simply set the forest on fire and let them burn to death."

Jim could hear Blinky sigh in annoyance, replying, "I am moving as fast as I can. If your soldier hadn't broken my ankle we could have been there by now." Jim peeked around the tree to see Blinky sitting against a tree with a fresh cut in it, looking pretty beaten himself. One foot was propped up on a tree root, and Jim cringed as it saw how swollen and discolored it had gotten. Blinky saw Jim's face and gave a quick smile of relief to see help finally arriving.

"You are not fast enough, and it's not my fault that you're a frail weakling. Soldier, prepare to execute this useless runt." The soldier reached for it's sword, and Jim moved to help, but Blinky stood suddenly and said, "Wait! I have one last thing to tell you." Dictatious paused the soldier and motioned for Blinky to continue,

"Now!" Blinky shouted at the same time as he smashed his forehead into Dictatious's, causing the blind troll to slump to the ground stunned as Jim leaped out and sank his sword deep into the soldier. Dictatious feebly tried to grab the soldier's sword, but Blinky grabbed it first, stabbing it into his brother's chest. He rubbed his eyes and turned away from the corpse of the evil creature that used to be his brother.

"I was never leading you to my camp. Unlike you, I would never betray my friends, even if it means my death" Blinky snarled, and he kicked Dictatious once before turning to Jim. "Master Jim! I was beginning to fear I would never see you again!" Jim cut the ropes binding Blinky's arms before hugging him, almost sobbing with relief.

"I was scared that I would find you dead! What would we do without you? I can't lose you dad!" Jim's face turned red and he stuttered for a second, realizing what he had said before Blinky hugged him tighter and said, "I am so sorry that I scared you. Let's head back to camp, my son."

Entering camp, Blinky walking with Jim's help, the young Trollhunter was beaming, looking happier than he had in a long time. They were met by cheers and hugs, and many trolls had told Blinky that nothing had been right without his presence. Blinky's ankle was splinted and wrapped as his other wounds were examined, and Jim never left his side until the bookish troll went to bed some hours later.

Jim and Blinky had talked on the long walk back to the camp, having a proper heart to heart about their long-hidden feelings. Jim admitted that he had thought of Blinky as his dad for a long time, but he had been afraid that since he was human, Blinky wouldn't feel the same level of connection. In turn Blinky had confided that he had felt protective of Jim since they first met, and had wanted to fill the gap left in Jim's life by the absence of a father figure, but had thought that Jim wouldn't want him to take that role.

Blinky and Jim were overjoyed, having finally reached an understanding between them. There was still much to learn, many battles to fight, and many obstacles to overcome, but they would have each other and their friends to guide them through. This father and son pair may not be conventional, but sometimes the ties that we make for ourselves are much stronger than the ones we begin our journeys with.