Born To Be Free | a trolls story

9. Investigating

Branch and Poppy used their hair to climb the cliff. They climbed higher and higher until the ground below them became too hard to see.

"Can you see the top?" Poppy called up to Branch who was ahead of her. Branch stopped climbing and looked up trying to spot the top of the cliff.

"Not yet, but we can't be far," Branch called back to her, "being a troll sure seems to have its disadvantages, if a bergen was climbing this, they would be there by now." The two trolls continued to climb but felt themselves getting tired and weak, their arms and legs were starting to ache. Suddenly Branch let out a gasp. "I can see the summit!" He called down to Poppy, "we're almost there!" Branch swung his hair towards the top of the cliff to grab hold of the edge, he then used his hair to reel himself towards the top.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Poppy shouted as she wrapped her long pink hair around Branch's waist and grabbed his tail in her hands. Branch grabbed the edge of the cliff with his hands and climbed up onto the surface, with Poppy still hanging from his tail. He pulled his tail in and hauled Poppy up. The two of them lay down on the grass, panting, exhausted from the climbing. They looked at the view of the moon's reflection on the ocean, they saw Spirit, still by the rock blockage at the end of the lagoon. She seemed like a tiny grey speck from the cliff.

"We still have to find out where that shriek came from." Branch stated as he stumbled to his feet.

"Branch, relax. We'll find it," Poppy stopped him.

"Don't tell me to relax!" Branch snapped, "it reminds me of Creek. That no good, backstabbing son of a-" Poppy placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Calm down," Poppy said gently. Branch took a deep breath in and out. The two of them walked over to the other side of the cliff's summit. The cliff wasn't too wide so it didn't take that long. They were on the edge and they looked down below them, it looked similar to the side that they just came from. The forest continued, but there was no lagoon, just the open ocean and the shore, but on the shore something caught Poppy's eye. A large building.

"Maybe the shriek came from that building," said Poppy. Branch nodded and agreed to go investigate.

"We just need to get down there, we need to be careful," he stated, "let's climb down, just to be safe."

"Come on you safety nerd! I know a better way down," but Branch wasn't sure.

"You do your way and I'll do mine," Branch was about to climb down but before he could Poppy grabbed him by the hand and ran with him towards the end of the cliff. "Poppy, what are you doing?" but Poppy kept on running, dragging Branch along behind. "Seriously! Let go of me!" They jumped off of the cliff with Branch screaming as he fell. "We're going to die!" Poppy grabbed the blue troll's waist and shaped her hair into a parachute, they started to fall slower. Branch had his eyes shut tight, his tail was between his legs and he was shaking.

"You're safe now," Poppy chuckled, bringing Branch in closer. Branch opened one eye and saw that he was in Poppy's arms.

"For the love of everything good don't EVER do that again!" Branch shouted, his voice was still shaky from the shock. Poppy laughed.

***

"Great," Branch groaned, "the door handle is too heavy to move. Let's just head back." Suddenly there was another shriek, like the one they heard before. It was coming from the building. Poppy spotted something. A vent opening.

"Branch, we can get in through the vents," Poppy exclaimed. There was only one problem. The vent door was screwed on.

"Hold on, I got it!" Branch said as he walked over near the cliff side and picked up a large rock with his hair. The rock was nearly twice the size of him! "Stand back!" He whipped his hair and threw the rock at the vent door causing it to break open. They walked inside and tried to find their way through the maze of shafts. Some of the vents were too steep to climb so they had to use their hair to pull themselves up them. Suddenly a loud voice struck their ears.